With the addition of two renowned roots music groups – Los Lobos, considered by critics and fans as one of America’s most distinctive and original bands, and Assembly of Dust, known for their stellar live performances from Bonnaroo to Carnegie Hall – MerleFest 25, presented by  Lowe’s Hardware, firms up another diverse, crowd-pleasing collection of performers for the festival’s 2012 lineup. Los Lobos will perform on Friday, April 27, delivering the closing performance of the evening, and Assembly of Dust will perform on various stages on Saturday and Sunday, April 28-29.

Slated for April 26 – 29, 2012, MerleFest will once again take place on the campus of Wilkes Community College in Wilkesboro, North Carolina. MerleFest is an annual homecoming of musicians and music fans, gathering to celebrate the memory of musician Eddy Merle Watson, beloved son of American music icon Doc Watson.

Over the years, MerleFest has become known for spontaneous moments, collaborations and last-minute performance additions. To keep up with any additional changes and additions to this year’s lineup – even during the festival – MerleFest encourages fans to sign up for the e-newsletter and to follow the festival through Facebook and Twitter. Links are available at www.merlefest.org.

Rolling Stone magazine has said that, “With the exception of U2, no other band has stayed on top of its game as long as Los Lobos.” Now in their 38th year of making music, the three-time Grammy-winning band is still creating inventive and inspiring music. Though they may have come to the attention of many with their huge hit “La Bamba,” Los Lobos’ rich musicality has continued to evolve and expand with each project and with each tour. Drawing equally from rock, Tex-Mex, country, folk, R&B, blues, and traditional Spanish and Mexican music, this internationally renowned group of performers delivers a graceful, gritty sound that never strays from the musical traditions that form the heart and soul of the band. About their most recent album, the Grammy-nominated Tin Can Trust, NPR’s Ken Tucker said, “Los Lobos is a master of creating moods, of summoning up a setting and putting you in the center of it. From the band’s major-label debut Will The Wolf Survive to Tin Can Trust, the band has always sung about people who take their pleasures where they can find them and who lead rich imaginative lives.

All Music has described the New York-based Assembly of Dust as “melding the deep grooves of blues and R&B with guitar work that recalls J. J. Cale and Little Feat.” AOD’s 2011 release Found Sound represents a “behind the curtain” look at a band that has gained notoriety as a studio/live performance hybrid. The energy captured on Found Sound represents what fans from coast to coast have known for years: music’s best kept secret may have just been found.

Ticket purchases for MerleFest 25 can be made on the web at www.merlefest.org or by calling 1-800-343-7857. An early bird ticket discount is available through March 12, 2012.

With over 90 artists performing on 14 stages during the course of the event, MerleFest 25 is an excellent entertainment value. A complete list of confirmed performers is available at www.merlefest.org.

MerleFest, considered one of the premier music festivals in the country, is held on the campus of Wilkes Community College in Wilkesboro, North Carolina. MerleFest was founded in 1988 in memory of Eddy Merle Watson and is a celebration of what Doc Watson calls “traditional plus” music, meaning the traditional music of the Appalachian regional plus whatever other styles we were in the mood to play.” The annual festival has become the primary fundraiser for the WCC Endowment Corporation, funding scholarships, capital projects and other educational needs.

The Appalachian Mountain Photography Competition Opening Reception takes place on Friday, February 3, 2012 along with the start of voting for the AMPC People’s Choice Award.  49 finalist images will be on display from February 3 through June 2 at the Turchin Center for the Visual arts on the Campus of Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina.

Cast your vote for the coveted People’s Choice Award via a kiosk at the exhibition or online at www.appmtnphotocomp.org.  Voting officially begins with the public reception opening at 7:00 pm, Friday, February 3 and voting will close at 5:00 pm on Friday, March 30, 2012.  The winner of the People’s Choice award receives a $350 cash award furnished by Footsloggers Outdoor and Travel Outfitter in Boone and Blowing Rock.

Winners will be announced after March 30, 2012 once votes have been tallied for the People’s Choice Award.

Visit Virtual Blue Ridge to read more about the press release for this year’s People’s Choice Award. We wish everyone the best of luck in choosing your favorite for this year’s PCA, it definitely won’t be quick and easy!

Vince Gill, one of the most  popular and honored performers in country music today – and one of the most respected musicians in Nashville – has been added to the MerleFest 25 lineup. Gill will perform on Thursday, April 26, delivering the closing performance of the evening. MerleFest 25, presented by Lowe’s Hardware, is slated for April 26 – 29, 2012, and will once again take place on the campus of Wilkes Community College in Wilkesboro, North Carolina. MerleFest is an annual homecoming of musicians and music fans, gathering to celebrate the memory of musician Eddy Merle Watson, beloved son of American music icon Doc Watson.

Such blockbuster hits as “Go Rest High on That Mountain,” “Whenever You Come Around” and “I Still Believe In You” have helped Vince Gill sold more than 26 million albums over the course of his highly successful career. He has earned 18 CMA Awards, including Entertainer of the Year in 1993 and 1994. He is tied with George Strait for having won the most CMA Male Vocalist Awards (five), and is currently third only to George Strait (22) and Brooks & Dunn (19) for accumulating the most CMA Awards in history. Gill is a member of the Grand Ole Opry and has received 20 Grammy Awards to date. Just last month, Gill scored his 41st Grammy nomination as a co-writer on “Threaten Me With Heaven,” nominated for Best Country Song. In August of 2007, the Country Music Association inducted Gill as a member of the coveted Country Music Hall of Fame.

Gill’s most recent project, Guitar Slinger (released in October 2011) is a favorite of both fans and music critics across the country, with iTunes proclaiming “Vince Gill’s superlative work in the ‘80s and ‘90s remains a high standard to reach, but he exceeds expectations on Guitar Slinger… When it comes to musical finesse and pure feeling, nobody does it like Vince.”

An avid golfer, Gill helped create the annual Vince Gill Pro-Celebrity Invitational Golf Tournament (“The Vinny”) in 1993 in order to help support junior golf programs throughout Tennessee. Besides being known for his talent as a performer, musician and songwriter, Gill is regarded as one of Country Music’s best known humanitarians, participating in hundreds of charitable events throughout his career.

Ticket purchases for MerleFest 25 can be made on the web at www.merlefest.org or by calling 1-800-343-7857. An early bird ticket discount is available through March 12, 2012.

With over 90 artists performing on 14 stages during the course of the event, MerleFest 25 is an excellent entertainment value. A complete list of confirmed performers is available at www.merlefest.org. Additionally, up-to-the-minute lineup additions for the festival can be obtained through the festival’s e-newsletter and through Facebook and Twitter.

MerleFest, considered one of the premiere music festivals in the country, is held on the campus of Wilkes Community College in Wilkesboro, North Carolina. MerleFest was founded in 1988 in memory of Eddy Merle Watson and is a celebration of what Doc Watson calls “traditional plus” music, meaning the traditional music of the Appalachian regional plus whatever other styles we were in the mood to play.” The annual festival has become the primary fundraiser for the WCC Endowment Corporation, funding scholarships, capital projects and other educational needs.

The 11th annual music and arts festival that bears the moniker of its hometown of Floyd, Virginia, kicks off a second decade in July of 2012 with a bursting-at-the seams line-up of genre-spanning entertainment. FloydFest, which celebrated its tenth birthday in 2011 with an at capacity crowd of 14,000 daily patrons over the marathon 4-day event, is already slating for another success year as early ticket sales are up 97% and with festival promoters receiving honorable recognition by the National Endowment for the Arts.

“2012 is promising to be a reiteration of FloydFest’s mission statement,” notes FloydFest co-founder, Erika Johnson.  Which is “to be the best music festival experience of our time. To sell a limited quantity of tickets to the highest quality event experience, bar none, celebrating music, art and life in an intimate, visually stunning environment. To showcase a singularly fresh, unique line-up nationally recognized and under-the-radar musicians to an annually sold-out audience of diverse, music-loving people, and to remain committed to an authenticity and sustainability.”

More than a music festival, FloydFest is a forum for all things progressively feel-good and has garnered a niche in the festival scene as a haven of good vibes and family friendly recreation. Located at milepost 170.5 off the breathtakingly beautiful Blue Ridge Parkway, the event boasts ten unique stages, several of handcrafted timber frame construction, panel discussions on sustainability and social concerns, a variety of workshops, Healing Arts offerings, an Artisan’s Village and Children’s Universe, a smorgasbord of organic food offerings, and even a 5k morning trail race and guided hikes along the trails that run through the bordering National Park.

The much-anticipated FloydFest initial artist line-up includes: Alison Krauss & Union Station feat. Jerry Douglas, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Brandi Carlile, SOJA, Leftover Salmon, Matisyahu, Bruce Hornsby & the Noisemakers, Ozomatli, Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder,  Sam Bush Band, Galactic with Special Guest Corey Henry, Punch Brothers, Gary Clark Jr, ALO,  Conspirator, Garage A Trois, Toubab Krewe, Locos Por Juana, David Wax Museum, Trouble Funk Go-Go Band, The Mighty Wonders, MarchFourth Marching Band, Pedrito Martinez, Steep Canyon Rangers, Darrell Scott Trio, Orgone, Anders Osborne, Corey Ledet, Drew Emmitt Band, The Rogues, Hoots & Hellmouth, The Dead Kenny G’s, Marco Benevento Trio, ArtOfficial, Joshua Panda Band, Morwenna Lasko & Jay Pun Quartet, Love Canon String Band, L Shape Lot, Kings of Belmont, Gregory Alan Isakov, The Situationist, The Trapeze Show and MANY MORE to come!

Tickets and information available at www.floydfest.com or by calling 888-VA-FESTS.

Congratulations from the organizers and sponsors of the AMPC to all the selected photographers and a sincere thank you to everyone who submitted photographs for consideration sharing their vision of the people, places and pursuits that distinguish the Southern Appalachians.

And the finalists are . . .

Remember, the exhibition at the Turchin Center on the campus of Appalachian State University opens on Friday February 3rd, 2012 and the images selected for exhibition will be posted on the High Country Photos website as soon as the People’s Choice Award voting begins on February 3rd. This night also marks the opening reception of the 9th annual Appalachian Mountain Photography Competition.

To all of this year’s participants: thank you for your support and participation. Together all of you keep raising the bar. Proceeds from the annual Appalachian Mountain Photography Competition support Student Outdoor Learning Expeditions (SOLE Trips) at Appalachian State University. Visit www.op.appstate.edu to learn more.

The special December Dollar Days admission is offered to residents and those working in the six counties represented by the NC High Country Host regional travel promotion organization:  Mitchell, Avery, Watauga, Ashe, Alleghany and Wilkes.  The discount is also extended to students of colleges and universities in the High Country and to guests traveling in the same vehicle with those eligible for the December discount.  Please present a driver’s license, college ID, or local utility bill as proof of High Country residency.  An employee identification badge or pay stub can be used to show employment at a High Country business.

A slight change has been made to the Dollar Days rates to encourage guests to plan their visits for times when lines are shorter or nonexistent.  Admission for eligible Dollar Days guests will still be $1 per person on weekdays and on weekends before 10 am.  On weekends after 10 a.m., Dollar Days admission will be $2 per person.

“We are pleased that people respond so positively to our Dollar Days promotion,” said Grandfather Mountain Stewardship Foundation President Penn Dameron. “One of the side effects of this popularity, however, has been that we have seen long lines develop at our entrance gate during peak hours.  We hope that this slight change to the promotion will reduce traffic congestion in the middle of the day, and will result in a more enjoyable experience for everyone.”

Due to an immediate need at local food banks, Grandfather Mountain is once again adding an extra way for those who work and reside in the High Country to take advantage of December Dollar Days.

This December instead of paying $1 (on weekdays or weekends before 10 a.m.) or $2 (on weekends after 10 a.m.) in cash for admission to Grandfather Mountain, you can choose to donate 1-2 cans of food per person for Grandfather’s December Food Drive.  All donations will be distributed to High Country food pantries.

“We encourage everyone who wants to take advantage of our Dollar Days offer to donate cans of food as the price of admission. This will double the benefit to the community,” said Dameron.

Many regular visitors believe that winter is the most beautiful season at Grandfather and visitors can expect to see 360 degree views from the Mile High Swinging Bridge that seem to go on forever.

Although the bears will be hibernating in December, the Mountain has four other animal exhibits where guests can see and photograph cougars, river otters, a golden eagle and white-tailed deer from close range in their natural surroundings.

The Nature Museum is a cozy place to duck into for a break from the chill. Mildred’s Grill offers homemade vegetable soup and chili, as well as salads and sandwiches.   Just down the path, Grandfather’s Fudge Shop has 20 savory flavors to choose from including peppermint stick, pumpkin pie and caramel peanut bar.

Another great opportunity while visiting the park during the winter is to visit the Mountain’s gift shops.  Many holiday presents for all age ranges can be found among the dozens of memorable items and collectibles stocked in the gift shops especially for the winter months.

The Mountain is open every day in December, weather permitting, with three exceptions.  The park will have reduced hours December 8 and 24 with ticket sales ending at 2 p.m. and the park closing at 3 p.m. The park will be closed all day December 25.   The hours of operation for the month are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. with ticket sales ending at 4 p.m.  For current weather conditions, phone the Entrance gate at 828-733-4337.

 
Some of the most well-known and beloved performers in acoustic music, Alison Krauss & Union Station featuring Jerry Douglas, have been added to the Sunday, April 29, schedule as the closing performance of MerleFest 25. MerleFest 25, presented by Lowe’s Hardware, is slated for April 26 – 29, 2012, and will once again take place on the campus of Wilkes Community College in Wilkesboro, North Carolina. MerleFest is an annual homecoming of musicians and music fans, gathering to celebrate the memory of musician Eddy Merle Watson, beloved son of American music icon Doc Watson.

Throughout her remarkable career, which spans a quarter century, Alison Krauss has earned a record-breaking 26 Grammy® Awards. The members of her renowned band Union Station—Jerry Douglas (Dobro, lap steel, vocals), Dan Tyminski (guitar, mandolin, lead vocal), Ron Block (banjo, guitar) and Barry Bales (bass, vocals), with Krauss on lead vocal and fiddle— have each earned artistic notoriety and critical acclaim with their own active careers, but form an airtight unit devoted to the process of making music when they come together as a group. Alison’s most recent project, Paper Airplane, is the artist’s first album of all-new recordings in partnership with Union Station since 2004’s Lonely Runs Both Ways. Alison and several members of Union Station also performed on this century’s best-selling soundtrack, O Brother Where Art Thou, recently reissued to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the groundbreaking album.

Alison Krauss has performed at MerleFest numerous times in the past, with 2007 being her most recent appearance. Jerry Douglas has performed at every MerleFest, with the Sunday, April 29, appearance being his 25th appearance at the festival.

Ticket purchases for MerleFest 25 – an excellent idea for holiday gifts! – can be made on the web at www.merlefest.org or by calling 1-800-343-7857. An early bird ticket discount is available through March 12, 2012.

With over 90 artists performing on 14 stages during the course of the event, MerleFest 25 is an excellent entertainment value. A complete list of confirmed performers is available at www.merlefest.org. Additionally, up-to-the-minute lineup additions for the festival can be obtained through the festival’s e-newsletter and through Facebook and Twitter.

MerleFest, considered one of the premiere music festivals in the country, is held on the campus of Wilkes Community College in Wilkesboro, North Carolina. MerleFest was founded in 1988 in memory of Eddy Merle Watson and is a celebration of “traditional plus” music. The annual festival has become the primary fundraiser for the WCC Endowment Corporation, funding scholarships, capital projects and other educational needs.

Tickets on Sale November 8th.

MerleFest 25, presented by Lowe’s Hardware and slated for April 26 – 29, 2012, is proud to announce the initial lineup for the music festival’s 25th year. The four-day event, which USA Today described as a “happy, family friendly festival that’s loved by musicians who come to play and those who come to add their energy by listening, as well,” will once again take place on the campus of Wilkes Community College in Wilkesboro, North Carolina. MerleFest is an annual homecoming of musicians and music fans, gathering to celebrate the memory of musician Eddy Merle Watson, beloved son of American music icon Doc Watson.

The initial lineup reflects the diversity and quality of performers that have become the hallmark of the four-day festival. MerleFest is known for its unique mix of traditional, roots-oriented music from the Appalachian region, including bluegrass and old-time music, and expanded to include Americana, blues, country, Celtic, Cajun, cowboy, zydeco, rock and many other styles that Doc Watson has referred to as “traditional plus.”

“This year’s initial lineup will bring back a little nostalgia for the core MerleFest audience, those fans who return year after year to hear the traditional sounds of roots music. We have some of the leading names in the music industry, of today and yesteryear, lined up to perform at the historic 25th festival,” says Ted Hagaman, director of the festival. “The MerleFest 25 lineup is made up of many of the artists who have helped make this festival the premier, internationally-recognized event that it has become. And, we are thrilled to welcome back that core fan base that has been with us for the ride all along… and welcome a whole new generation of fans to experience the music, moments and memories that make MerleFest so special.”

The following artists will join host Doc Watson at MerleFest 25:

“The initial lineup is already incredibly exciting and diverse, but it is dynamic. We will be adding to the lineup in the days and months to come,” says Hagaman. “MerleFest fans can get up-to-the-minute lineup additions and other festival news through our social media ventures. So, staying in touch with us via our electronic newsletter, website, Facebook and Twitter is crucial.”

The MerleFest box office will open for 2012 ticket sales on Tuesday, November 8, at 2:00 p.m. EST. Ticket purchases can be made on the web at www.merlefest.org or by calling 1-800-343-7857. With the estimated 90 acts performing on 14 stages during the course of the event, MerleFest is an entertainment value. An early bird ticket discount is available through March 12, 2012.

“Throughout the years, one of the major factors that has built MerleFest is the quality of the artists and performances that our guests see over the four days of the festival,” adds Hagaman. “That, in turn, creates another important element of MerleFest’s success: people truly feel that the festival is a great value. That’s probably best expressed by the fact that so many music fans and families return year after year, making MerleFest a regular spring tradition. We’re tremendously proud of what we’ve built – and at MerleFest 25, that tradition will continue.”

MerleFest, considered one of the premiere music festivals in the country, is held on the campus of Wilkes Community College in Wilkesboro, North Carolina. MerleFest was founded in 1988 in memory of Eddy Merle Watson and is a celebration of “traditional plus” music. The annual festival has become the primary fundraiser for the WCC Endowment Corporation, funding scholarships, capital projects and other educational needs.

Chris Austin Songwriting Finalists at MerleFest 2011

Entries will be accepted from November 1, 2011 until February 18, 2012.

MerleFest 25, presented by Lowe’s Home Improvement, is proud once again to host the Chris Austin Songwriting Contest. Now in its 20th year, the contest is an extraordinary opportunity for aspiring writers to have their original songs heard and judged by a panel of Nashville music industry professionals, under the direction of this year’s volunteer contest chairperson, Grammy®-winning singer/songwriter Jim Lauderdale. MerleFest 25 takes place from April 26-29, 2012.

Contest entries for the Chris Austin Songwriting Contest (CASC) will be accepted beginning November 1 via two methods:

1. U.S. Mail (P.O. Box 121855, Nashville, TN 37212)
2. The Sonicbids website

The deadline for submissions is February 18, 2012.

“The Chris Austin Songwriting Contest is an incredible opportunity for songwriters to get their works heard publicly and by professionals in the business,” says Laurie Brintle, CASC coordinator. “We encourage all amateur songsmiths to take advantage of this contest. Don’t miss this chance to compete at MerleFest 25 and be a part of this historic event!”

The contest recognizes winners in four categories—country, bluegrass, gospel/inspirational and general. To be eligible to enter, a songwriter must not derive more than 50 percent of his or her total income from songwriting or music publishing. Details about entry fees, eligibility and other requirements are available at the Chris Austin website.

Once submitted, songs are judged by a volunteer panel of Nashville songwriters, publishers and other music industry professionals. Judging is based on a song’s originality, lyrics, melody and overall commercial potential. Twelve finalists, three from each category, will be announced during the first week of April 2012. Each of the twelve finalists will enjoy admission and lodging for three nights at MerleFest, will receive a mentoring session with Jim Lauderdale, and will compete on the Austin Stage at MerleFest 25. In addition, the first place winners will receive a performance slot on the Cabin Stage on Friday of the festival.

Previous winners of the Chris Austin Songwriting Contest include Gillian Welch, Tift Merritt, Michael Reno Harrell, Adrienne Young, Martha Scanlan, David Via and Johnny Williams.

Net proceeds from the Chris Austin Songwriting Contest support the Wilkes Community College Chris Austin Memorial Scholarship. Since its inception the scholarship has awarded over $35,000 to 73 deserving students.

For additional information about the Chris Austin Songwriting Contest, call the contest hotline at 1-800-799-3838 or email Laurie Brintle, CASC coordinator.

About Chris Austin:

Chris Austin, from Boone, North Carolina, worked as a sideman for Ricky Skaggs for three years, singing and playing guitar, banjo, mandolin and fiddle. During that time he was discovered by executives at Warner Bros. Nashville, who offered him a recording contract. While releasing singles including “Blues Stay Away From Me,” “I Know There’s a Heart in There Somewhere” and “Out of Step,” Austin also developed his songwriting skills, as evidenced in “Same Ol’ Love,” recorded by Skaggs in 1991.

On March 16, 1991, Austin’s life was cut tragically short when the private plane carrying him and six other members of Reba McEntire’s band, as well as her tour manager, crashed in the mountains near San Diego.

Pete Fisher, then of Warnersongs and currently general manager of the Grand Ole Opry, and Kari Estrin, then MerleFest consultant and Pickin’ for Merle video associate producer, initiated the songwriting contest to honor Austin’s memory.

“All of our jurors this year are passionate about the outdoors, possess a significant and varied photographic background, and have been committed to the Appalachian Mountain Photography Competition in some way over the years,” states AMPC Competition Director, Rich Campbell. “We are thrilled to have these individuals be a part of the AMPC who are dedicating their time, talent, and expertise to the competition this year.”

William A. Bake

William A. Bake has photographed the South for over 35 years and has created five successful books as well as booklets, prints, and posters. Considered one of the South’s premier landscape photographers, Bake has captured many of the unique landscapes found in the southern Appalachians.

Among his published photography books are Wayfarer: A Voice from the Southern Mountains with James Dickey; The American South: Four Seasons of the Land and Towns and Cities, both with James J. Kilpatrick; and The Blue Ridge. In addition to being a well-regarded photographer, Bake is also an accomplished writer and interpreter of the natural and cultural heritage of the United States.

Ellen Gwin

Ellen Gwin grew up in a family full of artists and fell in love with photography in middle school. Having graduated from Appalachian State University with a double major in Technical Photography and Communication, Gwin has been working professionally as a photographer ever since. She enjoys shooting photography in both film and digital formats.

Passionate about her home in western North Carolina and the amazing natural and outdoor resources available, Gwin strives to promote these resources at every given chance.

Andrew Miller

Andrew Miller developed a passion for photography in the mid-nineties when he began capturing the wild and unique places he found himself working in as an outdoor educator and guide. He continues to work as a freelance photographer capturing the work of artists for print, web, and archival purposes and has had images published in fine art catalogs and WNC Magazine.

While working at Appalachian State University, Andrew developed the Appalachian Mountain Photography Competition and Exhibition and oversaw the competition through the first 8 years.

This year’s competition deadline is fast approaching! Be sure to get your photos uploaded by 5:00 pm Friday, November 18, 2011.

Rich Campbell

The AMPC has grown into one of the most prestigious regional photography competitions and we aim to strengthen that position. We have developed a very strong partnership with local entities such as the Turchin Center, the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation, Virtual Blue Ridge, Appalachian Voices, the Mast General Store, Bistro Roca, Footsloggers, Peabody’s, Stick Boy Bread Company, and others.

Connections in the community create so many opportunities for us as a competition. We really want this to continue to be a true community event. We want people who visit the exhibition in the Turchin Center between February and June to feel like they have just seen the best collection of images available that depict the unique character, people, places, and pursuits that distinguish the Southern Appalachians.

I have been Associate Director at ASU Outdoor Programs for 15 years, and am thrilled to be more closely linked to the competition. I have directed the Banff Film Festival every year since its inception and I am excited to work closely with both the photography competition and film festival this year. The two events complement one another so well that it is a natural progression.

2011 Banff Film Festival Audience

We have intentionally created the AMPC to be a part of the Banff Film Festival weekend. That weekend has really turned into a celebration of mountain culture. The Banff Film Festival brings films from all over the globe highlighting mountain culture. The AMPC is a way for our community to interact, in a very personal level through photography, with our own mountain region and community. We have Banff bring us films from all corners of the globe, and we have our own community showcasing new aspects of our beloved Southern Appalachian region through the AMPC. It is a great ‘local to global festival’ on mountain culture every spring, right here in Boone.

Our Student Outdoor Learning Expeditions (SOLE) are programs and trips that are longer and they travel to more diverse locations in North America and abroad. SOLE programs emphasize discovery of self and expedition team members – as well as discovery of the landscapes and cultures of the wilderness areas and countries we explore. We travel in regions of countries that are seldom visited, remote and exceptionally beautiful. Traveling in these settings through adventure education, students learn valuable skills in leadership, perseverance, group dynamics, teamwork, responsibility, wilderness ethics and global perspectives.

[Video for New Zealand SOLE Trip]

Proceeds from the Banff Film Festival and the AMPC make these experiences, that many students share with us as life changing, more accessible to more students.

We encourage photographers to enter this competition regardless of their previous experience. We do have professional photographers who enter, but we have also had plenty of success with amateur photographers in the past, including amateurs who have captured Best in Show. Photographers who capture a unique perspective of a familiar landscape or an interesting take on a familiar subject tend to do really well in this competition.

One of the primary goals of the AMPC is to encourage photographers to grab their camera and create their own story that they want to share with our community. When hundreds of people do this, the end result is a powerful exhibition and an important archive of what is so special to our own mountain community that we call home.

Deadline for submitting entries is Friday, November 18, 2011 at 5:00 pm. Follow Virtual Blue Ridge Parkway and the Appalachian Mountain Photography Competition on Facebook for all the latest updates and news.

“We wanted to create a fun event that would give kids a chance to be more involved in the animals’ day and provide us with the opportunity to raise awareness about the improvements that we hope to make to our eagle habitat,” said Christie Tipton, habitat manager.

Halloween activities take place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and are included with regular admission. Kids in costume will get in at half price.

The day begins at 10 a.m. with Halloween-themed crafts in the Nature Museum. At 10:30 a.m. kids can go trick or treating in the animal habitats, which will be decorated in mummy, werewolf, ghost and graveyard themes.

At 11 a.m. Naturalists will meet by the Mildred the Bear statue in the Nature Museum to lead an interactive program titled “Going Batty for Bats.” Participants will learn all about bats and their importance to the environment.

Prepare to be captivated by ghost stories at 11:30 a.m. in the Nature Museum Auditorium. Local storytellers Maggie Christenbury and Owen Gray will lead scary tales to thrill the whole family.

At 12:30 p.m. kids get a chance to compete in a costume contest and vote on their favorite costume worn by the animal habitat staff. Voting takes place in the Nature Museum lobby.

Immediately following the costume contest, guests have a unique opportunity to participate in the animal enrichments by decorating pumpkins and other treats that will later be given to the animals. An enrichment is anything different that can help to break up the animals’ day such as a scent, a new toy or a treat.

Join the Mountain’s Naturalists in the Nature Museum at 1 p.m. for the “Creepy, Crawly Critters!” program. Participants will learn about creatures of the night, creatures that bite and other spooky animals.

At 2 p.m. the Habitat Staff will begin the animal enrichments.  Meet at the deer overlook to watch the animals enjoy their decorated treats.

The last of the day’s programming will take place in front of the fudge shop at 2:45 p.m. An “Owl Encounter” allows guests to meet and learn about the spooky night prowlers that can be found in the High Country.

Throughout the day guests can learn more about the eagle habitat, special programs offered by habitat staff and additional opportunities to get involved on the Mountain. For more information, contact the habitat staff at 828-733-8715.

Grandfather Mountain is a globally recognized nature preserve famous for its 360-degree vistas, native wildlife habitats and Mile High Swinging Bridge. The attraction is located on US Highway 221, two miles north of Linville, NC, and one mile south of the Blue Ridge Parkway at milepost 305.

The Grandfather Mountain Stewardship Foundation is a not-for-profit corporation established to preserve Grandfather Mountain, operate the nature park in the public interest and participate in educational research activities.

For more information phone 800-468-7325 or plan a trip at www.grandfather.com.

Gateway Community Reception
Chestnut Creek School of the Arts – 6:00 – 6:45  p.m.
100 N. Main Street – Galax

Ed McMahon “Protecting Community Character” Presentation
Rex Theater – 7:00 – 8:30 p.m.
113 East Grayson Street – Galax

Held in conjunction with the 3-day “Taking the High Road Workshop”, we invite you and your community leaders to come hear Ed McMahon, noted author, attorney, lecturer and expert on creating and sustaining livable and prosperous communities. Asset based economic development, tourism promotion, and historic preservation are among the themes of Mr. McMahon’s publications and programs. He has been providing guidance to communities and local leaders on issues facing “gateway communities” for more than a decade in work with the National Park Service capturing this work in a book he co-author entitled, “Balancing Nature and Commerce in Gateway Communities.”

Attendees will learn about the economic, social and environmental benefits of protecting community character, and the value of open space and historic resources. Learn about major tools that can be used to protect community character, including education, voluntary initiatives and other non-regulatory action, as well as alternatives to conventional residential and commercial development. The session will address the challenges in preserving community character and ways to generate public support and the political will to use available tools.

Says McMahon, “The truth is that development is inevitable, but the destruction of community character and natural resources that too often accompany growth is not. Progress does not demand degraded surroundings.”

The evening events are free of charge, but please register here.

Fall Gathering Days
Saturdays, October 8, 15, and 22
10:00 am – 4:00 pm

Wood smoke and the smell of apple butter boiling signal fall. Come help with chores associated with the fall season, like making apple butter and making and drying fruits and vegetables. See other chores common to the area in the early 1900s such as wheel-making, chair-making, basket-making, and fiber arts demonstrations.

Mabry Mill Bands
Sundays, October 2-23
2:00 pm – 5:00 pm

Enjoy traditional string band music of the Carroll/Patrick/Floyd county areas. Bring a lawn chair and your flat footin’ shoes.

October 02 Mac Traynham and the Blue Ridge Thunderbirds
October 09 Mountain Ivy
October 16 South Fork Ramblers
October 23 Mountain Ivy

Author Book Signings
Saturday October 15 & 22 at the Gift Shop

Fall Color Special All October at the Restaurant
Chicken Pot Pie Dinner with spiced apples, fried green tomatoes, coffee or tea – $6.95

Corn Grinding and Mill Talks Every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday
11:00 am, 1:00 pm, 3:00 pm
September 30 – October 30 and

Building a water-powered mill was Ed Mabry’s dream, and he accomplished it in innovative ways. Learn about this icon of the Blue Ridge Parkway and the role the mill and the Mabrys played in the community. See the grist mill in operation.

Halloween Party at Mabry Mill Restaurant
Ghosts and Goblins are welcome for Halloween haunting and special treats!!

Mabry Mill Restaurant and Gift Shop is open from 8 am to 6 pm, 7 days a week through the end of October.

For more information, contact: Mindy deCesar, (540) 745 9680 or Mabry Mill Restaurant, (276) 952-2947

One can find 42 different species of amphibians along the trails, and of course, this includes the salamander. According to the National Park Service, the Southern Appalachians are the “center of of salamander diversity on earth.” Not only that, but the Blue Ridge Parkway is at the “heart of this zone.”

One can also find more than 250 species of birds along the parkway, including bobolinks, eastern meadowlarks, American kestrels, great blue herons, kingfishers, and peregrine falcons. This is an ideal setting for the avid bird-watcher!

Along with amphibians and birds, the Blue Ridge Parkway is also home to 50 different species of fish, 22 species of snakes, and 7 species of turtles.

An action-planning workshop building on community input gathered during the Parkway’s 75th Anniversary.

November 15—17, 2011
Crossroads Institute
Galax, Virginia

Make plans now to participate in this 3-day workshop that will provide community and business leaders with an opportunity to turn ideas gathered during the Parkway’s 75th Anniversary into action and to explore significant issues facing the region. Through case studies, presentations, exercises and work sessions, participants will develop work plans for regional implementation. Based on the highly acclaimed Gateway Training Workshops and planned in conjunction with The Conservation Fund.

Workshop Highlights:

• Examine Case Studies of Innovative Partnerships between Public Lands and Partners
• Identify Regional Collaborative Strategies
• Introduction of New Economic Impact and Vitality Index Tools
• Protect Community Character (featuring public presentation by Ed McMahon)
• Access Information regarding Financing Strategies
• Explore Interdisciplinary Approach to Strategic Conservation Planning
• Participate in Action Planning Work with Parkway Staff
• Identify Regional Approaches to Wayfinding and Connectivity

Potential Participants Include:

• Community Leaders
• Engaged Citizens
• Elected Officials
• Business Owners
• Tourism Partners
• Planning Council Members
• Parks and Recreation Managers
• Land Managers
• Economic Development Professionals
• Anyone interested in Community Development

Important Dates to Remember:

September 30—Participant Applications Due
October 10—Confirmation of workshop acceptance

Direct Questions or Scholarship Inquiries to:
Leesa Brandon, Community & Partnerships Coordinator, Blue Ridge Parkway—828.348.3420 or send an email.

Grandfather Flash Mob

There will be a flash mob at Grandfather Mountain Tuesday, September 13 and we need your help! We need as many people as possible to come and be a part of the event to make it GREAT!

This flash mob will consist of a large group of people (that’s you guys and ladies!) converging on and around the Swinging Bridge and singing “The Hills Are Alive.” A team from ASU will be on hand to help us capture the event and produce a video for YouTube. We hope to have some local celebrities make cameos as well.

The event should be a lot of fun! Our goal is for the flash mob and subsequent video to promote the High Country, Grandfather Mountain, and a Balsam Range concert we’ve got planned for later in the month (details about this are on the Grandfather Mountain website).

PLEASE SHARE THIS EVENT INVITE WITH YOUR FRIENDS, FAMILY, AND COWORKERS IN THE AREA.

Those taking part in the flash mob need to arrive at Grandfather on September 13th between 5:30 pm and 6 pm. We’d like for the flash mob to begin as close to 6 pm as possible. Those taking part will not need to pay admission. We hope to have everything wrapped up and the park cleared at 7 pm.

The rain date for this will be September 14.

Jerry Butler and the Blu-J's

Great Smoky Mountains Heritage Center’s Fall Concert Series will present three concerts in September, premiering on Friday, September 2 with a performance by Jerry Butler & The Blu-J’s. All the concerts begin at 7:00 pm and are presented in the Heritage Center’s outdoor amphitheater which has a roof over the entire amphitheater so that concerts take place rain or shine.

Based in Knoxville, Jerry Butler & The Blu-J’s are bluegrass festival favorites. Their repertoire consists of original and traditional bluegrass songs, familiar classic country songs and heartfelt gospel.

Band leader/guitarist/vocalist Jerry Butler began playing and singing bluegrass music at the age of twelve.  His first band, The Knoxville Newgrass Boys, included Phil Leadbetter, a classmate and dobro virtuoso. They started out playing at high schools and then played at festivals around the South and even performed at the White House during the Bicentennial. Butler has also performed with Lynwood Lunsford & the Misty Valley Boys, The Joe Isaacs Band, and Pine Mountain Railroad.

The Grassabillies

On September 9, The Grassabillies are returning to the Heritage Center after making a big splash at their Fall Concert Series debut last year. Hailing from Gatlinburg in the Great Smoky Mountains, The Grassabillies are a musical group of family and friends that plays bluegrass music with no rules and no apologies. The star of the show is vivacious vocalist/songwriter/guitarist Kata Hay. A native of Oklahoma and a talented yodeler, she holds the distinction of being the youngest person to win the Ed McMahon Star Search at age five. She then went on to tour the country, opening concerts and working with such artists as LeAnn Rimes, Rascal Flatts, Ray Price, Kitty Wells, Mickey Gilley, and Barbara Mandrell. In 2005, she took a job in one of the music theaters in Pigeon Forge, TN, where she met Robbie Helton, her future husband, band-mate, and co-writer. They later became featured performers at Dolly Parton’s Dixie Stampede and formed two bands, Kata Hay & The Blaze and The Grassabillies.

The Lonetones

The Fall Concert Series will conclude with a performance by The LoneTones from Knoxville. Also making their second appearance at the Heritage Center, The LoneTones are a very talented group of songwriters and musicians with a unique acoustic sound. They play original, Appalachian roots-based music that stretches the “tradition.” They’ve been called modern folk, Americana, folk rock, folkadelic, and more by various music writers attempting to describe their music. At the center of the band are married couple Steph Gunnoe (guitar and vocals) and Sean McCollough (banjo, mandolin, guitar, keys and vocals). They are backed by the strong rhythm section of Maria Williams (bass and vocals) and Steve Corrigan (drums and glockenspiel).

The Fall Concert Series is sponsored by Boyd’s Jig & Reel. Admission to each concert is $5.00 per person at the door, with Heritage Center members admitted free. Food and beverage concessions are available for purchase on site. No coolers, food, drink, or pets are allowed. For more information, call the Center at 865-448-0044 or visit their website.

“We actually sold-out on Friday and Saturday, reaching 14,000 attendee capacity on those days,” notes Svetlana Nikic, VP of Sales and Marketing for FloydFest. “This was a first for us and it is really rewarding to receive all the wonderful feedback from our patrons over the past few weeks.”

New for FloydFest X was free drinking water to all festival goers. With the support of Klean Kanteen, Across-the-Way Productions installed a commercial well to help attendees save money and the environment. Patrons were also able to purchase a Klean Kanteen reusable stainless steel pint emblazoned with the logo of this year’s FloydFest for water, beer, and wine. These pints eliminated the use of more than 64,000 single-use plastic cups throughout FloydFest.

FloydFest included an array of eXtraordinary offerings, which made the festival so unique. In addition to the music, the 80-acre mountain plateau offered a progressive ‘Global Village’ area of workshops and demonstrations, free trapeze lessons, over 100 artisans and crafters, incredible food selections from pulled-pork BBQ to fresh sushi, organic pizza, and hand-churned ice cream, a comprehensive healing arts area, and a Children’s Universe. It is the family-friendly atmosphere and these original offerings that bring in new and veteran attendees year after year.

FloydFest frequenter, Jim Hughes of Port, Virginia, shared these praises with the Across-the-Way Productions team, “Thanks for FloydFest and all you and your dream team do to promote such a wonderful, glorious, magnificent, warm, loving and happy musical experience!  FloydFest to me is like a kid in a musical candy store with hungry eyes and limits on what can be consumed on so many stages (with something for everyone) and each year the benchmark keeps growing higher and higher.  My goal is to keep attending until I’m taken from this earth, so keep doing what you’re doing cause it sure feels right!”

As another FloydFest has come and gone, the Across-the-Way Productions team is already prepping for next year and is committed to making the next ten years of FloydFest even more eXciting while staying true to its roots.

For more information please visit the FloydFest website or call 1.888.VA.FESTS.

7 Walkers Featuring Bill Kreutzmann and Papa Mali, Infamous Stringdusters, Possum Jenkins, Simplified, Major Sevens, Strange Lady, and Great Funktier Added to Performer Lineup.

Music On the Mountaintop has confirmed the second round of artists slated for the fourth annual two-day music festival outside of Boone, North Carolina this August 26-27, 2011. The newest artists joining the performer lineup at the camping festival includes: 7 Walkers featuring Bill Kreutzmann and Papa Mali; Infamous Stringdusters; Possum Jenkins; Simplified; Major Sevens; Strange Lady and Grand Funktier. These latest additions to the environmentally conscious festival join previously announced performers: Sam Bush; Railroad Earth; Greensky Bluegrass; Acoustic Syndicate; Yo Mama’s Big Fat Booty Band; Frontier Ruckus; Town Mountain; River Whyless; Naked Gods; the Mantras; the New Familiars; the Lazybirds; the Native Sway; Simplified; Uncle Mountain and Secret B-Sides.

Music On the Mountaintop is held at the Grandfather Campgrounds in Foscoe, North Carolina. The first year at the new location, the venue is located approximately ten miles from Boone, North Carolina, providing potable water throughout, several public restrooms and bathhouses, a public store, and over 200 shaded campsites. The campgrounds provide the perfect setting for the ecologically driven festival, which focuses on educational awareness on pressing environmental issues. Music On the Mountaintop will work closely with Mountain Alliance and Appalachian Voices, to continue efforts for a cleaner more sustainable world.

“It is important that Music On the Mountaintop is trying to give back,” states festival veteran and 2011 headliner Sam Bush. “It’s not just a music festival, it’s helping out with environmental issues and helping their community.” Bush recently created a video message in support of Music On the Mountaintop, which can be viewed in it’s entirety below:

Tickets are on sale now and begin at $40 for a single day ticket and $70 for a weekend pass. You can purchase tickets online or at the gate. There will be two levels of camping this year. Level One, standard camping will be made available for  $15 in addition to the festival pass and Level Two is primitive camping, available for $12 in addition to the festival pass. Car Camping Tickets are limited.

Music On the Mountaintop is produced by Yellowdog Entertainment. Visit the Music on the Mountaintop website for the most up to date information.

Professional and amateur photographers are officially invited to participate in this year’s Appalachian Mountain Photography Competition! Every year the competition gets more fierce as photographers from all over the world submit hundreds of entries for review. What will you be submitting this year?

There are a couple of new developments for this year’s comp that we’d like to make everyone aware of.

The prize for the Our Ecological Footprint category is larger than ever, totalling $450. Appalachian Voices will be furnishing $200 cash while Mast General Store will be contributing a prize package worth $250. That makes this category the 3rd largest prize! If you need inspiration on capturing imagery that shows negative impacts on the environment in Southern Appalachia please visit the Appalachian Voices website for the latest news.

The Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation’s category, Blue Ridge Parkway — A Ribbon of Road, will focus on images of the Blue Ridge Parkway that incorporate some aspect of the roadway itself.

Please note that this year’s timeframe for submissions is a bit different as well. This year’s contest starts August 1, 2011 with a deadline for submissions on November 18, 2011.

As usual, please help us spread the word! We have press releases available on our Media  page, and this nifty banner that you can use on your own websites and blogs. If you’re promoting the comp on Twitter, please use the hashtag #appmtnphoto.

<a href=”http://www.appmtnphotocomp.org/”><img src=”http://www.appmtnphotocomp.org/images/banners/ampc-banner-9th-annual.gif” border=”0″ alt=”9th Annual Appalachian Mountain Photography Competition” width=”525″ height=”116″ /></a>

Remember that a portion of the proceeds raised from the AMPC support Outdoor Programs Student Learning Expeditions at Appalachian State University. SOLE trips take students around the world on educational journeys of discovery. Visit the Outdoor Programs website to learn more about this exciting program.

Thank you for your support this year and Happy Shooting!

I love the festival’s dedication to the arts, from the vaudeville acts to the music performers to the spiritual aspect.  Congrats guys.

Some stand out performances were of course some of the headliners like Donna the Buffalo, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, Railroad Earth, Sam Bush, Old Crow Medicine Show and Del McCoury Band. Other standout performances were some of the “Under the Radar” bands like James Justin & Company, Kings of Belmont and the The Brand New Life. Some of my other personal favorites were Shane Pruitt ( WOW ), Thousands of Ones and Yarn.

I have produced or attended over 300 music festivals & concerts and can honestly say that overall it does not get much better. It had all the ingredients of a top notch music festival including an incredible line up of performers, a good organization plan and a really nice venue located along the Blue Ridge Parkway.  Great job!

Also the National Park Service Rangers did a great job handling the massive amount of traffic on the Parkway and deserve a Big Thank You.

I am already looking forward to next year’s event and encourage all that did not make this year’s event to put it on your calendar and try to attend. Next year’s dates are July 26-29. Let’s go!!!

Want to make sure the Blue Ridge Parkway gets that grant? Vote as many times as you can between now and September 6th, and be sure to tell your friends and family to vote too!

VOTE NOW!

This year’s theme is “Rock Your Park!” NRPA and its grassroots initiative, America’s Backyard, encourage Americans to show the country how parks and recreation make life extraordinary! NRPA will support park and recreation agencies and citizens as they plan special events and initiatives that remind local decision makers and the community of the exciting and vital role that parks and recreation play in the lives of Americans.

This year is particularly motivating as there are five weekends in July, giving citizens a record number of opportunities to get out to their local parks and recreation areas and get active. NRPA, in coordination with park and recreation agencies nationwide, is inspiring people to create a healthy weekend habit by getting out to a park, trail, playground, swimming pool, natural area or other public space every weekend this July. To make a personal commitment to get outdoors, citizens can sign the Five in July Park Pledge.

“According to recent studies, about one-third of Americans struggle with inactivity, obesity and associated health challenges,” said NRPA CEO Barbara Tulipane. “Now is time for change. Through Park and Recreation Month, we’re encouraging Americans to get out, get active and get healthy. By signing our Five in July Park Pledge, citizens can become a real part of the movement toward wellness.”

Park and recreation agencies are at the forefront in the fight against obesity and in the campaign for health and wellness; however, their services and programs are dangerously at risk due to budget cuts. National Park and Recreation Month is just one way citizens can develop healthy habits and get out locally to show their support of this vital resource.

To spread the word and demonstrate the power of parks and recreation, NRPA is hosting a national “Rock Your Park” Flash Mob Contest. Citizens are encouraged to put together a group of people and show the power of parks together in Flash Mob form. Also, NRPA is hosting its second annual July Social Media Project. Individuals are encouraged to take photos with the official “Rock Your Park” social media sign and post them on their favorite social media sites.

Through efforts by NRPA, the U.S. House of Representatives passed an official resolution for Park and Recreation Month in 2009. The association supports the national park and recreation community and the general public by advocating for federal support for park and recreation programs and legislation.

As a President’s Challenge Advocate, NRPA is also pleased to promote the Presidential Active Lifestyle Award program in support of the Let’s Move initiative. For those looking to extend their physical activity commitment, the Presidential Active Lifestyle Award, or “PALA,” can be earned by taking part in 60 minutes of physical activity for kids (30 minutes for adults), five days a week for six weeks. For additional information, please visit www.millionpalachallenge.org.

Floyd Fandango

If the true definition of ‘Fandango’ is a lively dance done in triple time, then Floyd Fandango, a weekend-long Independence Day celebration, is not too far off the mark. This unique event, which is held annually off the Blue Ridge Parkway near Floyd, Virginia, has garnered somewhat of a cult following since its 2004 inception. Unorthodox festivities are often the headline, including past performances by Junior Brown playing under an Italian carnival tent with snake charmers and a trained dog show, and other carnival-themed attractions. This year’s attendees can expect an equally solid roster of non-traditional entertainment and merriments.

Upon arrival at the pristine mountain venue, located at milepost 170.5 off the beautiful, and non-commercial, Blue Ridge Parkway, attendees exchange a ticket for a commemorative wine or beer glass and wooden pogs for beer tasting (wine tastings are free throughout the day). Meander along a shady garden path, past a small stage of string musicians, and onto the main field- a 40-acre expanse culminating with a jaw-dropping, timber framed stage set against the tree-lined backdrop of Rock Castle Gorge. Set up a chair or shade tent and relax to the alt-country sounds of the aptly-chosen band These United States and Big Easy musical favorite Anders Osborne, both opening acts for headliner JJ Grey and Mofro, a southern-born crooner with a large southwest Virginia following.

Two large covered tents feature wine tastings on one side of the field and beer tastings on the other, with a competition for ‘best in show,’ ‘people’s choice’ and ‘judges choice,’ as well as best red wine, best white wine, and best light, medium, and dark beer. This year’s event showcases over 50 vintages of wine from local favorites Chateau Morisette, Villa Appalaccia and AmRhein wineries, as well as Cooper Vineyards, Davis Valley, Fincastle, Horton, Mattaponi, and Rockbridge vineyards. Craft beer options include Long Trail Brewing, Highland Brewery, Starr Hill, Blue Mountain Brewery, Breckenridge Brewing, Bull and Bones Brewhaus, Crispin Hard Apple Cider, Foothills Brewing, Dogfish Head Craft Brewed Ales, Old Dominion, River Company, Stillwater Artisanal Brewing Company, and Woodchuck Hard Cider.

With the 4th of July falling on a Monday, there’s no reason to rush back to school or work – weekend tickets include on-site camping and a low-key, high-octane Saturday night party, held after hours for those with a weekend camping ticket, extending the fun until midnight. All told, Floyd Fandango shares many of the attributes that might be used to describe the beverages it showcases- lively, full-bodied, and with a hint of blush.

For tickets or more information on this fine event, visit www.floydfandango.com or call 1-888-VAFESTS

FloydFest

2011 marks the 10-year anniversary of an event that has become a model for the independent, grassroots, multi-genre family friendly outdoor music festival. In the way of marketing imagery, this anniversary edition of FloydFest X, the experience is aptly named.

The “X”, according to spokespersons for the Floyd, Virginia based Production Company, Across-The-Way-Productions, stands for all things ‘X’ (eXcept ‘X-rated’). It is eXponential, that ticket sales for the festival are hovering at 100% over last year, trending to an early sell-out for an event that started in 2002 with 3,000 people on a farm off the scenic Blue Ridge Parkway near Floyd, Virginia.

It is ‘eXtraordinary’ that the aforementioned parkway locale gives the venue a breathtaking beauty. Watching performers on the custom timber framed Dreaming Creek main stage against a backdrop of trees and stars, with not a commercial building or vehicle in sight is a near-spiritual experience for anyone attending.

The 2011 line-up could be called ‘eXtreme’. It’s being touted as the “best of a decade” and includes these performers: Robert Randolph & the Family Band, Old Crow Medicine Show, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, Taj Mahal, The Tony Rice Unit, The David Grisman Sextet, Peter Rowan’s Bluegrass Band, Railroad Earth, North Mississippi All Stars, Sam Bush Band, Hot Tuna Electric and Acoustic, Del McCoury Band, Cyro Baptista & Beat the Donkey, Toubab Krewe, Carolina Chocolate Drops, and many more.

With over one hundred bands showcased on nine uniquely different performance stages and spanning Wednesday through Sunday, it could also be named ‘FloydFest the eXtended version’.

You can’t forget ‘X marks the spot’ – FloydFest X offers as much diversity in the non-musical arena as it does within it. Children are well occupied in a safe and central ‘Children’s Universe’ that features open-mic performances, stage entertainment, waterslide, martial arts workshops, free trapeze lessons, and a gaming tent. Alternative-trending adults (and those just looking for a great massage) will thrill at the array of workshops and variants of therapy from tai chi to qigong. Food offerings range from organic vegetarian to brick oven pizza to gator bites, solar smoothies, homemade doughnuts, local coffee, Virginia wines and craft beer including Magic Hat, Starr Hill and Foothills Brewing. Over 100 regional artisans offer a selection of superior products from handcrafted moccasins to instruments, clothes, jewelry and fine art.

‘EXponential, eXtreme, eXtended, FloydFest X is definitely shaping up to be all that it proclaims- basically the music eXperience of the summer.

For more information, please visit www.floydfest.com.

In planning for MerleFest 2011, challenges were faced given the economic climate. However, the festival team agreed that it would not cut back on the quality of the event or in any way diminish the experience their fans have come to expect. At the same time, they renewed their commitment to Wilkes Community College – determined to maintain the fundraising levels already established. After a year of hard work, we are presented with the 24th edition of the festival. It’s sure to be as good as every prior year where everyone enjoys the Music, experiences a MerleFest Moment, and makes Memories at MerleFest 2011!

Here’s a video preview:

And a photo gallery:

View the Merlefest 2011 lineup and purchase your tickets.  We’ll see you there!

MerleFest was founded in 1988 in memory of Eddy Merle Watson as a fundraiser for Wilkes Community College Endowment Corporation and a celebration of “traditional plus” music. Scheduled for April 28 – May 1, 2011, the event is held on the campus of Wilkes Community College in Wilkesboro, North Carolina.

Thanks to all of the photographers this year for participating, as well as the general public at large for helping us to get the word out with press releases, blog posts, blog comments, etc. If you, or someone you know, would like to participate as a competition sponsor or supporter, please contact Andrew Miller, Competition Director, at 828-262-4954 or contact us using the VBR contact form.

AMPC is funded through the generous contributions of our partners, sponsors and supporters. You can provide needed operational support to AMPC by choosing to make a donation and/or offering us feedback on your user experience.

Below we have listed the the winners for top honors, categories, and special mentions.

Your participation this year will help to make the Student Outdoor Learning Expeditions through ASU’s Outdoor Programs an experience of a lifetime for many students. Thank you for your unwavering support and enthusiasm!

Click here for AMPC press & media resource information.

This year it comes to Boone for the 15th annual “best of the festival” world tour on Friday April 1st and Saturday April 2nd @ 7:30 pm at Farthing Auditorium. The Banff Mountain Film Festival features the world’s best films on mountain adventure, culture, and the environment selected from hundreds of entries submitted from around the world. Appalachian State University’s Outdoor Programs choose screenings designed to educate, entertain, and inspire you. Tickets are currently on sale at Farthing Auditorium and Footsloggers in Downtown Boone for $7 (students) and $9 (all others).

It’s always been the case that the Boone stop for the tour has had the biggest turnout, and more importantly those that watch the films show the most enthusiasm for the festival and the filmmakers that make it possible.  It’s definitely a must-see event for the travel and outdoor enthusiast.

Here are some more clips from this year’s films:

I look forward to seeing you there!

Bring a bagged lunch to the Turchin Center and we’ll provide the bottled water! We look forward to this Lunch and Learn meeting of the minds.

Sponsored by the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts.

More Details:

Date and Time: Wednesday, March 16, 2011 from noon to 1:00 pm
Contact: Visitor and Member Services
Email: turchincenter@appstate.edu
Phone: 828-262-3017
Location: Turchin Center for the Visual Arts (Google Maps)
Admission: Free

Voting for this year’s People’s Choice Award is still open! Vote here.

A public reception on Friday, March 4, 2011 at 7:00 pm for this year’s finalists chosen for the 8th Annual AMPC will also kick-off voting for the much-anticipated People’s Choice Award. A kiosk will be setup for gallery visitors, but you can also cast your vote by going to the AMPC website. Voting closes at 5:00 pm on Friday, April 1. The winner receives a $350 cash award furnished by Footsloggers Outdoor and Travel Outfitter in Boone and Blowing Rock.

March 4 also marks the time for final judging, where our 3 esteemed judges will review the finalists to select Best In Show and name seven category winners.

Winner’s will be announced April 3, 2011 once votes have been tallied for the People’s Choice Award.

Visit Virtual Blue Ridge to read more about the press release for this year’s People’s Choice Award. We wish everyone the best of luck in choosing your favorite for this year’s PCA, it definitely won’t be quick and easy!

Appalachian State University’s Outdoor Programs is seeking your help in identifying the High Country’s role models and young mountain sports stars. These young men and women will be recognized through the first ever A4 inititiative – Appalachian Adventure Achievement Award. Honors will include recognition on stage at the Banff Mountain Film Festivals, and a selection of prizes made possible by project sponsors.

There are two age categories for the A4: 17 and under, and 18-24 years old. Nominees must either reside or attend school in the High Country of NC (Watauga, Ashe, and Avery counties) to be eligible. Nominations can be submitted for individuals in successive years, but a nominee can only receive the A4 once for their age category. The April 1 screening of Banff will recognize the 17 and under A4 winner, while the April 2 screening will honor the 18-24 year-old A4 winner.

Deadline for nominations is March 18, 2011. For more information on nominations, and to actually submit a nomination, please check out the A4 Nomination Form.

These films focus on themes of environment, culture and adventure in the mountains and represent the best of the best. Hundreds of entries were submitted from around the world and Outdoor Programs has selected films for this viewing that will not only educate, but will also inspire and entertain you.

Online ticket sales for Banff can be purchased through Farthing Auditorium, or if you’re in downtown Boone, NC you can pick up your tickets at Footsloggers Outdoor and Travel Outfitters. Tickets are $9 (students can grab tickets at $7).

Check out the Banff Mountain Film Festival trailer for 2010-2011:

For more information on the Banff Mountain film festival, please visit Outdoor Programs, including a list of sponsors that make this event possible, and to see clips of other films available for viewing.

Stopped near Grandfather Mountain on the Blue Ridge Parkway

 I made my first motorcycle ride on the Blue Ridge Parkway today way earlier than expected. I found the gates open in Blowing Rock and I turned south to enjoy what winter had to show. A few deep snowdrifts still lingered along the road in shady spots, but most of the rest had melted.  It was good to be back on the nations most popular motorcycle ride. I can’t wait for the southern section to open. 

I enjoyed some great views of Grandfather Mountain and the Lynn Cove Viaduct. It was lined with snow and very pretty. The Blue Ridge Parkway is wonderfully free of the gravel and salt that covers nearly every other road in the Smoky Mountains right now, though there were a few spots with some sand on them. There was a high wind advisory in effect today and it was howling up on the ride, but I enjoyed it all the same. No trees had come down (yet), though there were some branches to dodge. Keep your eyes out for rocks in the road with the thaw, and crews are out working on projects. 

The Lynn Cove Viaduct - last section of the parkway, completed in 1983.

My fun was too short as I hit the first road closure south of Grandfather Mountain. I ducked around it with one of my fun little shortcuts, but had to leave Blue Ridge Parkway in Linville. I couldn’t resist making up run up the Diamondback on the way home. It was in pristine shape and I was on the edge of my tires until the last few switchbacks near the top of the mountain. Here I ran into the sand and salt again and wiggled my way to the top as quickly as it would allow. Unfortunately the parkway was closed here at both exits. I’m still thankful for what I got! 

It's no wonder this area is so popular. Lot's of great riding.

It’s still a ways to spring, but let’s enjoy this nice winter weather while it lasts.

Purchase 1 serigraph for 10% off at $67.50 (regular $75.00), or purchase 2 or more serigraphs for 15% off at $63.75 each. Save on your 75th Anniversary Serigraph today!

Sale ends at 11:59 pm, Friday, February 11, 2011.

Congratulations from the organizers and sponsors of the AMPC to all the selected photographers and a sincere thank you to everyone who submitted photographs for consideration sharing their vision of the people, places and pursuits that distinguish the Southern Appalachians.

And the finalists are . . .

Remember, the exhibition at the Turchin Center on the campus of Appalachian State University opens on Friday February 4th and the images selected for exhibition will be posted on the High Country Photos website as soon as the People’s Choice Award voting goes live at 5:00 pm, March 4. This night also marks the opening reception of the 8th annual Appalachian Mountain Photography Competition.

To all of this year’s participants: thank you for your support and participation. Together all of you keep raising the bar. Proceeds from the annual Appalachian Mountain Photography Competition support Student Outdoor Learning Expeditions (SOLE Trips) at Appalachian State University. Visit www.op.appstate.edu to learn more.

Hello friends of and participants in the 8th Annual Appalachian Mountain Photography Competition,

Preliminary judging for the 8th Annual Appalachian Mountain Photography has been delayed due to weather conditions and the resulting travel delay experienced by one of our judges. We anticipate completing preliminary judging by week’s end and are sending notifications by Wednesday of next week (January 19).

We will update you of any additional delays as they arise. If you are in an area effected by the current winter weather conditions, bundle up and stay safe. If you have entered photographs in the 8th Annual AMPC, good luck!

Sincerely,

Andrew Miller Coordinator, Outdoor Programs
Appalachian State University
Boone, NC 28608
828-262-4954
millra@appstate.edu
www.op.appstate.edu

Those of you that have been following Wayne know just what kind of thought, hard work, and expertise has gone into these maps. It’s like having your own personal motorcycle riding tour guide in your back pocket!

Blue Ridge Parkway Motorcycle Maps

Tanglewood Barnes and Noble Book Store

Roanoke, Virginia

Saturday December 4, 2010

1 pm

Retired National Park Ranger and author Bruce W. Bytnar will be at The Tanglewood Barnes and Noble in Roanoke, Virginia to personalize and sign copies of his book A Park Ranger’s Life: Thirty Two Years Protecting Our National Parks.

Read this book to learn what it is like to be a National Park Ranger, what threats are faced daily by visitors and resources in our parks, what you can do to help protect our parks, and make your next visit a safe one.

A Park Ranger’s Life has been adopted as required reading at Northern Arizona University, Ohio State, and Slippery Rock University for those students studying to become park rangers.  Many other colleges are listing the book as recommended reading for students.  These academic institutions have selected this book based on the entertaining, accurate, and honest depiction of the rewards, challenges, and frustrations of a career as a National Park Ranger.

(From Andrew Miller, Coordinator of Outdoor Programs)

Appalachian State University’s Outdoor Programs is one of four finalists in an online competition to win $10,000.  The finalist will be chosen by public voting on Facebook at www.facebook.com/Polartec.

Outdoor Programs will use the $10,000 to create a scholarship fund  to help more Appalachian students get outside, get leadership training, and get international study-abroad experiences of a lifetime.

Rough Ridge Celebration!

Twenty-five people representing numerous Blue Ridge Parkway partnerships met at one of the most scenic Parkway vistas to celebrate a new era of collaboration.

Stephanie Gemache called from North Augusta, S.C. the day before to make sure there would be enough parking, but also to tell Lynne Fletcher at the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation, “I have only made one gift to the Blue Ridge Parkway, and it was for Rough Ridge.”  Stephanie stayed at a local hotel the night before so that she could be on hand for this special event.

The occasion was to celebrate the re-decking of the boardwalk  straddeling this fragile ecological landscape, but also to honor the Blue Ridge Parkway Corp, a formal association of student volunteers from Appalachian State University’s Outdoor Program who have been formally trained to monitor the area and offer advice to visitors on how to protect the locations fragile vegetation, but also to remind them to “stay on the trail” and limit rock-hopping to the newly accessible “view rock”.

Greg Brown, president of Friends of the Parkway, talked about the opportunity to the park of what so many volunteers could do … and the addition of new chapters being added to the quiver of many.  One of the most recent chapters is the Boone / Blowing Rock chapters was represnted by Mike Kebelbeck who is already working to engage volunteers to complete a handicapped access walk around the circumference of Price Lake.

Susan McCracken, Vice-President of Community Relations at Appalachian State University, talked about the how the idea of a “Blue Ridge Parkway Institute” could provide the catalyst as well as the framework for managing so many collaborative relationships and opportunities to the Parkway.  Eric Furman added that funds could become available through federal assistance programs to compensate students for summer work.

The guest presentation was delivered by Randy Johnson - author, writer — who crafted the wilderness trail system for Grandfather Mountain and owner, Mr. Hugh Morton decades ago.  Randy was also on the team who designed the Tanawha Trail which stretches from Beacon Heights to near Price Lake, a part of which is the Rough Ridge segment.  Randy applauded what he saw was a new era of collaboration among many and more partners who could collectively and positively impact the health of the country’s most visited national park.

The event was hosted by the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation.

Look for Virginia Creeper throughout the northern sections of the Parkway with vines hanging their scarlet necklaces around trees and rocks. Rocky Knob and Mabry Mill area were probably peak this past weekend but lots of color remains. Dogwood and Poplar are also pretty along with Sassafras along the roadsides in areas near the Blue Ridge Music Center. The color there is beginning to fade some. Sourwood, Poplar, Dogwood, Birch, and Beech  . . .

Click here to continue reading this color report on Virtual Blue Ridge.

“A Park Ranger’s Life” has received wide spread praise from readers and been selected by three universitiesas required reading for students studying to become National Park Rangers.  The book has been recognized for its honest portrail of what it is really like to be a ranger in today’s National Parks.  The stories are entertaining, informative, give a behind the scenes glimpse into the complex issues and threats facing our parks in an ever changing world.

Mr. Bytnar says, “It is a great pleasure to spend time back at the Peaks of Otter where I spent such a major  part of my career as a ranger.  As if the beautiful scenery is not worth the trip it is always a thrill to reconnect with old friends.”

Parking spaces face Price Lake and the boat rental area. The Amphitheater is to the far left of the lake and is not far from the road. Handicap parking faces the short path to the amphitheater. Loop A campsites run directly behind the amphitheater and places campers in the perfect spot for attending events.

This outdoor amphitheater seats 300 people and various events are held here during the summer and fall seasons. Tucked away by trees, and surrounded by Price Lake, it’s a relatively shaded area. Sunday mornings in the summer (June-August) church services are held and open to the public.

For more information on this amphitheater and possible upcoming events you can contact Parkway Headquarters at 828-271-4779.

Kevin Adams, ascending into heaven at sunrise!

Kevin Adams workshop was the most informative that I have attended …  Joe Sikes

Kevin’s  presentation on “Concept Photography” really hits home the message that one can take outstanding pictures if one can open up their mind and let go of the so called “rules of photography”…Sai Chandrasekharan

The retreat is set in a magnificent area with grounds that are truly a part of the Blue Ridge Mountains…Skip Pudney

For schedule information and to enroll:

Vist us here!

In 2005 a contactor was given the job of examining the bicycle use on The Blue Ridge Parkway and the feasibility of building a bike trail along 469 mile length of the park.  Although cycling is commonly found anywhere on the Parkway the study conducted by David Evans and Associates found that most of the day use was concentrated in four areas.

Waynesboro :: Mile Post 0 – 14

Roanoke :: Mile Post 105 – 121

Boone/Blowing Rock :: Mile Post 270 – 305

Asheville :: Mile Post 375 – 398

The Study’s look at the possibility of constructing a multi-use or bicycle trail along the length of the Blue Ridge Parkway found that in only 20% of the park would it be physically practicable for such construction.  The majority of this would be in the Roanoke area.  Such construction would take millions of dollars and at present there are no plans to even plan such a major project.

Watch for future blog entries with more information on bicycle use on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

The first band, Beleza Brazil, wasted no time in attempting to chase the clouds away with their inventive rhythms and soulful harmonies. A husband and wife duo, Madeline and Humberto Sales used loop tracks of traditional Brazilian drums and percussion instruments to beef up their guitar and vocals. Sure enough, if you closed your eyes, you would swear there were five people on the stage.

Madeline’s voice was as sweet as Our Dog Blue, but as sultry as the fiery red dress she was wearing. In between songs, she explained the history and complexity of the Brazilian jazz tradition. Crowd favorites included their lively rendition of “Sunshine on a Saturday,” in which Madeline literally tried to sing the blues away, and the jazz classic, “Girl from Impanema.” Beleza Brazil left the stage to enthusiastic cheering, and believe it or not, a few rays of sunshine peeking through the clouds.

Between sets, our friend Edgar took the stage to teach a little impromptu Salsa lesson for the crowd. Folks made their way from their seats on the hill down to the stage to learn the simple but sexy moves of this popular Latin dance. “It’s all in the hips,” Edgar kept telling us. “The feet are simple, it’s the hips that make the dance.” Well, we shook our hips and moved our feet, and by the end of the quick lesson, some of us were really getting the hang of it.

Warmed up and ready to dance, the crowd was obviously excited when the second band, Los Gatos hit the stage. The six-piece Latin jazz ensemble brought a few friends to help them out, plus some unusual instruments: traditional drums and percussion pieces, and something that looked like a piece of coiled tubing with a horn on one end. Los Gatos played an upbeat mix of Latin-influenced jazz standards, classics tributes to greats like the Buena Vista Social Club, and even “Happy Birthday” to a lucky festival-goer.

While the music played below, the wine flowed at the top of the hill. Complimentary tastings were served all day, and wine was sold by the glass or bottle. Folks enjoyed a variety of delicious food choices in the courtyard, and in the tasting room, tours and tastings were offered as usual, along with our special festival treat: the Wine-a-Rita.

Despite the rain and wind, this year’s Black Dog Wine and Jazz Festival was a success. Guests and staff alike brightened the grey day with their smiles and laughter, and of course, the music helped too. We look forward to October’s Black Dog Wine and Beach Music Festival, and hope that you can join us for what promises to be another great day. More information can be found in the events section at our website www.thedogs.com.

There are the obvious facilities in this section; the Otter Creek Campground with its new entrance bridge and Kiosk, the concession operated Otter Creek Restaurant, and the James River Visitor Center.  But there is so much more.

The inquisitive visitor will discover the Otter Creek Trail.  This 3.5 mile trail meanders along the creek and Parkway motor road from the campground to the visitor center.  The trail is easy to walk and crosses the creek numerous times on stepping stones and pedestrian bridges.  Sharp rock bluffs, mountain laurel, redbud, and bird life are abundant.  At State Route 130 the trail travels through an underpass of the road.  If you are observant you will see what appears to be a ditch that follows the edge of the trail.  This is the remains of what was once a large mill operation that was obliterated when the present bridge for 130 was built.

The trail forks and makes a loop around Otter Lake.  At the north end of the loop you will find the skeletal chimney and foundation of what was once the Nathaniel Sledd Cabin.  This site is believed to have been the home of the first European settler in Amherst County, Virginia in the early 1700s.  He was drawn to this location to trade with Native Americans for beaver pelts.  Otter Creek was a heavily used travel route from the mountains above to the James River and above the threat of flood.  Otter Lake did not exist at that time being built when the Blue Ridge Parkway came through in the late 1950s.  Beaver still live in Otter Creek today.  Hikers can see their handiwork in dams and the stumps and bases of trees that they have felled for food and construction materials.  Trees around the trail have wire mesh around their base to protect them from the industrious rodents.

Beyond the James River Visitor Center you will find a remnant of our Country’s transportation history.  On the opposite bank of the James River is a fully restored canal lock from the Kanawha Canal System that served as the main commercial transportation from the Shenandoah Valley to Richmond, Virginia before the Civil War.  Looking up river you will be looking into the James River Water Gap, a geological feature left from a millennium of the river cutting its way through the Blue Ridge Mountains.  This makes the James one of only two rivers that flow from west of the Blue Ridge toward the Atlantic Ocean.

So the next time you are driving through this area stop and get out of your vehicle and see what wonders await you.

Photographers are encouraged to capture images of trees along the Blue Ridge Parkway that stand out as the most beautiful, the oldest or largest, trees that tell a story or have a place in history, and those that are unique for their shape, species or character.

Trees are an integral part of the human experience providing the raw materials that shape our homes and the fuel that keeps them warm. Trees inspire us with their stately grandeur, their displays of seasonal color and their annual cycle of renewal that signifies the changing of seasons. The areas comprising the Blue Ridge Parkway boast nearly 100 tree species that contribute to ecological zones of unsurpassed diversity. The Parkway Tree Project seeks to bring greater public awareness to the rich natural resources of the Blue Ridge Parkway and to document its most outstanding trees.

In addition to capturing images of trees, photographers submitting to the Parkway Tree Project are asked to identify the tree species, document the tree’s location (e.g. GPS coordinates, Mile Post, or other identifying indicators of the tree’s location), and describe in a short story of a paragraph or more why the photographed tree is of particular significance.

Entries will be judged on impact, subject matter, center of interest, and storytelling – effectively sharing the journey by celebrating trees along the Parkway. Happy Shooting!

This year’s AMPC will be open for registration and submissions on Friday, September 17, 2010! This should give you shutterbugs a little extra time to squeeze in last minute summertime shots for this year’s comp. The competition will also be closing a little bit earlier than usual, too, so that’s something to keep in mind as you get your submissions together. For a full schedule of events, rules, FAQ and other important info, please visit the website: www.appmtnphotocomp.org.

Be sure to review the rules this year as they have been updated, and please review the comprehensive FAQ found on the main competition website. I would love to hear suggestions for adding to this section to make everyone’s experience as smooth as possible.

We look forward to this year’s competition and hope you are too!

Thanks for helping us get the word out. You can use this handy code for a banner graphic to use on your own website or blog:

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MerleFest 2010

In late April, we were able to attend MerleFest 2010, one of the best Bluegrass music festivals in the United States. It is billed as “Traditional Plus” and rightfully so. The array of the types of bluegrass music at this event is incredible.

I have been able to attend almost every year of this legendary four day music festival. As usual, I saw many excellent performers and took a lot of great pictures. If you like bluegrass music, you owe it to yourself to check this festival out. This is the largest music festival in the Blue Ridge Mountains and one of the best organized music festivals in the business. It is a great attitude adjustment for early spring.

FloydFest 9

In late July we were able to attend FloydFest 9, in Floyd Virginia. This is a family friendly music festival. It is a four day celebration of music and art that bridges the gap between music genres, generations and cultures. The schedule of performers is really good and the venue is awesome. It is an 80-acre compound located right off the Blue Ridge Parkway.

This festival has come a long way in its short nine year history. This is definitely one of the best music festivals in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Music on the Mountain Top

On August 27-28, we are attending the Music on the Mountain Top festival located in Boone, North Carolina. This is a newer music festival that has just extended to a two-day event. It is an ecologically driven music festival that offers great entertainment and provides a unique education of current environmental issues.

The list of performers keeps getting better every year. We attended last year and were really stoked when Sam Bush joined Acoustic Syndicate on stage. This was awesome. Sam Bush has become the ambassador of bluegrass and is known for jamming with other great groups when he plays at music festivals. When he is in the house, great music is going to happen. Both of these groups will be playing again this year along with Railroad Earth, one of the most prominent Americana music groups in the world. I just saw them at FloydFest and look forward to seeing them again. I highly encourage all to attend this event. It will give you a great fall attitude adjustment.

What a better way to spend a gorgeous summer weekend than visiting two of Asheville’s most popular attractions. Bele Chere, for those of you who don’t know, is an annual festival that covers over half of Asheville’s downtown blocks. And I doubt if anyone doesn’t know what the Biltmore Estate is!

My boyfriend, Dustyn, and I left home last Friday evening to start our mini-vacation. After spending a fun night on Friday hanging out with family we got up early Saturday and arrived at Bele Chere not long after it started.

My first stop, as promised, was to the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation tent. They were promoting the specialized BRP license plates as well as talking up the 75th Anniversary. They had temporary tattoos and stickers for the kids and raffles for the adults where you could enter to win door prizes like a 75th Anniversary serigraph.

After visiting with Lynne and Michelle for a bit we wandered on. There were already hundreds of people filling the streets and it wasn’t even noon yet! We stopped at a few vendor tents to check out some unique artwork and crafts. There was so much to choose from, you could find vendors selling jewelry, paintings, photography, clothing and even lawn ornaments!

We were with my boyfriend’s neice and nephew so of course we visited a few tents with fun things for kids. Their favorite was the booth we found for face painting. The things they could draw on people’s faces were amazing! His nephew choose a scary monster mask and his neice got a glittery butterfly. They got so many compliments on their faces as we walked through the festival.

Not being an Asheville native or resident I wasn’t familiar with the street layout and a map just seemed like too much trouble while on vacation so we just wandered up and down each street till we hit a dead end. Then we would turn around and go the other way. I think we ended up covering almost all of Bele Chere by the time we were done! The nice thing was most of the live music stages were set up at the ends of the main streets so we got to hear a couple neat bands and different genres of music.

After a few hours of walking in the hot sun it was definitely time for a break. A quick rest at our hotel room at the Brookstone Lodge and we were off to the Biltmore Estate. I had never been before but had heard stories about how awesome it was. Just pulling through the front gates was impressive! After a short trek from the parking area the woods opened up to reveal the most enormous house I had ever seen! I read somewhere that Biltmore is the largest privately-owned residence in the US and I believe it. It has 43 bathrooms! 

We toured the inside of the house and learned some of the history of it and the people that lived and visited there. They had so many authentic pieces from the time when the house was built including clothes that they would have worn and furniture they used.

The estate surrounding the house is just as impressive. We walked through the flower gardens and even hiked the trail all the way around the lake to the waterfall! We had a couple fun encounters with wildlife on our journey. A salamander on a rock stood perfectly still and let me take pictures of him as well as a little black snake in a tree. By the time we were done with the house and gardens we were too pooped to investigate the winery although I heard they have free wine tastings every day! I’ll have to save that for the next time I visit.

It was definitely hotter in Asheville than Boone so although I was glad to be back at my usual elevation on Sunday I was sad to see my mini-vacation end. I’m already planning for next year’s Bele Chere trip!

Here are some more photos from my vacation:

Want to make sure the Blue Ridge Parkway gets that grant? Vote as many times as you can between now and August 31, and be sure to tell your friends and family to vote too!

VOTE NOW!

And what giveaway would be complete without the official “Parkway Guide Kit” donated by the Virtual Blue Ridge Bookstore.

Your chance to win this amazing prize package worth over $700 is just a click away! ENTER NOW

Find more details plus those pesky rules and regs at http://www.virtualblueridge.com/giveaway.

If you’d like to promote our giveaway on your website or blog, you can grab code for banner images here:
http://www.virtualblueridge.com/giveaway/banners-for-sponsors.html

The festivities start at 6:30pm with an elegant reception, complete with hors d’oeuvres–blackened catfish en croute with green tomato salsa, pimento cheese brioche sliders, and chipotle pork confit tartlets—and our signature “winetails”—Very Berry Punch and Viognier Sunrise.  

After these delicious refreshments, you’ll be shown to your table, where you will be served another four amazing courses, each with their accompanying wine. You’ll start off with a black-eyed pea lump crab pancake with heirloom tomato, arugula and champagne vinaigrette. That will be paired with our 2008 Vidal Blanc.

Before the main entrees, you will enjoy the surprising sweet potato and black strap molasses gelato served in a pretzel cup.

Next will come the first of our two entrees: blackened tuna, lobster grits, and fried collard greens with an apple wood-smoked bacon vinaigrette. This mouth-watering course will be served with our 2008 Chambourcin.

Then, your taste buds will delight in BBQ-seared Black Angus tenderloin, million dollar black truffle-Stilton macaroni, foie gras gravy, and fresh haricot verts. Paired with our 2008 Petit Verdot, this course is sure to please.

As if in answer to your question of how things could get any better, you’ll finally be served dessert, a Kentucky bluegrass tart, maple bourbon ice cream, and cinnamon crème fraiche paired with our delicious dessert wine, the 2008 Frosty Dog.

The 2010 Winemaker’s Dinner will be held Friday, August 6^th at 6:30pm. Tickets are $75 per person. Reservations and pre-payment required. Please call 540-593-2865 or check our website for more information: www.thedogs.com.

The Virtual Blue Ridge Bookstore got involved by donating an official “Parkway Guide Kit” to help Katie prepare for her amazing trip. This kit included the popular book Guide to the Blue Ridge Parkway by Victoria Louge, a laminted Parkway map and a Virtual Blue Ridge CD-ROM.

Thanks to everyone who entered! Keep your eyes peeled for more chances to win, our next giveaway will be announced within the month! Giveaway information is posted at www.virtualblueridge.com/giveaway.

We had some rain the couple of days before the festival, but Saturday was clear and beautiful. As the official start time of 11am came and went, the trickle of cars turned into a stream, filling our back parking lot.

The music got off to a great start with Moreland & Arbuckle, a duo from Wichita, Kansas who have been delving into the roots of American blues music for over a decade. Their raw blend of Chicago and Delta blues delighted the early crowds, who sipped wine, lunched, and grooved in their lawn chairs. Mixing popular songs from their extensive catalog with tunes from their newly released album, Flood, Moreland & Arbuckle gave a performance that will not soon be forgotten.

With a tasting tent set up outside and food and craft vendors located on the upper courtyard, festival-goers didn’t have to travel far to have all their desires met. Our chefs prepared festival specials for the day—citrus-glazed ribs, lamb gyros, and roasted chicken salad sandwiches, just to name a few—and other vendors were there as well, selling everything from authentic homemade tamales to gourmet filled crepes.

The tasting room and the tasting tent were bustling all day as people enjoyed wine tastings and purchased glasses and bottles of wine. The second act, Anders Osborne turned up the heat in the early afternoon with his rock-edged version of the blues. Osborne, a songwriter who has written hits for Tim McGraw, Keb’ Mo, Jonny Lang and others, has also built up a fan base all over the country with his extensive touring. When he and his band took to the stage on Saturday, it was easy to see why. His throaty, whiskey-soaked voice and relentless guitar riffs got people out of their seats and down to the stage.

Tracks from Osborne’s new album, American Patchwork, mixed and mingled with old favorites from previous albums. As the crowd dancing in front of the stage grew, the music intensified; moving from rock-laced blues to blues-edged rock, but always grooving.

As Osborne’s final song came to an end, the crowds on the dance floor and on the hill whooped and hollered. He and his band left everyone wanting more, and some folks even lingered on the dance floor for a while, swaying to remembered tunes.

Some people packed up their lawn chairs and headed for the parking lot, while others made their way to the upper courtyard and the tasting room to continue the celebration. Many bought bottles of wine to take home with them—a perfect souvenir from a perfect day. As the train of cars crept out of the parking lot and on to Winery Road, we here at Chateau Morrisette hoped everyone had as great a time as we all did. We breathed a sigh of satisfaction for the success of the Black Dog Blues Festival, and immediately began thinking ahead to the Black Dog Jazz Festival, wanting to make it even better. We hope we can, and we hope you can make it.

The Black Dog Jazz Festival is held on Saturday, August 14th from 11am to 5pm. Musical acts include Beleza Brazil and Los Gatos. Tickets are $15 pre-sale and $20 at the door. Ticket price includes music, wine tasting, cellar tour, and a special souvenir festival wine glass. For more information, please see our website: www.thedogs.com.

The Peaks of Otter is within the Ridge District of the Parkway where Mr. Bytnar retired as District Ranger in 2008.  The event will start at 4pm and will be located in the lobby of the Lodge.

Friday evenings the Lodge serves their well known buffet in the main dining room. The Lodge has rooms available and the campground across Abbott Lake are available for overnight guests.  The opportunities for great food, breathtaking scenery, hiking trails, and good reading and conversation could make this an enjoyable evening to remember.

For more information you can contact the Peaks of Otter Lodge at 1 800 542 5927.

This official 75th Anniversary product is now available online at the Virtual Blue Ridge Bookstore and in visitor centers along the Parkway.

Don’t forget that proceeds from the sale of all 75th Anniversary products directly benefit the Blue Ridge Parkway and BRP 75th Anniversary programs.

Purchase your patch online today!

Other Official 75th Anniversary products include:

• Signed and Limited Edition Serigraph
• Lapel Pins
• Apparel
• Coasters and Mug
• Fleece Throw Blanket
• Hiking Stick Medallion

» Browse all Official Blue Ridge Parkway 75th Anniversary merchandise

Anne’s appearance is part of the celebration of the 75th Anniversary of the Blue Ridge Parkway and is sponsored by ASU’s Belk Library and Information Commons. It is also part of the library’s Carol Grotnes Belk Distinguished Lecture Series. Parking for this event is available on campus in the parking deck on College Street. For more information please contact Lynn Patterson at 828-262-2087.

A little about Anne:  She has earned degrees from Birmingham Southern College and UNC-Chapel Hill. She currently teaches state and public history at UNC-CH. Anne has been a consultant to the National Park Service and a member of the Board for both the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation and the BRP 75th, Inc. She is also a member of our Blue Ridge Parkway Blog Community. Visit Anne’s profile.

Along with the popular “Super-Scenic Motorway”, Anne has also published the first-ever Parkway children’s book. This book, titled “When the Parkway Came”, is a unique look at the impact the Parkway made on local families and farms when it was first being built.

You can find both of Anne’s books for sale at the Virtual Blue Ridge Bookstore.

During the war 25,000 CO’s served in non-combat roles in all branches of the military.  Some worked in understaffed mental institutions.   Another 20,000 fought forest fires and worked on conservation projects in rural areas through the Civilian Projects Service.  Although they may not have served directly, they still likely had a similar experience to many soldiers serving on the front lines, from training drills to Poker and other bonding sessions with those they served with. This later group was placed in camps which had been previously used by the Civilian Conservation Corps that was disbanded in 1942 as most of the 18 to 24 year old men in that program were taken into the military.

The CCC participants were unskilled labor recruited from areas with low employment due to The Depression.  The Conscientious Objectors were made up of men who were from a variety of backgrounds including successful farmers, craftsmen, and intellectuals.  CO’s came with a variety of skills that were put to work on many rural improvement and park projects.

One CO Camp was located at Sherando Lake in Virginia. This was a former CCC Camp on US Forest Service property. Out of this camp men worked on the Blue Ridge Parkway in the area of Humpback Rocks on trails and construction of stone walls such as those found at the Humpback Rocks Parking Area (MP 6) and Reeds Gap (MP 13). The military started to accumulate prisoners of war from mainly naval engagements. They needed facilities to accommodate these growing populations and consequently the Sherando Camp was transferred to the military and the CO’s moved to Camp #121 in Bedford, Virginia. There the men began work in the Peaks of Otter area of the Parkway. Once again they constructed trails placing stone steps and what were called fire lanes to help contain forest fires. Stone work was also done on walls and around buildings. Today if you visit the Peaks of Otter Nature Center you will walk on a stone patio that goes across the front of the building, through the breezeway, and to the rear of the building where you will find picnic tables. At the front of the building there is a flat stone with the letters “CO” carved. This is one of the few signs left by this group of men who served their country in an alternative way during World War II.

Thanks to Dave Benavitch, USFS Ret. who first told me the story of the CO’ of WWII

Photos taken from Wikipedia

Here are a few tips that will help you understand the dynamics of deer movement and how to avoid collisions that can cause serious property damage and at times personal injuries.

• Deer are most active at dawn and dusk.  This is when they like to feed so you are most likely to see deer on road shoulders. 
• Remember that deer can also be encountered any other time of day.
• Drive the speed limit or below when in areas frequented by deer.  This applies to most park areas.
• Be alert scanning tree lines and road shoulders for deer including the reflection from their eyes at night.
• Once you see deer or the reflection of eyes, slow down, and stay alert for movement.
• If you see deer running across the road in front of your vehicle, do not follow where they are going with your eyes.  Instead look to where the deer came from.  Deer do not travel alone and more deer may come from the same direction.
• At times deer will run down the road in front of your vehicle in a zig-zag pattern.  Drivers are often confused by this behavior.  Their natural instincts are kicking in and this is how they attempt to escape a predator.  If you stop your vehicle, they will finally run off the road.
• Should a deer jump into the road in front of you, hit your brakes and stay in your lane.  More extensive damage and more serious injuries can result from swerving to avoid the deer and striking a tree, rock, or oncoming vehicle.
• You will see devices sold that you can place on your vehicle that make whistling sounds to scare deer away.  It was my experience that these do not guarantee safety and I saw many vehicles with this equipment in place still have collisions with deer.

Geocaching is a growing recreational activity throughout the United States.  Participants can obtain the geographic coordinates of caches hidden by others and then use handheld Global Positioning System (GPS) units to find them.  It is similar to a high tech scavenger or treasure hunt.  Caches can consist of secreted containers with small items that can be taken as souvenirs and or the chance to leave a token behind.  Virtual caches can lead the hunter to the answer of a puzzle or riddle.  Many Geocache enthusiasts then share their finds on the web site; http://www.geocaching.com/.

 The Gems of Rockbridge County Geocache Trail showcases the county and communities adjacent to The Blue Ridge Parkway and their cultural and natural relationships.

 This Trail fills a niche of interest that cannot be satisfied on The Blue Ridge Parkway since geocaching is prohibited in National Park Service Areas.  This fun activity is enjoyed by individuals and families.  There will be 10-12 caches secreted in the Rockbridge County area.  Participants can pick up a passport with information that will lead them through the trail at the Buena Vista and Lexington Visitor Centers in Virginia.  The first two hundred people to locate all the caches will receive a commemorative coin.

 For more information go to:

http://www.blueridgegeocaching.com

Today we are facing similar threats to native species of vegetation in the Southern Appalachians.  The new peril is coming in the form of funguses, insects, and exotic plants.

Hemlock Wooly Adelgid was first found on the east coast in 1951 near Richmond, Virginia.  Scientists believe that these microscopic insects originated in Southern Japan.  The adelgids are first noted as a foamy looking substance on the bottom of needles and branches.  The appearance is that they eventually suck the life from the trees to the point that entire stands on mountain sides quickly die.  Along The Blue Ridge Parkway the impact can be seen in the canopies of dead trees in the area of mile post 35 at Yankee Horse Gap and the Peaks of Otter Picnic area where the National Park Service has had to cut down some of these once majestic trees to maintain public safety on trails and roadways.

Dogwood trees provide a beautiful spring displays and provide food sources for birds and animals in the mountains of the East.  These native trees are being eradicated by a fungus known as the Dogwood Anthracnose first identified in the mid 1970s.  Vistas along The Blue Ridge Parkway that were once carpeted with dogwoods are now completely devoid of these trees.  The good news is that individual specimen trees do appear to be resistant to the fungus.  Scientists are studying these individual trees attempting to find an answer to this mystery.

Unfortunately there is no easy fix for either of these important species of trees.  The treatment in the open forest environment does not appear feasible at this time.  One scientist explained to me that the only way to save any single tree is to treat it with as much care as you would give a prized rose bush.  Research continues including experimenting with natural enemies for the adelgids and breeding of fungus resistant dogwood species.  Scientists will continue to work on these challenges as they are still striving to reintroduce the chestnut to the Southern Appalachian mountain slopes.

For more information you can refer to:

http://na.fs.fed.us/fhp/hwa/

http://plantclinic.cornell.edu/FactSheets/dogwoodanthracnose/dogwood%20anthracnose.htm

The Blue Ridge Parkway story aired Sunday, May 16th, during which several Parkway destinations were highlighted. Below is a video recording from The Today Show’s website. I hope you enjoy it!

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Here are some simple tips to help prevent you or a family member from becoming a statistic in a report and ruining a wonderful Blue Ridge Parkway experience.

• Plan ahead for your hike.  Review a map of the area or check for a map posted at the trail head.  Having a vision of the trail route and where it goes will be helpful should you become confused by unofficial social trails.
• After reviewing a map and if available a description of the trail, do not take on a hike that is more physically difficult than all the members of your group can handle.
• Check the weather report for the area before your hike.  Dress and carry appropriate gear to remain comfortable and safe during your time outdoors.  Remember that in mountainous terrain temperatures drop sharply at night, so be prepared to prevent hypothermia should you be late getting to your destination or vehicle.
• Proper foot wear is essential not only for comfort but to prevent injuries.  If hiking in rocky terrain, be sure to wear stout hiking boots with good tread.  Most of the injuries treated by park rangers involve slips and falls on trails by people wearing inappropriate foot wear.
• Stay on the designated trails.  The vast majority of the searches for lost hikers I worked during my career involved people getting off the trail, getting confused, and then trying to cut cross country to get to their destination.
• Keep your group within sight of each other.  Never let some members, especially children, run ahead of the group.  This is a recipe for disaster when members of your hiking group take a different trail and become separated.  The result is generally people overreacting and contributing to the complexity of the situation.  This reaction is amplified when the missing hikers are children.  Well intended emotions then kick in and decision making becomes more difficult for members of the group.  One tip is to have the slowest member of your group walk in the front and everyone has to stay behind them.
• Carry water even on short hikes.  You may be amazed how quickly you can dehydrate while hiking outdoors.  Dehydration and hypothermia both result in confusion and a loss of decision making skills.

Following these simple practices will help you to enjoy your next visit to any park.

These park rangers show up with unbounded enthusiasm and with many hopes.  It is energizing for year round employees to see new seasonal rangers arriving for training.  Their passion is contagious and they show up anxious to start their work helping to educate and protect visitors.  When you visit a National Park it is most likely that the park ranger you meet will be a seasonal employee. 

Seasonal park rangers come from a variety of backgrounds and levels of experience.

There are the college students working in the parks for the summer to gain experience and help pay for school.  Many are hopeful of future opportunities that could develop into full time permanent National Park Service employment.

There are teachers who escape the classroom to the outdoors to refresh their outlook on life, supplement their meager income, and grow in ways that can provide enhanced experiences that can be brought back to the classroom.

Increasingly you will find retirees from a first career now working in National Parks as seasonal park rangers.  Many are taking advantage of this opportunity to live a dream they have had since childhood of working as a park ranger.

Returning military veterans will also be found working as seasonal park rangers attempting to establish themselves back in civilian life and perhaps start a new career.

There are many others who will work this summer as seasonal park rangers.  They all share the sense of adventure and dedication that is necessary to achieve the mission of the National Park Service to preserve and protect our nation’s resources for future generations.

Thanks seasonals for all you do.

Throughout his tenure with the NPS Phil has received numerous awards and recognitions including winning the Department of Interior’s Meritorious Award, being listed in the Congressional Record in 2006, and having a new species to science named after him by the Discover Life in America organization in appreciation for his support of their projects.

Growing up in Grover, NC, Phil then traveled to Clemson University where he receievd a BS in Administrative Management. Phil is currently married to Dr. Becky Nichols, a scientist with Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

In an interview with the Blue Ridge Parkway 75th, Inc, Phil answers these important questions regarding the past, present and future of the Blue Ridge Parkway.

• Where did the idea for the Blue Ridge Parkway originate?
• Why is the Blue Ridge Parkway important?
• What is a National Park Service “unit”?
• As the Parkway enters its 75th year, what are the biggest challenges it faces?
• What’s the most exciting thing about the Parkway’s 75th Anniversary?

Read Phil’s answers in the full interview published on Virtual Blue Ridge.

Now in its 23rd year, MerleFest was founded in 1988 in memory of Eddy Merle Watson as a fundraiser for Wilkes Community College and a celebration of “traditional plus” music.

Featuring four days of performances by over 100 artists on 15 stages, MerleFest is a great entertainment value and an affordable weekend getaway. As in previous years, the list of performers fits the “traditional plus” definition offered by Doc Watson when describing the rich musical diversity that is a hallmark of the event. Sounds of bluegrass, blues, gospel, country and Americana will fill the air.

The award-winning lineup represents a group of artists who have collectively earned over 20 Grammy® Awards, 46 International Bluegrass Music Awards and 4 Americana Music Association Awards, among many others.

Read more to find out who will be performing and how to get tickets.

Elevation and aspect in the Blue Ridge Mountains are crucial to plant development.  In the spring the temperatures are warmer at lower elevations triggering trees to produce their leaves before their brethren at higher and cooler elevations.  The result is the creeping of green up the slopes over a week or so until the entire mountain range is clothed in many rich hues of green.

The process is again seen in the fall as the cooler temperatures result in the trees at higher elevations starting their brilliant displays of gold, red, and orange.  You can sit back and watch the color move down slopes toward the valleys.

Bloom Tip

I took a drive down the Blue Ridge Parkway between mile post 0 and 29 the other day.  Dogwoods are just starting to develop their flowers, but the Service Berry (pronounced sar vis berry by the mountain residents) are in full bloom.  You will find the most spectacular bloom of Service Berry I seen in 25 years between mile post 20 and 22.

Thanks to all of the photographers this year for participating, as well as the general public at large for helping us to get the word out with press releases, blog posts, blog comments, etc. If you, or someone you know, would like to participate as a competition sponsor or supporter, please contact Andrew Miller, Competition Director, at 828-262-4954 or contact us using the VBR contact form.

AMPC is funded through the generous contributions of our partners, sponsors and supporters. You can provide needed operational support to AMPC by choosing to make a donation and/or offering us feedback on your user experience.

Below we have listed the the winners for top honors, categories, and special mentions.

Your participation this year will help to make the Student Outdoor Learning Expeditions through ASU’s Outdoor Programs an experience of a lifetime for many students. Thank you for your unwavering support and enthusiasm!

For AMPC press & media resource information

The idea that an individual could just toss their trash out the window of a moving car is incomprehensible to the type of person who aspires to be a park ranger.  This lack of understanding of motive is compounded exponentially when that littering occurs within a National Park.

A moment that makes any park ranger’s day is when they actually catch a litterer red handed in the act.  A park ranger hears some outrageous reactions from these violators.

One night while working at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park I backed my patrol car into the entrance of a picnic area on Lee Drive.  I was sitting there with my dome light on filling out some paperwork on a violation notice I had issued earlier when I saw a vehicle coming down Lee Drive at a high rate of speed.  The vehicle started to slow as it approached and I assumed that they saw my car.  As the vehicle passed the driver tossed a half gallon wine bottle out the window striking the front bumper on my car.  I immediately pulled out with my emergency lights on and stopped the vehicle.  I approached the driver and asked him if he knew why I had stopped him.  He said he had no idea why. 

I then asked him if he threw a wine bottle from his car.

His answer shocked me, “Yea I did.  So what’s the big deal? Someone will pick it up.”

No matter how I tried, I could not convince him that he had done something wrong and that it was a violation of the law to litter.  He left with several violation notices, angry for being hassled.  I cannot remember if he ever paid his fines.

Through my career I was surprised to find the response I heard that night to be a common theme among litterers.  Numerous times I was told by people I witnessed throwing out trash in parks that it was not important because, “Someone will pick it up.”  They resented being charged with what they considered no violation of the law.

Just another example of the interesting types of people a park ranger gets to meet during their career.

On Saturday March 20 I will be participating with my book, A Park Ranger’s Life: Thirty Two Years Protecting Our National Parks, available for signing at the Omni Hotel in downtown Charlottesville.  I plan to be there from 9am to 4pm.

For more information on the Festival of the Book you can visit their web site at www.vabook.org .

Author and retired National Park Ranger Bruce W. Bytnar will be in Roanoke, Virginia on Saturday March 13 for a reading  from his book, “A Park Ranger’s Life: Thirty Two Years Protecting Our National Parks” at the Tanglewood Barnes and Noble Store.  The event will start at 1pm and he will be available to sign books through the afternoon.

Mr. Bytnar spent twenty seven years of his career as a park ranger on the Blue Ridge Parkway which forms the stage for many of his stories.  Stop by and learn about bears, lost hikers, bad guys, fighting fires, and many of the other adventures and duties of a park ranger.

Voting for this year’s People’s Choice Award will begin in conjunction with the opening of the AMPC exhibitoin at the Mezzanine Gallery in the Turchin Center March 5, 2010 at 7:00 pm.

A kiosk will be setup for gallery visitors, but you can also cast your vote by going to the AMPC website. Final judging for this year’s Appalachian Mountain Photography Competition will take place mid-March, and winners will be announced April 1, 2010. One winner will be chosen from each of the seven categories, along with one image chosen for Best In Show and one image chosen for People’s Choice.

Hope you can make it to the public reception and good luck picking a favorite photo for this year’s PCA – it won’t be an easy decision considering the fantastic group of finalists this year.

The tour is scheduled to be in Boone March 26 – 27, with the films showing at 7:30 pm at Farthing Auditorium on the campus of Appalachian State University. Tickets are currently on sale at Farthing Auditorium and Footsloggers in Downtown Boone for $7 (students) and $9 (all others). Hope to see you there!

The 7th Annual Appalachian Mountain Photography Competition will be remembered as a seminal year in the competition’s history.  This is the first year that we received more than 1,000 submissions, receiving in fact 1,116.  We have also received unprecedented media attention and have been approached by various businesses and organizations that want to be a part of this growing national competition.  I wanted to share with you the two newest supporters to join the ranks of the businesses and organizations willing to put their time, money and energy into AMPC.

Smoky Mountain Living Magazine will lend support as a media representative, and will contribute to the prize packages of all winning photographers.  Dedicated to featuring the history and heritage of the Great Smoky Mountain Region and Western North Carolina, Smoky Mountain Living Magazine focuses on exciting developments important to this region, and explores the richness of the traditions of indigenous mountain people.   Winning photographers will each receive a one-year subscription to Smoky Mountain Living and a set of two, 75th Anniversary special edition issues celebrating the Great Smoky Mountain National Park and the Blue Ridge Parkway.  In addition, winning images from the 7th Annual AMPC will be featured in the summer 2010 issue of Smoky Mountain Living. 

Also added to the mix in this year’s competition is Reynolda House Museum of American Art in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.  Reynolda House is currently exhibiting William Christenberry: Photographs, 1961–2005 on view through June 27.  The exhibition features 58 photographs, one sculpture, and three signs which chronicle the effects of the passage of time on the buildings, back roads, and landmarks in rural Hale County, Alabama, the artist’s former home.  The hope of this collaboration is to connect more people to the imagery of the rural south highlighted in both the AMPC and Chirstenberry exhibits.   All winning AMPC photographers will receive two visitor admission passes to the Reynolda House Museum and a William Christenberry exhibition poster.  

The Appalachian Mountain Photography Competition has no budget.   Our growth and success over the years is directly attributed to those individuals, businesses, and organizations that have lent their time, money, and energy in support of our mission to highlight diverse interpretations of the unique people, places and pursuits that characterize the Southern Appalachians.   We are excited to welcome Smoky Mountain Living and Reynolda House Museum into the mix.  We encourage you to share your enthusiasm for AMPC with our partners, sponsors and supporters and thank them for their contributions whenever you have the chance.

The judges reviewed over 1100 images, a record-setting total this year. I wonder if the judges’ eyeballs wanted to go “plop plop” at the end of the day! Below is a table listing the 47 images that make up this year’s final selections. These 47 images were submitted by 37 photographers, so you can see how talented some of the photographers were to be chosen more than once!

This year’s category finalists are:

Please join the AMPC organizers and sponsors in congratulating this year’s finalists of the Appalachian Mountain Photography Competition—all of you deserve lots of applause! Remember, the images for this year’s group will be posted on the High Country Photos website as soon as the People’s Choice Award voting goes live at 7:00 pm, March 5, 2010. This night also marks the opening of the AMPC Exhibition at the Mezzanine Gallery in the Turchin Center on the Appalachian State University campus.

To all of this year’s participants: thank you for your support and participation. Together all of you keep raising the bar.

Jamie Goodman

Jamie currently serves as Communications Coordinator for Appalachian Voices – and if you’ve been keeping up with this blog, you already know that Appalachian Voices is the sponsor for the category “Our Ecological Footprint.” A perfect sponsorship if you ask me, and will hopefully bring more awareness to this often overlooked category in the competition.

As the Communications Coordinator, Jamie oversees the organization’s communication efforts, including print and online publications. As with any non-profit organization, however, you can imagine just how many other hats Jamie wears on any given day.

I spoke with Jamie about the upcoming judging process, and how she was feeling about being a judge. She said:

I’m really excited to see all of the submissions this year. We have an amazing amount of talented photographers in the area.

I’ve been following the competition since its beginning, and I’ve noticed the disparity between the submissions for the environment category, and the true purpose of the category. With Appalachian Voice’s involvement, I feel that more attention will be brought to the environmental threats the Appalachian Mountains are currently facing.”

Jamie, I couldn’t agree more!

Troy Tuttle

As the Senior Photographer for Appalachian State University for the last 10 years, Troy has won numerous awards for his photography. His images have even been accepted into the photographic collection of the Smithsonian Museum of American History. Unfortunately, Troy doesn’t have a website to showcase his work, which is a shame really, because I’ve seen it and I gotta tell you guys, it’s amazing. (hey Troy, get a website!)

I asked Troy about what he looks forward to the most as being a judge this year:

I was a judge the first year of the competition, and I’m really impressed by how far the competition has come, from the participation to the increasing quality of the photography.

I’m looking forward to seeing what the community is doing, and how they see the area. I’m not a nature photographer – more of a studio photographer – but I appreciate it a lot. It’s the idea of waiting for that perfect moment.”

Katie Langley

Katie brings a journalistic style of photography to the world, and she has found success in the highly competitive world of portraiture photography. Katie stands out as an artistic wedding photographer, who’s not afraid to bring a special and unique perspective to a person’s special day.

I had a good time laughing with her about how you couldn’t pay me a million dollars to be a wedding photographer. Too much stress and all. She just laughed and said she gets that a lot.

When I asked her about what she looks forward to the most with being a judge this year, she said:

Seeing all the talent. There are so many talented photographers in this area, professional and amateur, and that’s just based on seeing last year’s winners.

I’m really looking forward to seeing all of the creative submissions this year. It’s so interesting to me to see how people can see the same things so differently. As a first time judge, I am anxious to see the High Country and surrounding Appalachian Mountains through the eyes of other artists.”

Every year the quality of the photography increases, so my heart goes out to the judges this year as they take on a very daunting task of narrowing down nearly a thousand entries to a few dozen.

Good luck to everyone this year and don’t forget, the deadline is right around the corner: 5:00 pm Friday, January 29, 2010.

Helpful AMPC Resources

• Appalachian Mountain Photography Competition website
• Gallery for past AMPC Finalists and Winners
• Virtual Blue Ridge on Twitter (don’t forget, AMPC hashtag #appmtnphoto)
• Appalachian Outdoor Programs
• Turchin Center for the Visual Arts

Don’t miss your chance to win a relaxing retreat to the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Retail Value up to :: $1,473.87

The lucky winner will receive:

* Two Nights Cabin Rental from Blue Ridge Vacation Cabins
* A Half-Day Fly Fishing Trip for 2 from Foscoe Fishing Company
* Dinner for Two at Joe’s Italian Kitchen
* Two 2-day Go Blue Ridge Card Vacation Attraction Passes
* A complete “Parkway Guide Kit” courtesy of the Virtual Blue Ridge Bookstore

This sweepstakes will last from Monday, October 12, 2009 to Friday, November 27th, 2009 at 11:59:59 PM ET. Drawing will be held on Friday, December 04, 2009 and winner will be announced by email. No purchase is necessary. Void where prohibited.

Visit Virtual Blue Ridge today for your chance to win. Refer your friends and receive bonus entries!

The time is upon us once again to gear up for the 7th Annual Appalachian Mountain Photography Competition. Each year we see a tremendous amount of growth in participation and interest, and the competition gets tougher and tougher with each click of the lens.

Our rotating Share the Journey® category this year will be Picnicking on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Definitely a favorite pastime of Parkway travelers, the AMPC staff is anxious to see what kind of submissions this category will bring to the table.

We’re also really excited about a new sponsor for this year’s comp – Appalachian Voices. This group organizes people to solve environmental problems affecting the central and southern Appalachian Mountains. With this new sponsorship comes a change to what was formerly known as the “Environment” category.

As a category, Our Ecological Footprint will be about imagery documenting environmental concerns in Central and Southern Appalachia. The threats to this region are real folks, so if you’re feeling inspired by this category, check out the Appalachian Voices website for more information on ecological concerns in the area. We really look forward to seeing the statements made with these images.

A comprehensive FAQ has been created as a way to help registrants with the registration and upload process, as well as other generic questions. Questions related to technical and registration issues should be covered, but we are always open to your ideas and suggestions. Please leave a comment on the blog, or submit a support ticket with your suggestion.

I have a feeling that this year will once again top the previous, and I encourage all of you to break out of your shell, take risks and leave fear at the door. This may be a “regional” competition, but the photographers entering are not all from this area. Last year we saw the first international submissions! The greatest thing about this competition is seeing how all of you push each other to reach the next level – amateurs and professionals alike. Make us proud!

Don’t forget to promote the competition on your own websites and blogs, too. We have code conveniently placed for you below featuring the same banner as the one seen here on this post. Thanks again for your encouragement, suggestions, and overall participation in this competition and we look forward to being awed once again with your submissions!

AMPC Banner Graphic:

<a href=”https://www.appmtnphotocomp.org/”><img src=”http://www.appmtnphotocomp.org/images/banners/ampc-banner-7th-annual.gif” border=”0″ alt=”7th Annual Appalachian Mountain Photography Competition” width=”525″ height=”116″ /></a>

Follow the Conversation on Twitter:
Use the hashtag #appmtnphoto and follow Virtual Blue Ridge.

Camping is available for those that are competing in the games, or those who desire to soak in the full experience. This year, the games began with the opening ceremonies on Thursday evening following a foot race. The winner of the race ran a victory lap around the track with the torch in hand.

For anyone curious about the Highland Games and not sure which days to attend events, I would suggest a weekend pass. With my weekend pass wrapped around my arm, I journeyed towards the fog-covered Grandfather Mountain.

Scottish apparel was the first thing that greeted me, and it felt as if I had gotten off a plane in Scotland. Young and old had adorned their bodies with plaid for the events.

The yellow lights cut through the fog and created a silhouette out of every object in sight. I sat in amazement as 150 clans called out their name and a fact about their heritage. If you have seen the movie Braveheart, some felt only the need to yell a battle cry like William Wallace did before war.

Each clan had chosen a representative who stood in the center of the field with a torch. After introducing their clan, each torch was left in the center and the ending result was a pyramid-like structure. It was a sight to see, and could not have been a more beautiful night.

The next three days of the games were packed full of events for the whole family to watch. Celtic music in the grove was among my favorite. With two concert groves and a number of other small stages, music was for sure not lacking.

The groves were rock formations around a stage at the bottom of a sloping hill. It made for a great sound and even if you were at the very back of the crowd, most could still see all that was happening. There was everything from traditional Celtic, to Scottish Romantic music. Each band got the crowd involved in their music and many chose to dance a jig in front of the stage.

Games for men and women to compete in were only during daylight hours. Before dinner time each day, were a handful of events for the clans to showcase their abilities.

Caber tossing was definitely the most foreign for the Americans to watch. This event consisted of particularly large men picking up a 150 pound, 18 foot long log and throwing it as far as they could. There were also a handful of relays, high jumping, and pole vaulting.

Every so often throughout the day, an old Scottish man with a wooden staff would direct his border collie to heard sheep in and out of their pen. Often, the dog would chase the sheep into the path of an event such as the foot races.

These were just an overview of everything that went on this weekend in July. The Highland Games are a unique taste of Scottish heritage that you don’t want to miss next year.

View the 2009 Grandfather Mountain Highland Games Photos.

L-R: Leesa Brandon, executive director of Blue Ridge Parkway 75 Inc; Anne Whisnant, author-historian and Foundation trustee; Parkway Superintendent Phil Francis; Senator Joe Sam Queen; Houck Medford, Foundation executive director.

A co-operative and non-partisan tour de force of North Carolina senators and representatives has resulted in recognition for the Blue Ridge Parkway’s 75th anniversary. Bill sponsors, Representatives Rapp, Tarleton, Haire, and Frye commended to the general house body on June 29 House Bill 1655, a resolution honoring the 75th anniversary of the Blue Ridge Parkway. All the primary house bill sponsors spoke eloquently on the floor in favor of the bill. It passed unanimously and was carried by special courier to the senate which was also meeting in evening session.

The bill was commended by Senators Queen and Goss. The resolution passed unanimously.

Attending from the National Park Service and Parkway partner groups were Reid Wilson, Conservation Trust for North Carolina; Anne Whisnant, the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation; Leesa Brandon, Blue Ridge Parkway 75th, Inc,; Houck Medford, Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation; and Superintendent Phil Francis.

Part I of the symposium, which will be held April 22-24, 2010 on the campus of Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, is designed to bring together researchers and professionals from all fields who have done new research about the Blue Ridge Parkway in the last 15 years or so. The title of the symposium is “History, Scenery, Conservation, and Community.”

The hope is to bring together everyone who has research findings to share, with the aim of laying a new foundation of knowledge that will undergird decision-making for the Parkway’s next 75 years.

The idea, too, is to begin to create a community among those who have done or are presently engaged in serious research about the Parkway. In my more than 15 years of work, I have repeatedly found out — usually by accident — about someone who was doing interesting and relevant Parkway-related work. Often these professionals were working on some kind of contract for the Park Service, but other times, they were freelance writers or people in fields very different from my own realm of history. It is clear to me that all of us who are doing this work should know each other, share insights, share information about resources, and work together where possible for the good of the Parkway.

The symposium will bring people together across disciplinary boundaries: history, engineering, landscape architecture, anthropology, environmental studies, cultural resource management, and on and on. Managing the Parkway is clearly a task that cannot be done by drawing on the expertise of only one or two areas.

If you have done an interesting research paper, contract project, popular article, master’s thesis, dissertation, journal article, digital project, documentary film, podcast, mapping project, or other undertaking that has incorporated new, original Parkway-related research, please consider submitting a proposal for the symposium. Excellent student work done at the advanced undergraduate or especially at the graduate level will be particularly welcome.

If you know someone who is researching or writing about the Parkway, please forward the link to the call for proposals to them.

Full information about the symposium, including complete details on how to submit a proposal, may be found at the Blue Ridge Parkway 75th Anniversary website.

Please join me in Boone in April 2010!

The tour is now in its third year -a scenic 63 mile long bicycle ride with nearly half the distance along the beautiful Blue Ridge Parkway.

Family affair it is, because all the house members pitch in the night before to bake home-made oatmeal-raisen and scumptous chocolate chip cookies.

We are soliciting your comments and suggestions for next year’s tour. Let’s hear them? You say, “more cookies?”

The total prize package is valued at over $900 and includes:

2 Nights Lodging at one of Paradise Valley Estates’ Luxury Log Cabins

• A Unique Horseback Riding Adventure for 2 from Dutch Creek Trails
• Dinner and Dessert for 2 at Valle Café Restaurant
• Two 2-day Go Blue Ridge Card Vacation Attraction Passes
• A complete “Parkway Guide Kit” courtesy of the Virtual Blue Ridge Bookstore

Visit Virtual Blue Ridge today for your chance to win. Refer your friends and receive bonus entries!

Check out our partner giveaway to win more cool prizes!

The organizers, sponsors and supporters of the 6th Annual Appalachian Mountain Photography Competition would like to congratulate this year’s winning photographers. Entries to this year’s competition were from across the United States and for the first time included international submissions. Photographers of all levels from novices to professionals are represented among the 47 finalists on exhibition at the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts through June 6, 2009.

Planning for next year started before this year’s competition was wrapped up and we are looking for your feedback to help us continue to grow and innovate. AMPC is funded through the generous contributions of our partners, sponsors and supporters. You can provide needed operational support to AMPC by choosing to make a donation and/or offering us feedback on your user experience. Your input will be crucial in helping us to prioritize our limited resources as we plan upgrades for next year’s competition.

This year’s competition saw many “firsts” — the most impressive being an image in the Adventure category for the first time taking Best In Show. Eric Heistand’s Best In Show winner “Splash or Trash” was also selected as the People’s Choice Award winner, the first time a single image has received both of these prestigious awards. Congratulations Eric!

Below we have listed the the winners for top honors and categories.

Judges were also asked to identify images of distinction and merit to receive Special Mention honors and an additional eight photographers have been recognized.

Thank you photographers for submitting to this year’s competition, and for sharing your vision and interpretation of the people, places and pursuits that distinguish Southern Appalachia. In doing so, you have made outstanding contributions in support of Student Outdoor Learning Expeditions at Appalachian State University. We hope to see your submissions in 2010!

For press & media resource information, please visit:

http://www.virtualblueridge.com/contests/app-mtn-2008/media-and-press/

Virtual Blue Ridge’s latest giveaway has started and we’re sure you are going to love this fun-filled package! Valued at over $870.00, this vacation giveaway includes:

• Two Nights Lodging at the Lazy Bear Lodge, one of Valle Crucis’ finest bed and breakfasts (dates of stay based on availability)
• A Half-Day Fly Fishing Trip for 2 from Foscoe Fishing Company
• Dinner for Two at Joe’s Italian Kitchen
• Two 2-day Go Blue Ridge Card Vacation Attraction Passes
• A complete “Parkway Guide Kit” courtesy of the Virtual Blue Ridge Bookstore

Visit Virtual Blue Ridge for your chance to win this incredible prize. Don’t forget to refer a friend for bonus entries!

You should check out our Partner Giveaway, too!

The selected images from this year’s competition are currently on display at the Mezzanine Gallery in the Turchin Center of the Visual Arts. This year’s exhibition opens to the public on Friday, March 6 from 7:00 to 9:00 pm. The gallery opening coincides with the launch of this year’s PCA which also opens March 6 at 7:00 pm.

Everyone will have the opportunity to vote for three of their favorite images. The image with the most votes will be declared the winner after voting closes at 5:00 pm on Friday, March 27.

Final judging for this year’s AMPC will take place mid-March, and a public announcement will be made April 1. Of the seven categories, each will have one winner, and one image will be selected for Best in Show, and one will be selected for the People’s Choice Award.

For your chance to vote, or more information on the competition, please visit the Appalachian Mountain Photography Competition site and get your mouse hand ready!

Today I’d like to offer a few quick thoughts on a wonderful book I’ve just read about the history of three National Parks in the state of Washington: Mt. Rainier, Olympic, and North Cascades. David Louter’s 2007 Windshield Wilderness: Cars, Roads, and Nautre in Washington’s National Parks (Univ. of Washington Press, which I’ve recently reviewed the NPS publication CRM: Cultural Resources Management) sheds some new and interesting light on the Blue Ridge Parkway’s history and future.

Louter, a historian with the National Park Service’s Pacific West Region, looks at the evolution of each of these three parks, formed at different moments in the twentieth century, with an eye to how the parks accommodated roads and automobiles.

Mt. Ranier, established in 1899, admitted cars in 1908 and developed during a period of enthusiastic park road building championed by first NPS director Stephen Mather. In the 1920s and early 30s, Mather and his successor Horace Albright “transformed parks into landscapes for the highway in nature” (p 36) partly by relying upon landscape architects to fit park highways carefully to the land as part of “master plans” for each park. Nature and wilderness were scenic or visual (rather than ecological) qualities; preservation occurred if the roadside picture appeared natural and roads blended into the landscape.

Mt. Ranier, a product of this period, featured a number of scenic drives, including the Mather Memorial Parkway (completed 1932), by which citizens experienced the park.

Olympic, developed after the late 1930s, reflected a newer notion of wilderness areas as roadless and thus did not feature roads in the park. However, visitors viewed the park mainly via the Hurricane Ridge Road, a scenic route developed with NPS support just outside the park boundaries.

North Cascades, meanwhile, was established in the late 1960s, in the context of the modern environmental movement. The park itself was roadless “wilderness” (by then an official category under the Wilderness Act of 1964), but the adjacent “national recreation areas” contained the familiar scenic roads by which visitors enjoyed the park.

Surveying this history, Louter argues that Americans’ ideas about what National Parks are have been formed by seeing parks through the windshield of a car. The national park system and our automobile-driven highway landscapes grew up together. And although the growth of the environmental movement through the mid-twentieth century brought the notion of roadless “wildnerness” more strongly into the American consciousness and into park management policy, it cannot be denied that most Americans have come to know their parks by driving to, through, or around them.

Thus, although there were always some who considered it an intrusion, for most Americans, the automobile has been an enabling technology, and it has seemed possible that, in parks, automobiles and nature could coexist in harmony. “Cars,” Louter writes, “have been in national parks for more than a century, and it would be hard to imagine parks . . . without cars” (page 164).

All of this is especially interesting as we think about the history of the Blue Ridge Parkway.

First, it casts doubt on the perennial assertion in many a popular publication that the Parkway somehow represented a bold and untested new idea. It’s simply not so. As much as we love it, our beautiful park is product of the great era of scenic road building (1920s/30s) that had already produced many other spectacular park roads like Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park, Going-to-the-Sun Road in Glacier National Park, the Wawona Road in Yosemite, the Zion-Mt. Carmel Highway in Zion, the Rim Drive in Crater Lake, and Skyline Drive in Shenandoah.

The Parkway’s first landscape architect, Stanley Abbott, came from a long line of landscape architects and engineers who followed Major Hiram M. Chittenden (engineer who supervised road construction in Yellowstone from the 1880s to 1900s) in believing that park roads should be carefully fit to the land to present a carefully-orchestrated series of panoramas.

But the Parkway was in one respect different from these other park roads: while they wound through parks, the Blue Ridge Parkway is the park. The road is the destination.

This presents an interesting conundrum as we consider the crushing environmental impact of cars and begin to see the dawning of a post-automobile age (or at least a post-gasoline-powered automobile age). We can’t make the Blue Ridge Parkway roadless; if the road disappears, the park as we know it disappears. But can we consider whether our Parkway experience must always be mediated through a windshield to retain its value? Are we tethered forever to the idea of “windshield wilderness”?

I don’t know the answers, but the questions are worth thinking about as we try to imagine the Parkway for the next 75 years.

Here at Virtual Blue Ridge, one of our favorite events is the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour that has come to Boone, NC for the past 13 years. In fact, our president regularly attends this event.

If you have never had the great fortune of attending this special film screening, all of us here suggest you do so. The quality of work is amazing. Check out the Banff Movie Trailer:

Based on the other previews, it looks like this year’s screening is going to be another huge hit and tickets will probably sell fast. Find out about tickets and showtimes, as well as links to more trailers by checking out the Banff Festival press release.

I asked Andrew Miller with Appalachian State University’s Outdoor Programs what the relationship was between the Appalachian Mountain Photography Competition and the film festival. He said, “We see it as a way for people to more actively engage with the various themes that are presented in the film and it brings attention to our own local resources at a time when we are exploring them through the Banff films.”

Based on previous screenings, I really couldn’t agree more!

Below we have listed the forty-seven images that have been selected for exhibition at the Mezzanine Gallery of the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts on the campus of Appalachian State University in Boone, NC.

This year’s category winners are:

A huge round of applause and congratulations for this year’s winners of the Appalachian Mountain Photography Competition!  High Country Photos will be posting a gallery of this year’s winners as soon as the People’s Choice Award voting goes live March 6, 2009.  Thanks again to all of you for participating in this year’s competition.  Each year the level of competition gets raised with more and more entries and quality of images submitted.

I can barely wait for next year!

The web site support staff would like to thank all of you for your patience as we implemented an alternate method of submitting photos and responded to your support tickets. Situations like that provide learning opportunities for everyone, and we are meeting soon to discuss improvements for upcoming competitions.

Please feel free to make a comment on improvements you would like to see for next year. Your feedback is invaluable and our number one goal is to make this process as smooth as possible. What did you find confusing? What worked well? What kind of features would you like to see? All comments will be weighed and considered with all seriousness.

Regardless of the technical issues, we had another record breaking year for number of photographs submitted – over 900!. We applaud all of you for submitting images that represent the Southern Appalachian region so well.

Today the finalists chosen for exhibition will be notified and we should be sending out an announcement with a list of the finalists early next week. We will also be posting an exhibition gallery online at HighCountryPhotos.com.

Thanks again for participating in this year’s competition and as I like to say, Happy Shooting!

The AMPC is open to amateur and professional photographers 13 years of age or older. Entries may include traditional 35mm film, digital photography, color, black and white and alternative processes, and must be digitally submitted. Images must have been taken within the past 5 years. Up to three images can be submitted per category with a $5 per image entry fee. For full competition details, entry procedures and guidelines visit www.appmtnphotocomp.org, or www.VirtualBlueRidge.com, or call Appalachian’s Outdoor Programs at 828.262.4954.

Approximately 46 images will be selected for exhibition and awards will be given in 9 separate categories. A single image will be chosen as “Best in Show” and winning images will be selected from each of the seven categories.

Proceeds from the Annual Appalachian Mountain Photography Competition are used to subsidize Student Outdoor Learning Expeditions at Appalachian State University.

Student Outdoor Learning Expeditions (SOLE Trips) are 21-55 day active educational adventures of discovery. Outdoor Programs partners with various academic departments across campus and the Office of International Programs to provide students with unique and intense international and domestic adventure travel opportunities that are life changing experiences. Students spend extended time exploring rugged and remote wilderness and become immersed within new and different cultures. Academic credit is offered for all SOLE Trips. Previous destinations include New Zealand, Fiji, Wale, Alaska, and Wyoming.

AMPC is a Partnership between Appalachian State University’s Outdoor Programs, the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts and the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation.

AMPC is sponsored by Virtual Blue Ridge, the premier Blue Ridge Parkway resource with support from Bistro Roca Inventive American Cuisine, Footsloggers Outdoor and Travel Outfitters, Mast General Stores, and Peabody’s Beer and Wine Merchants.

Virtual Blue Ridge began sponsorship in 2008 for the 5th annual competition, and was instrumental in moving the competition to the digital age by offering online submissions for photographs. After last year’s overwhelming response in digital entries, this year’s competition features only digital submissions instead of a combination of digital and print submissions.

The Turchin Center for the Visual Arts has partnered with Outdoor Programs to offer the AMPC since its inception. The Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation became a partner for the 2nd Annual competition in 2005, and sponsors the Blue Ridge Parkway Vistas and Blue Ridge Parkway Share the Journey ® category prizes.

In 2006 Peabody’s and Bistro Roca joined the list of supporters for the 3rd annual competition, while Footsloggers and Mast General Store joined in 2007 for the 4th annual competition.

The public will have the opportunity to view all images selected for exhibition online beginning March 6, 2009 and vote for their pick for the Footsloggers People’s Choice Award. A public reception will be held on Friday, March 6th at the Turchin Center and a photographer’s invitation reception will follow.

I’ve written an article about the 75th kickoff event which I’ve posted over at National Parks Traveler, in hopes of bringing some national attention to our celebration. Meanwhile, for regular readers of this blog: if you pop over to National Parks Traveler, you’ll find a wealth of excellent information about all of our National Parks.

It’s the moment everyone has been waiting for. Trails will be trampled, new roads will be driven, new treasures will be discovered, and dogs will have a chance to pose on the Blue Ridge Parkway? Yep, even dogs will have their day for this year’s competition!

One of the newest features for the 6th Annual AMPC is that the Share the Journey® category will rotate and feature a new theme every year. This year’s theme of course is Dogs on the Parkway. Stock up on your flea shampoo and practice your brushing skills!

Another important change is that the competition will only accept digital submissions for the first time ever. More importantly, the competition now has it’s own permanent home in cyberspace at www.appmtnphotocomp.org.

Still here? What are you waiting for? Get registered already!

Blue Ridge Parkway 75th Anniversary: Plans for a year 2010 celebration of the 75th anniversary of the beginning of construction are proceeding quickly. A set of kickoff events happening in Roanoke on October 9th and 10th will begin with a symposium I have arranged that will look at how an understanding of the past helps us think about the Parkway’s future. “A Living Past on a Borrowed Landscape: The Blue Ridge Parkway at 75” will inagurate a conversation about the challenges facing the Parkway. We’ll also hope to identify areas where more research about the Parkway is needed; we hope that some of that research will be presented at a larger symposium or conference in 2010. The October 9th discussion is open to the public, and I hope that many of you will plan to attend. Full details about this event and all of the other Parkway 75th kickoff plans are available here.

Now, you may ask: why Roanoke? Well, the 75th anniversary of the Parkway is actually many anniversaries, as there were many events in the 1930s that can be called “the beginning” of the Parkway. The first of those beginnings happened in the fall of 1933 when Virginia Senator Harry F. Byrd covened a meeting of representatives from Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee in his Washington office to flesh out what was then a fledgling idea about a parkway to connect Shenandoah and Great Smoky Mountains national parks. Since Virginia played such a key role in getting the Parkway ball rolling in 1933, it seemed logical that the first activity of the 75th celebration should be based among Virginians.

Blue Ridge Parkway Day at Mast General Stores: I spent last Saturday, September 13th, at the Mast General Store in Asheville, participating in their first-ever Blue Ridge Parkway day! Mast and the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation have partnered to promote stewardship of the Parkway, and Mast generously agreed to donate 10% of their sales proceeds from all of their stores on Saturday the 13th to the Foundation to support the Parkway. Saturday was a gorgeous day, with lots of people out on the streets in Asheville and many shopping at Mast. I enjoyed talking with store visitors about the Parkway and the Foundation, and loved getting to know some of Mast’s Asheville employees, who made me feel right at home. Thanks, Mast!

Talks, Talks, and More Talks: In the next two months, I’m doing seven talks and presentations about the Parkway’s history to groups as varied as the “Village Elders” in Chapel Hill to the Society of North Carolina Archivists meeting in Boone. Come out and see me! The full schedule of my public events is online here.

Whew! There are other projects ongoing as well — stay tuned! For me (to paraphrase Faulkner), the Parkway’s history is never dead; it isn’t even past.