PeopleFest
Some people go to events like FloydFest for the music and the acts on stage. I go for the people and the entertainment you find in the crowd. At FloydFest, the people are the show. "Are you blue?" The question seemed simple enough to the two women above. "Yes," one replied. "We are." "Funny," came the response. "You don’t look bluish." No, not original. The line came from "Yellow Submarine," the classic Beatles animated film. Didn’t matter. Seemed to fit the occasion even if many of the kids don’t get the joke. A young man in a frog raincoat (left) seemed unhappy. Could have been the rain and fog. Could have been music he didn’t like. Or maybe he didn’t like being seen in public in a frog raincoat. Maybe his mother made him wear it. We may never know. He wasn’t talking. Wouldn’t even give me his name. He just stood there looking unhappy. For others in the crowd, FloydFest was just a chance to dance in their own world (below), oblivious to everyone else. And oblivious to the music since most of the movements had little to do with the rhythm on stage. There was a Woodstockian feel to the whole thing, which I’m sure is part of the intent of the organizers. Of course, the rain, fog and mud can either be a pain in the butt or just part of the appeal of getting back to nature. It depends on your point of view. That’s the beauty of events like FloydFest. Some come for the show. Others are the show. 
FogFest
For the second year in a row, fog hung low over the FloydFest site as the three-day music festival got underway just off the Blue Ridge Parkway in Patrick County.
Yes, FloydFest is actually in Patrick, not Floyd, County but it’s a minor detail.
The campgrounds and RV parks are sold out for this year’s event and even though the stages were often obscured with fog, the crowd started arriving in time for Friday’s 4 p.m. opening with the Kusin Ensemble (left) and the sounds of music spilled into the fog from the event’s seven stages (even though it was not always possible to see the stage.
But FloydFest is more than just the music on stage. It’s a people show as attendees dance to the music (above) or try an little interpretive dance with a hula hoop (right).
Some in the crowd seem to have trouble realizing the 60s ended more than 30 years ago. Yet the nostalgia is there, mixed in among the smells of incense and marijuana. On the road leading into the festival, I followed a VW microbus with a psychedelic paint job and a peace symbol on the rear.
But a fair share of aging yuppies could be spotted among the graying ponytails and tie-dyed shirts. Call it a summer music festival, call it Woodstock revisited, call it whatever you want. FloydFest has its own unique style.
The weather forecast calls for more fog and rain on Saturday but clearing is forecast for late in the afternoon with cool but dry weather in the evening and cloudy but clear on Sunday. Fog along the Blue Ridge Parkway made driving difficult Friday and is expected to hamper visibility Saturday morning but the fog should clear by noon (if you can believe the weather forecasters).
Donna the Buffalo highlights Saturday’s night performance on the Dreaming Creek Stage with Ani Defranco closing things out on the same stage Sunday night but the festival inclues dozens of musical acts on the various stages over the next two days along with workshops, arts, crafts, food and exhibits.
A number of local musicians play as well, including bluesman Scott Perry and traditional balladiers Brother Wind. Some complain about the cost of tickets (about $45 a day each) but given the number of musical acts playing on the various stages plus the other attractions,
FloydFest is actually a bargain. And if it continues to rain? "No problem," says event organizer Erika Hodges. "We’ve got weather insurance." 
Brother Wind
I love music and a great side benefit of living in Floyd is the opportunity to discover musical talent among the bounty that exists in the area. Like Brother Wind, a trio and sometimes quartet featuring Michael and Kari Thomas Kovick along with Dave Fason and a rotating case of bass players. I first heard them during FloydFest and while reviewing video of the group remember thinking: "Damn, these folks are good." Here’s a video sample of their music. They’re worth a listen.
Snakes in the Grass
Report from the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. The two snakes they bagged from the marshy area around our stream were a copperhead and a mountain rattlesnake. Both poisonous but neither the water mocassin I spotted and photographed earlier. They continue to maintain their position that water mocassins aren’t found in the mountains of Virginia. Too bad they didn’t go upstream as far as our neighbor’s pond because that’s where he and I believe the snake(s) live.
Damn, It’s Hot
The heat index, the talking heads on the tube claim, is over 100. For once, they may be right. It’s hot. Damn hot. Sweaty, dripping, energy-sapping hot. And, if the talking heads continue their streak of recognizing the obvious, we’ve got at least two more days of unseasonably hot weather before some relief arrives this weekend.
Snake Duty
Two sincere-looking types flashing badges from the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries showed up at our house today to “investigate reports of poisonous reptiles in the area.” They spent about 45 minutes searching along the stream that runs through our front yard, bagged two snakes, and went on their merry way.
No word yet on the species of the captured reptiles but a full report is promised.
Under the Microscope
In recent weeks I’ve run across two — yes, two — graduate students spending time in Floyd County to study our lives and ways for use in a thesis.
One is looking at the music culture of Floyd while the other examines homesteading.
Both have degrees in anthropology which, I guess, puts us in the same class with primates as a species worthy of study by academic minds.
Street Music
They gather in the street along that stretch of Floyd’s Music Row from the County Store to Cafe del Sol, often spilling over into the parking lots and alleyways. Street musicians, the soul of Friday nights in this Southwestern Virginia town. Some, like fiddler Clyde Williams (above) jam outside before heading inside the Country Store for a gig at the Friday Night Jamboree.
Even when he’s not on the bill for inside on Friday Night, Clyde still holds court outside (the Jugbusters occupied his usual slot on this past week’s Jamboree) and both younger and other oldtime musicians (right) join in.
But you don’t have to wander very far to find other impromptu bands along Locust Street.
They gather by the entrance to Angels in the Attic, in the parking lot of Mama Lazzardos across the street and in any available ally or open spot on the sidewalk. Mandolin player and singer Abe Goorskey (below) found a willing jam session near Cafe del Sol for a twilight concert.
Street music is part of the tradition of Floyd on Friday nights and just talking Locust Street and taking in the sounds shows why the area is so rich in musical talent. They play because they love it and love of music is what makes it so worthwhile for both musician and audience. 
Non-existent
According to the “experts” (the kind who get their information from books and brochures put out by the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries), water moccasins don’t exist in Floyd County. In Virginia, they say, the pit viper can only be found around the Great Dismal Swamp.
