July 12, 2005
A stage of development
MOUTH OF WILSON - Volunteers will no longer have to scramble to construct a temporary stage for the Wayne Henderson Music Festival and Guitar Competition the Friday before the event, Rep. Rick Boucher said Tuesday.
Boucher and the festival committee hope a new, permanent stage will be built by September at Grayson Highlands State Park, the festival's home.The stage also will serve the performance needs of other festivals held in the park's picnic area.
Park Manager Harvey Thompson said the stage would be the park's 45th structure.
He wouldn't guarantee completion by September because the park's weather is unpredictable, but he said he'd work hard to see the project to completion.
Boucher called a press conference to announce that the Appalachian Regional Commission has awarded a $50,000 grant to the Wayne C. Henderson Festival organization to build a $125,000 performance stage.
Grayson Highlands State Park and the Wayne Henderson Festival Organization will provided $50,000 through in-kind services. Volunteers will construct the stage and the park will provide the machinery and tools.
The committee includes about 18 members and as many as 300 volunteers help put on the festival, according to committee member Lynn McClary. The committee is hoping the same volunteers and others will be willing to help build the stage.
The project was presented to the Appalachian Regional Commission as a way to attract more events and tourists to the park. "As a key component of our regional economic development strategy, we are placing a major emphasis on expanding tourism," Boucher said.
Boucher has applied for a $25,000 grant from the Tobacco Commission. Approval is pending. The utility grant will provide funding to connect the stage to the park's water and sewer system.
In the future, Boucher hopes to have additional funding for a sound system for the new stage.
The stage will be 352 square feet, located 100 yards uphill from the point where the festival erects its temporary stage in the Homestead area of the picnic grounds. It will include three dressing rooms and a musician warm-up room and will be handicapped accessible.
Ralph Tuggle, who is chairman of the Grayson Board of Supervisors and a festival committee member, said one dressing room would become a rest room for volunteers and performers in the future.
Boucher said the outside of the stage will resemble a barn or cabin, with hemlock board and batten siding and a cedar shake roof. The stage will match other structures in the park.
Thompson said the stage would be an A-frame, covered structure.
Seating will be the usual lawn chair, blanket type on the slope in front of the stage. Boucher said the natural slope of the hill would provide optimal amphitheater experience.
Twelve people went down to the site after the announcement. The group discussed how the stage should face the open green landscape and where to direct parking.
Thompson said he envisions the stage sitting at a 30-degree angle from the road and the center of the stage in line with a lone apple tree at the far end of the green field.
Committee members discussed parking and other details.
Boucher and others see this project as a potential economic boost for the county through tourism.
The Wayne Henderson Music Festival and Guitar Competition drew an average of 1,858 visitors between 1995 and 2004. The committee and park hope to draw more in the future.
Joe Blevins of the state Department of Housing and Community Development said this project is an opportunity to boost the economy by capitalizing on the rich music culture of the community.
Boucher believes the project holds great promise for increasing tourism. "It is our greatest untapped resource."
