Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, October 24, 1993 TAG: 9310240036
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: D-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ADRIENNE PETTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
At least a dozen roadside yard and craft sales greeted people stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic Saturday as they headed to the college for the 20th annual Blue Ridge Folklife Festival.
"We kind of plan our business around the college business," said Dianna Holland of Rocky Mount, who has set up shop on festival day for five years. She and her family also hold a sale the weekend of Ferrum's Spring Fling.
Seeing an opportunity to hawk their wares to the thousands of people who flock to the festival - a celebration of the traditions and folkways of Southwest Virginia - a growing number of people who live along the highway are carrying on a tradition of their own.
Perhaps the oldest of these upstart businesses is Bobbie Holcomb's craft sale. She, her sister and her sister-in-law have been selling their quilts, baskets and other original creations in Holcomb's front yard on Virginia 40 since the festival started 20 years ago.
Festival organizers invite quilters and other artisans to set up tables at the college. But Mevva Hodges, Holcomb's sister-in-law, said she often makes more money on the roadside. "We find a lot of times we have to pay too much for our tables at those festivals," she said.
Many people sold crafts and other specialties of the region in keeping with the festival spirit. Chris Austin, owner of C&M Produce, sold down-home foods such as apple butter, pinto beans and fried apple pies. But travelers also could find anything from a $1 Patsy Cline 8-track tape to a $200 antique desk to a $9,995 reproduction of a 1937 Jaguar SS100.
At times, traffic was backed up for so many miles that some would-be festival goers opted to fetch a bargain instead.
Benita Reynolds of Rocky Mount and her sister Janet bought a few knickknacks for their new trailer rather than inch along in the traffic.
"We were headed that way, but the line was pretty long," she said. "I've only got so much time until I have to go to work."
Some of the sales that had attention-grabbing signs and gimmicks attracted the most shoppers. Wanda Cundiff's daughter Kammi and her friends painted their faces and held up chalkboards advertising an air conditioner. They even stuffed their shirts with balloons and wiggled their hips at one point to lure shoppers.
Another yard sale used a stuffed leopard perched atop a mailbox to catch drivers' eyes as they traveled toward the festival.
In contrast, business was pretty slow for the Rev. Lacy Carroll, who was selling apple butter and wooden crafts for his church. But he wasn't worried.
"They're in too big of a hurry to get there now," he said. "We'll get 'em on the way back."
by CNB