2nd round of additions for FloydFest 2009

Across-the-Way Productions recently announced the latest additions to the FloydFest roster; Blues Traveler, and Peter Rowan are three extraordinarily diverse musical groups that would only share billing at a festival as unique as FloydFest.

Across-the-Way Productions recently announced the latest additions to the FloydFest roster; Blues Traveler, and Peter Rowan are three extraordinarily diverse musical groups that would only share billing at a festival as unique as FloydFest.

Blues Traveler, an award winning top Billboard artist with the longest running hit single, ‘Run Around’, in Billboard History, will be making their first appearance at FloydFest this year, as the Saturday night headlining band on the Dreaming Creek Main Stage. Peter Rowan, a long beloved FloydFest veteran, returns in 2009 with his Bluegrass Band. These groups were announced recently as additions to a line-up that already features over 80 bands from multiple genres and regions, from local to international, and which includes The Felice Brothers, Donna the Buffalo, The Duhks, Hot 8 Brass Band, Nathan & the Zydeco Cha Chas, Forro in the Dark, Panjea w/ Michael Kang, Toubab Krewe, and Circus entertainers Yard Dogs Road Show as well as a variety of authentic Appalachian-style musicians from the ‘Crooked Road,’ Virginia’s musical heritage driving route.

Tickets for the annual music and arts festival FloydFest have been on sale since late November, and organizers say they were anxious about how sales would be in the weakened economy. December sales for the event were strong, however, and to date the festival reports a 17% increase over 2008. “We feel very fortunate,” says festival organizer Erika Johnson. “There seems to be something to this new notion of the ‘staycation’, people planning their vacations more regionally. If the value is there, people are still willing to spend money on quality entertainment, and we strive annually to ensure that attendees to FloydFest get their money’s worth and then some.”

Other new additions to the four-day late July event include a new timber framed front-of-house structure that will house sound equipment for the Streamline Stage @ HillHoller. The structure is a cooperative effort between Across-the-Way Productions, Streamline Timberworks and Jason Rutledge that will kick off in late March with a Village Green event that will showcase the timber framing process from horse drawn foresting to hand hewn timbers to the eco friendly conditioner.
Also, camping opportunities for the four days of the festival will be expanded to include a new park-and-camp site on the property of Mrs. Maude Shelor, on the corner of the BR Parkway and Stone Church Rd. “Mrs. Shelor is a lifelong resident of Patrick and Floyd Counties and the very first Director of Social Services in Floyd; she is just a joy to work with, and is an enthusiastic supporter of local culture in particular FloydFest and the cultural and economic impact it has had on our area.”, explains Linda DeVito, festival Public Relations Director.

Visiting naturalist Eustace Conway , the subject of author Elizabeth Gilbert’s biography The Last American Male, will hold workshops at the Global Village. New landscaping additions include a water feature by Beegle Landscaping, highlighted by a water sculpture by a local artist.

Organizers say they are very pleased with the growth and status of FloydFest since its debut in 2002.
“Every cool town has a festival,” says Johnson. “Asheville has Belle Chere, Ithica (New York) has the Grassroots festival, Telluride has the Telluride Bluegrass Festival, Floyd has FloydFest. It’s really wonderful the way the community has supported and engaged in FloydFest. Our local sponsors- Streamline Timberworks, Dreaming Creek, Chateau Morrisette, Sticks & Stones Timber framers, Hotel Floyd, Beagle Landscaping, Food Lion, as well as hotel and radio sponsors in the Blacksburg and Roanoke area- have become an integral part of creating the sense that FloydFest truly represents Floyd, and that it’s something our entire area supports and sanctions. It’s become a real niche event that is able to showcase so much diverse quality music and art – from the musicians of the Crooked Road to headlining acts that have ranged from The Neville Brothers to Ani DiFranco to Nickel Creek to Doc Watson. Because of the ‘namesake’ aspect of FloydFest, there’s a very close alignment to visitor’s perceptions of the town of Floyd and the Festival, and that has been to date a very positive symbiotic relationship.”

This year’s FloydFest 8- Revival! theme addresses the underlying theme of reawakening and re-envisioning that we as a world seem to be experiencing, says co-organizer Kris Hodges.

For tickets or additional information, visit www.floydfest.com or call 745-FEST