Ownership of The Floyd Country Store, home of the Friday Night Jamboree, changed hands at midnight Friday as Woody and Jackie Crenshaw sold the business to Dylan Locke and Heather Krantz of Floyd.

When Woody Crenshaw announced the sale shortly after 9 p.m. Friday, the stunned crowd reacted first with shock, then with congratulations to the new owners and thanks for the Crenshaws to nearly 10 years of stewardship of the area landmark.

My story for The Floyd Press and BH Media went live on the Southwestern Virginia Today web site Friday night and more photos and a more detailed story will follow in next week’s Floyd Press.

Heather and Dylan promised to continue the traditions of the 100-year plus history of the store and the Jamboree that is also an anchor for Virginia’s Crooked Road.

The Jamboree came along after I left Floyd County in 1965 for a lifelong pursuit of journalism.  I first heard about the Friday night event from a young Air Force airman at Ramstein Air Base in Germany in the 1990s.  When I returned to the states, I called and asked my mother about it.

“Oh, that,” she said.  “That’s some sort of Bluegrass thing they have in downtown Floyd.”

Amy and I discovered it in 2002 when we shot a documentary on the Jamboree. Since returning to Floyd in 2004, I have shot thousands of photos and hours of film on the Jamboree.

More to come…