Vendors Row

You can smell vendors row before it comes into view. The distinct aroma of grilled onions, hot dogs and cotton candy waft through the crowd gathering in the August evening.

Food vendors hand pizza, ham biscuits, lemonade, hamburgers and even alligator-on-a-stick to customers waiting in line. Ice cream, strawberry shortcake and carmel apples tempt the hungry crowd.

Walk down the road to purchase a 76th annual Old Fiddlers Convention tee shirt or ball cap. There are lottery tickets, quilts and pieces of jewelry for sale. A favorite musician/artist friend, Willard Gayheart, displays pencil drawings of everyone from Wayne Henderson to Doc Watson. Willard it always in his booth with a big smile, greeting the people passing by. Feel free to chat a while with Willard. He is a great story teller. Further down the road there are booths selling guitar pics, music CDs and sheet music. It is a musicians' paradise here, banjos, guitars and harmonicas wait to make music.

Sit and listen to one of the many groups of musicians jamming under the stars. Request a tune, flatfoot if the mood strikes and be sure and eat the strawberry shortcake because it is simply the best!