With more and more Springlike weather (while not forgetting the cold weather in the weekend’s forecast), the streets of Floyd are packed with music and listeners on Friday nights.

The traditional “First Friday” observations at The Jacksonville Center, Winter Sun and Station on South Locust added to the crowd this past Friday night as the streets teemed and the music played.

The Spring music system is in full swing.

Serena Wimmer and Donald Jacobs tied the knot at the Jamboree in Floyd Friday night. The met at the Jamboree, danced many a night away and fell in love amid the clogging, flatfooting and bluegrass music.

So the music stopped briefly Friday night and the dance floor and stage became a wedding chapel for the brief ceremony. The bridesmaids led the procession to the stage amid a packed house at the Country Store

After the ceremony and a brief speech from the groom, the newlyweds danced and later received friends and well-wishers in one room of the Country Store while the music continued.

Among those who witnessed the wedding were visitors from Japan and Romania.

Just business as usual on another unique Friday night in Floyd.

Hannah and Laurel Brooke joined Henderson on stage at the Country Store at the end of a ceremony where the Trust recognized The Crooked Road as one of 2010′s “Dozen Distinctive Destinations.”

“The Cooked Road pays homage to a rich Appalachian heritage,” said Robert Nieweg, director of the Southern Field Office for the National Trust for Historic Preservationsaid in presenting a plaque recognizing the honor to Jim Baldwin, President of the Crooked Road Board of Directors.

“The trail weaves together unique historic districts that share a past steeped in a rare and uniquely American music culture,” Newig added.

Each year, the National Trust selected communities around the country that offer “cultural and recreational experiences different from those found at the typical vacation destination.”

“The Crooked Road certainly fits that description,” Newig said. “That’s why it was an easy selection.”

Baldwin said Virginia’s musical heritage is a valuable asset to the Commonwealth’s growing tourism industry.

About 35 people area and state officials attended the ceremony Wednesday.

The Floyd Country Store and its Friday Night Jamboree is one of eight key venues on the Crooked Road, a 300-mile route that winds through 19 towns in Southwestern Virginia.

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With Daylight Savings Time coming earlier than ever nowdays, the afternoon shadows ran long Sunday afternoon for the annual Veterans Day Parade in downtown Floyd and the crowd was a far cry from what it once was in a county where service to country was once considered important and worthy of more respect and attention.

Even with Spring-like weather on a November afternoon, the turnout was not large. Perhaps the economy has something to do with the lack of interest. Perhaps the controversies surrounding the unpopular wars in Iraq and Afghanistan kept people away. Perhaps people couldn’t tear themselves away from the football game or NASCAR race on TV. Whatever the excuse, that dog won’t hunt. Those who put on the uniform and stand post to serve our country deserve better,

The poor turnout at last year’s Veterans Day Parade prompted Greg Locke (riding in sidecar below) to write a letter to the Floyd Press asking why people didn’t come out and support those who served their country.

Locke hoped the letter would spur a greater turnout this year.

It didn’t.

The problem isn’t limited to Floyd. In Bedford, the National D-Day Memorial is broke and might close unless the National Park Service decides to take over ownership and management of the monument to those who died in the bloodiest day of World War II. Yet a museum on D-Day in New Orleans is flooded with donations.

Being a vet once counted for something in Virginia. What happened?

Shots of Saturday’s Split Rail Eco Fair in Floyd. The event also included dedication of the new community market next to The Station on South Locust.

Community residents gathered on Locust Street Saturday morning for an old-fashioned roofing party to help put the roof on the new Farmers Market next to the Station on South Locust.

The Market,  scheduled to be ready for the Split Rail Eco Fair next weekend, will host not only a Farmers Market but other events and become part of the complex centered around the Floyd Country Store and the Friday Night Jamboree. Owner Woody Crenshaw (right) invited anyone interested in helping for the Saturday task and several braved near-freezing temperatures and a threat of snow to pitch in.

The Market features a modified timber frame tin roof. Crenshaw said he has been in contact with local growers for recommendations and ideas for the market.

I generally don’t post pictures of myself on this web site but reader Jeff Blakley sent in this shot taken in front of the Floyd County Store a couple of Friday nights ago.

Thanks Jeff for reminding me that some of us just never grow up.

Any way you slice it, Friday nights are special in Floyd and a holiday weekend brings out even more of a crowd on the streets with music (top), street artists (right) and what Floyd is best known for: Bluegrass.

This Friday night also featured the opening of new shops in the Station on South Locust, the new retail and residential development in the rehabilitated building that once housed Mama Lazzardos.  The Floyd Artists Group celebrated their first “First Friday” evening and other new shops opened as well.

A video crew from Channel 8 in Winston Salem also visited the town as part of a piece they’re doing on the Crooked Road. Floyd Country Store co-owner Jackie Crenshaw (below) was among the interviewees.

By most measures, Floyd’s first annual Town Jubilee was a success. Estimates of the attendance ranged from 1,500 to 2,500.  Wind and a chance of rain did not deter those who visited the vendors, sampled the food and enjoyed the music.

I’ll have more details and photos in this week’s Floyd Press.

Music from the big band era wafted over U.S. 221 from the pavilion at Pine Tavern Saturday night was Sway Katz played to a large crowd. Here’s a slide show of scenes from the evening.