Serving Boone, Blowing Rock, Banner Elk, and other towns of the North Carolina High Country
Founded 05-05-05
February 23, 2006 issue
Don’t Forget Events
Make a Hat at the Cultural Museum Saturday
Are you feeling the winter doldrums? On Saturday, February 25, from 12:30 to 4:30 p.m., the Appalachian Cultural Museum is offering adults the chance to learn to make a warm, beautiful and unique felt hat! All materials and instruction will be provided.
Fiber artist Jane Campbell has a wealth of experience and loves to share her skills. Expect a laughter-filled class. No previous experience (nor particular skill) is necessary, though the class will require a bit of stamina as you work the wool with soap and water.
The class fee is $45 or sign up with a friend for $80.Contact Teri Reddick at reddickct@appstate.edu or 828-262-3117 for complete information.
Celebrate the ReStore’s Birthday Saturday
The Habitat ReStore of Boone on George Wilson Road will celebrate its one-year anniversary on Saturday, February 25. It will be party time at the store where everything will be marked down 20 percent. In addition, refreshments will be available from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
The Habitat ReStore was opened in February 2005 as an alternative way to raise funds for the Watauga County Habitat for Humanity and also as a way to provide a response to the problem of construction-related materials piling up in the landfill. Call 828-264-9696 for info.
Swing Your Partner at Saturday’s Square Dance
The second Community Square Dance sponsored by the Watauga County Arts Council is happening this Saturday night, February 25, at Powderhorn Theatre in the back of the Horn in the West parking lot from 7:30 to 10:30 p.m. Admission is $5 at the door.
The Arts Council’s first square dance last month drew an enthusiastic crowd of approximately 60 people.
This month, Alex Hooker will provide the fiddling and Arvill Scott of the Mountain Music Jamboree in Ashe County will do the calling. Dancers of all levels are welcome.
For more info, call 828-264-1789.
Before the Dance, Enjoy a Spaghetti Supper
The Watauga High School Skills USA will hold a spaghetti supper on Saturday, February 25, from 5:00 to 9:00 p.m. at the Cove Creek School off Vanderpool Road. Skills USA is a national nonprofit organization serving high school students who are preparing for careers in trade, technical and skilled service occupations. All proceeds from the dinner will benefit WHS students attending state competitions in April.
The price of the supper is $7 and includes, along with the spaghetti, salad, bread, dessert and drink. While you eat, enjoy live music with Blue Country, the Crossroads and the Dollar Brothers. Bingo and karaoke are also on the evening program.
Mardi Gras Dinner Benefit Saturday
A Mardi Gras dinner fundraiser on Saturday, February 25, will offer High Country residents a chance to continue to help needy Watauga County residents with their heating bills through WeCAN and further support the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts of a local group of volunteers. The dinner will be held in the High Country Homebuilders Association building on the Highway 105 Bypass in Boone. Seating begins at 6:00 p.m. and features menu specialties from Chef Kelly Reynerson’s family roots in Baton Rouge. Tickets are $12 for adults and $6 for children 12 and younger. The event is the brainchild of members of the High Country United Church of Christ (HCUCC) and the Rev. Shelly Wilson.
Participants are encouraged to come dressed in the spirit of Mardi Gras, but costuming is not required. The event will include prerecorded Louisiana regional music for dining and dancing, Mardi Gras mask-making and other fun for the kids, and beads, beads, beads. A massage therapist will be on hand to give chair massages for an additional donation, commemorative T-shirts will be available for purchase and $1 raffle tickets will offer partygoers the opportunity to win one of the prizes donated for the evening’s event.
Half of the proceeds will benefit the Hospitality House’s Watauga Emergency Crisis Assistance Network (WeCAN) heating service and the other half will be used to assist with the HCUCC’s ongoing Katrina relief efforts in New Orleans.”
Tickets are currently being sold in advance with any remainders offered for sale at the door on Saturday night of the celebration. For more information or to purchase advance tickets, call 828-265-4074 or the HCUCC office at 828-262-0401.
Take a Hike Saturday
Park rangers in Ashe County are offering two opportunities on Saturday, February 25, to get out into the woods.
At New River State Park, learn how to identify your favorite summertime wildflowers during the drab winter months. Although the colorful flowers are gone, many of the vital, dried plants remain standing through the cold winter. These “dead” plants are an important winter habitat for insects.
Meet at the New River State Park’s Wagoner Access Road at 1:00 pm for a leisurely one-mile hike. Wear appropriate shoes and clothing for hiking and winter weather. New River State Park is located in Ashe County. For info, call 336-982-2587.
If you’re more into rocks than dead flowers, head toward Mount Jefferson to learn about the mountain’s geology on Saturday. Wear a coat, hat, gloves and hiking boots for a 1.3-mile hike to explore some of the geological mysteries that make Mount Jefferson rock. Meet the park ranger at the picnic shelter at 1:00 p.m. and discover if the 4,683-foot mountain was once 15,000 feet high, if their have ever been any major rockslides on the metamorphic mountain and what an amphibolite is. Call 336-246-9653 for info.
Get Gussied Up for the Winter Wonderland Gala
High Country residents and students will have a chance to dress up and get down as the annual Winter Wonderland Gala returns to Legends on Saturday, February 25, at 9:00 p.m. In its eighth year, the Winter Wonderland Gala provides a chance for folks to dress up in fancy clothes and enjoy a night out on the town with discounted dinner at any of a number of area establishments followed by hours of dancing at Legends on the campus of ASU. The dress for the occasion is semi-formal.
Music will be provided by the one and only Chairmen of the Board. The band, according to Legends Manager Randy Kelly, is the “number one beach music band in the world,” and will be playing all the shagging soul classics throughout the evening.
Prior to crowding the dance floor, ticket holders are invited to take advantage of dinner specials at participating restaurants that include Canyons, Casa Rustica, Makoto Japanese Steakhouse, Pepper’s and The Red Onion. The specials, which will only be good the night of the gala, will allow diners to buy one meal and get another of equal or lesser value for half off.
People who attend the gala will also have the chance to have their picture made by a professional photographer to commemorate the evening.
Tickets are $9. For info, call 828-262-3032.
Jazz Ensemble Presents Free Concert Saturday
Appalachian State University’s Jazz Ensemble I directed by Todd Wright will perform Saturday, February 25, at 8:00 p.m. in Farthing Auditorium. Admission is free.
Joining the ensemble for the concert are vocalist Michelle Amato and saxophonist William Gora.
The concert opens with “I’ve Got the World on a String” by Harold Arlen. Amato performs Antonio Carlos Jobim’s “One Note Samba” with saxophonist Wright, bass player Ron Brendle, guitarist Anderson Page and drummer Rick Dilling.
Other jazz favorites on the program are “Nearness of You,” “Take the A-Train” and “Taking a Chance on Love.” Gora will be the featured soloist on Billy Strayhorn’s “Isfahan.”
The concert concludes with Sergio Mendes’ “So Many Stars,” Rodgers’ and Hart’s “Spring is Here” and Bobby Troup’s “Route 66.”
Amato is a dynamic vocalist and educator. She performs regularly in Florida at the Van Dyke Café on South Beach, Pleasure Island Jazz Company at Walt Disney World and Heidi’s Jazz Club in Cocoa Beach, as well as at numerous jazz festivals. She has been a featured soloist with the Memphis Symphony, the South Florida Pops and the All-American College Orchestra at Epcot Center.
Gora is director of bands in Appalachian’s Mariam Cannon Hayes School of Music and has performed and conducted extensively throughout the United States, Canada and Romania. He has considerable experience as a saxophone recitalist including experience in the fields of jazz and commercial music. He has also performed as a member of the North Carolina Symphony and the Modesto Symphony Orchestra (California) and as a soloist with the Vivaldi Traveling Circus.