Bluefield Daily Telegraph, Bluefield, WV

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Related Photos

  • Hundreds of funseekers crowd Main Street in Tazewell, Va., during the annual Main Street Heritage and Music Festival Saturday.

    7:28Crowd .jpg

  • Cadence Monk has her face painted by Jessica Call during the event.

    7:28FacePainter.jpg

  • Neric Sheppard looks on as his daughter Adyson takes aim as she plays the balloon popping game at the festival in Tazewell, Va., on Saturday.

    7:28BaloonPop.jpg

Discussion

July 29, 2012

Tazewell packed for annual Main Street Heritage and Music Festival

BILL ARCHER Bluefield Daily Telegraph

TAZEWELL, Va. — Downtown Tazewell, Va., was packed with people Saturday as rain clouds stayed away and people flocked to the Tazewell County seat to enjoy the sights, sounds, tastes and fellowship of the 2012 Tazewell Main Street Heritage and Music Festival.

“Look at this crowd and that mountain in the background,” Kes Blackwell said. Blackwell has served as chair of the festival for eight consecutive years. “Since I’ve been chair of this event, we have prided ourselves of bringing free entertainment to people who attend this festival.

“With the economy the way it has been, I think it says a lot about our local business community for stepping up and covering the cost of this festival,” Blackwell said. “Can you imagine coming to a free concert featuring Exile, a band that has had that many number one hits?

“And (tonight),” Blackwell continued. “The 6 p.m., performance by Gordon Mote, one of the most prolific studio musicians in gospel and country music is going to be great. People who are familiar with his work will be excited and people who have only heard him and didn’t know his name will be amazed.”

In addition to the entertainment taking place on two stages in the downtown, food, game, informational and craft vendors lined both sides of Main Street. Major Harold Heatley, chief deputy of the Tazewell County Sheriff’s Office made sure that the deputies participating in the “Dunk a Deputy” dunking booth stayed plenty wet — whether the young throwers hit the target or not.

“I did that a few years ago, and I thought the kids who were throwing at the target had a great aim until I figured out that there was a way they could trip it by hand,” Tazewell County Commonwealths Attorney Dennis Lee said. “I got awful wet that day.”

A day-long rain storm put a damper on the festival in 2011, but Lee recalled a festival about 13 years earlier when a thunder and lightning storm packing strong wind gusts also brought an early end to the event.

“We were trying to hold the tents down to keep them from blowing away until we saw the lightning and thought that we were holding metal tent posts,” Lee said.

John Heatley and Amy Shrader were walking down Main Street hand-in-hand, taking in the sights before John would be demonstrating his Taekwondo skills with several other students in the Tazewell Taekwondo Green Dawg school. The students performed a routine to the song, “Everyone was Kung Fu Fighting,” to the delight of a crowd gathered for the event.

Brian Janovec of Bluefield, Va., put several of his pottery pieces on display for shoppers to purchase. “I like to look back at the ancient pottery, but I also like to make pottery that is useful to people,” Janovec said. “This is what I do on weekends and evenings, and it has become a little more than a hobby.”

While the musical and dancing acts as well as the vendors attracted visitors, several people commented that they enjoyed the fellowship. “This is a good place to see people you haven’t seen for a while,” Maggie Asbury said.

The party continued through the day and into the night.

— Contact Bill Archer at barcher@bdtonline.com

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