New site improvements have already begun for the annual music and arts festival FloydFest, July 23-26, located at milepost 170.5 off the Blue Ridge Parkway near Floyd, Virginia. One major addition to the venue in 2009 is the construction of a timber framed “front of house” structure for the Streamline Stage @ HillHoller. The structure will house sound equipment during the event, and will be designed to complement the beautiful timber framed stage, built in 2007 by event sponsors Streamline Timberworks.
In keeping with the ongoing “greening” efforts by the event and its producers, Across-the-Way Productions, the construction of the new addition will be a showcase of sustainability from start to finish, beginning with an open-to-the-public demonstration at Streamline’s production facility on Saturday March 28th, located at 997 Harvestwood Rd SE, Floyd, VA 24091. The event will be hosted by Streamline Timberworks, in conjunction with Across-the-Way Productions and Healing Harvest Forest Foundation, a 501 (c)(3) charitable organization dedicated to restorative forestry using horse logging and single tree selection. The event will be open to anyone interested, and will feature walk-thru demonstrations of the process of selection, felling and extraction of trees using teams of workhorses. Tour groups will be led through the forest as the process is explained and demonstrated, and tours will culminate with the trees being worked into usable timbers by local timber framers.
“We want people to grasp the concept”, says Jason Rutledge, founder of the Healing Harvest Forest Foundation, “that you can get material out of the woods without destroying the forest. This low-impact restoration forestry using draft horses is an example of how we’re going back to the future, blending the best traditions of the past with modern science. This is a great opportunity for landowners to gain insight into the process, and for those interested in becoming horse loggers to see how it’s done.”
Streamline Timberworks, a premier timber framing company based in Floyd, Virginia, has been a sponsor of FloydFest since 2007 with the erection of the Streamline Stage @ HillHoller at the FloydFest venue. Streamline Timberworks recently joined forces with Healing Harvest on a new line of “Draftwood” homes, constructing one-of-a-kind timber frame houses from sustainably harvested timbers. Open Woods Day will be a perfect opportunity to demonstrate to the public how a low-impact home can be constructed from trees sustainably harvested from a piece of property- from drafthorse to sawhorse!
For more information on timber framing or sustainable harvestry, visit streamlinetimberworks.com or draftwood.com. For information about the event, call 540-745-FEST.
About Across-the-Way Productions
Born in 2001 on the small stage of Oddfella’s Cantina in downtown Floyd Virginia, Across-the-Way Productions, Inc., has dedicated itself to becoming Southwest Virginia’s premier event production company. In a world of ever-increasing homogenization, AtWP promotes a community-based approach to event production, and prides itself in presenting sincere, family-friendly, quality, even magical events.
In addition to FloydFest, the 2009 AtWP roster includes the states’ largest wine festival - Vintage Virginia, the state’s oldest wine festival Virginia Wine Festival, and this year’s inauguration (slash resurrection) of Floyd Fandango, a new kind of Beer and Wine Festival set for July 4th and 5th at the beloved FloydFest site on the Parkway. For more information visit www.atwproductions.com
