MusicFest Memories
Area resident Arthur Grimes, right, dances with the Carolina Chocolate Drops last Saturday, as banjo player Hubby Jenkins plays along.
The 15th annual MusicFest ’n Sugar Grove tuned into Cove Creek
July 13 and 14, attracting thousands of visitors to the Historic Cove Creek School.
This
year marked the festival’s first foray without Doc Watson, the flatpicking bluegrass legend from
Deep Gap, who died May 29.
More than 30 musical acts performed, including Watson’s longtime
friend, Charles Welch, who hosted a tribute Saturday with the Kruger Brothers, celebrating
Watson’s life and music.
As MusicFest volunteer Jim “Andy” Andrews said, “In (Doc’s)
spirit, there are going tobe sounds carrying from this part of the county for a long, long time to
come.”
The festival serves as a fundraiser for Cove Creek Preservation and Development, as
well as the Doc and Rosa Lee Watson Scholarship, which benefits students in Appalachian State
University’s Sustainable Development Program.
Mountain Times Publications contributed $1,000
toward the scholarship through sales of a Watauga Democrat special edition tribute to Doc Watson,
the award-winning bluegrass legend from Deep Gap, who died May 29. Mountain Times Publications
publisher Gene Fowler and The Mountain Times editor Frank Ruggiero presented the check to Tommy
Walsh, director of ASU Sustainable Development Outreach, Saturday at MusicFest.
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