ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, May 24, 1996 TAG: 9605240052
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-8 EDITION: METRO
IN VIRGINIA'S Festival City, this is the mother of all festivals.
Ten days of art, music, crafts, sports and dance, a smattering of drama, a look at a llama, and lots of food on a stick (or stuffed in a bun).
In short, 10 days of fun.
After last night's opening gala, and your choice tonight of a festival of ballet or of country music, the 27th annual Festival in the Park will get seriously under way with that perennial tragicomedy, the River Race, Saturday on the Roanoke River. Technically, this is part of Festival on the River, but what the hey: The river runs through Wasena Park.
Running concurrently at Elmwood Park downtown, to which Festival in the Park actually refers, most of the time, will be the Nationsbank Festival Fine Arts and Crafts show and sale. Festival-goers can catch both events, if they want to. They run pretty much all day, and enthusiasts can easily bop back and forth.
If Saturday's just not a good day, there are plenty of festival days ahead, and an expanded list of attractions from which to choose - most of them free. Not to be missed is next weekend's Sidewalk Art Show, at a new location around the Market Building on Market and Wall streets and along Salem Avenue, where more than 200 artists will show their work.
The Sidewalk Art Show, sponsored by the Docent Guild of the Art Museum of Western Virginia, is in its 38th year. Yep, it predates the festival that surrounds it by more than a decade. And its "new" location is actually the original site. To miss it would be to defy tradition.
There is always the nontraditional, too: new events to surprise and delight. Little Red Riding Hood, a children's opera offered by Virginia Opera Educational Programs, sounds promising. Loved the book. And a dancing duo called Friends in High Places will be doing tap, ballet, jazz and the tango - on stilts!
There always is a slew of activities and entertainments for children, but this year some events have been planned specifically for senior citizens. Tuesday - Salute to Seniors Day - older festival-goers will be able to range from what's good for them, such as tai chi or a breakfast walk, to what's just plain good, such as an ice cream social.
The greatest attraction each year, however, is simply the sense of community one feels seeing friends and neighbors, maybe your kid's teacher, or your preacher, and those familiar faces that turn out to belong to the bag boy at the grocery store or the librarian at your local branch library.
Festival in the Park has grown into an event that draws visitors from outside the Roanoke Valley and attracts coveted tourist dollars. As such, it's important to the city's and region's economic health. But it remains a community celebration of the arts and family-oriented carnival of creative activities offering all generations the opportunity to come out and play awhile.
That's important to the social health of the Roanoke Valley.
So come ahead, but bring an umbrella. It is tradition, too, that on every Festival, some rain must fall.
LENGTH: Medium: 58 linesby CNB