Weekend offers perfect weather for festivals

By Miranda Baines

Published: October 8, 2008

Reidsville Downtown

Fall Festival

Downtown Reidsville is reinventing itself, and the former Downtown Reidsville & Antique Alley Street Festival is part of that transformation.

Last year, the 17-year-old festival became the Reidsville Downtown Fall Festival.

While the name has changed, the goal of the festival remains.

Robbin Miller, president of the EZ Street Cruisers Car Club, said Reidsville has a reputation of having a family-oriented event with a variety of offerings.

“It’s a celebration of sorts. It’s a celebration of our town,” Miller said. “It’s something I think Reidsville should be proud of. Everyone owns a part of everything that goes on down there Saturday.”

Diana Moran, coordinator of the Reidsville Downtown Corp., described the festival as “fun, educational, culturally significant, and it’s close to home.”

She said the festival reflects the reflects the diversity of downtown.

“We have got such a diverse cross-section of vendors this year,” she said. “We’ve got something for everybody.”

More than 130 vendors are set.

In the vein of “reinvention,” a “green corner” will debut this year to promote “environmental awareness,” said David Glick. He and his wife, Linda Cook, own the Backstreet Buzz Coffee House. They coordinated the green corner, which will be outside the coffee house.

Glick and Cook will serve smoothies using solar power while environmentalists discuss things such as alternative energy sources, composting and recycling. The Dan River Basin Association, Rockingham County Naturalist Club, Betsy-Jeff Penn 4-H Camp and N.C. Birding Trail will participate.

An old favorite at the fall festival is the car show, and Miller expects to have more than 400 entries.

“If you like cars, you’ll be in the right place Saturday,” said Miller. He said the autos will be “true collector cars” — 25 years old or older.

“We’ll have some T-models and A-models that a lot of the young people have never seen,” he said.

The car club will begin presenting trophies at 4 p.m. The show will have 49 classes with three trophies per class. All entries will receive a collectible dash plaque and a chance to win $1,500. The car club will donate the proceeds from Saturday’s show to charity.

While admiring antique cars, festival-goers can enjoy musical entertainment from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Stages will be placed at the monument on South Scales Street and in the Southwest Market Street parking lot next to Backstreet Buzz.

Bob Tudor, owner of the Reidsville Downtown Exhibit Center at 223 S. Scales St., will also offer entertainment.

Tried & True, the house band for The Corral in Ridgeway, Va., will perform from 10:30 to 1:30 p.m. From 1:30 to 5 p.m., City Limits of Danville, Va., will perform. City Limits returns for a festival dance at the center at 7 p.m. A $5 donation is requested at the dance. Daytime entertainment is free.

The downtown shops will be open.

“We’ve got some really unique specialty shops downtown,” said Bonnie Purgason, owner of Reidsville Florist & Gifts. “Downtown has evolved. I’ve seen a lot of growth and a lot of change that has been for the good.”

“We feel like Reidsville’s starting to revitalize,” said Dale Nilan. She and her son, Bill, opened a toy shop on South Scales Street about a month ago. The store sells “classic toys — toys you can’t get anymore,” Dale Nilan said.

“When we had the other store, Bill’s Toys, up on the corner, we did real well when the festival was going on,” she said.

People can take a free shuttle from Pennrose Mall to downtown courtesy of Reidsville Baptist Church.

5th Annual Rubber Duck Regatta

The Eden Chamber of Commerce presents the 5th Annual Rubber Duck Regatta on Saturday at the Spray Mercantile Building at 413 Church St., next to the traffic circle.

The qualifying race begins at noon, the championship race for the top 40 ducks is at 12:45 and the awards ceremony is at 1:15. Food will be sold from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The grand prize to the ticket holder of the winning duck is a $250 gas card. Second prize is a $100 Wal-Mart card, and third prize is a $50 Tractor Supply card. Even the lame duck, which “comes waddling in last” will receive a prize – $100 in cash, said Lou Trollinger of the Chamber.

Tickets are available at Chamber office at 678 S. Van Buren Road. The cost is $5 for one duck and $20 for five.

Family Golf Event/ Revival

Lively Stones Baptist Church and Christians Outreach for Youth Association present their 7th annual family golf event Saturday at the Plantation Golf Club at 190 Club House Drive in Reidsville. Cowboy evangelist Clint Sinclair of Okemah, Okla., will speak at 4:30 p.m. The Travelers, a Gospel group from South Carolina, will perform. An old-fashioned family cookout open to tournament players and non-players begins at 5 p.m. Attendees will have a chance to win prizes.

Sinclair will be the guest speaker at the Lively Stones’ revival, which is Sunday through next Thursday.

“He really preaches a strong message. We look for a lot of lives saved and a lot of souls changed,” said Jeff Wright, event coordinator. Sinclair will conduct an educational roping seminar for children at 4:30 p.m. Sunday at Lively Stones.

The family golf event is a fundraiser for local youth programs at area churches.

“We’re trying to help all youth in Caswell and Rockingham,” said Wright.

For more information, call Lively Stones Baptist Church at 939-7950. The church is at 2347 Chandler Mill Road in Pelham.

18th Annual October Fest

First Presbyterian Church at 582 Southwood Drive in Eden will host its 18th Annual October Fest on Saturday. The day begins with a yard sale at 7:30 a.m. Other offerings are a new “Three Kings” Christmas craft shop, a silent auction, a bake sale, vendors, pet adoptions and door prizes. At 9 a.m., flu and pneumonia vaccines and blood pressure checks will be available. At 9:30 a.m., the bloodmobile will be on site, and children’s activities begin.

At 10 a.m., Officers Jay Parker and John Whitsett will show their police dogs, Zipper and Sam. From 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., festival-goers will enjoy home-cooked barbecue or a hot dog lunch. Throughout the day, folks will have a chance to enter a three-prize raffle or a handmade quilt raffle. The cost of a ticket for each raffle is $1. All drawings will be held at 2:30 p.m. Raffle proceeds will be donated to The Lord’s Food Pantry, World Changers and the church building fund. Raffle tickets are available at the church. 

Wine Tasting

Reidsville Florist & Gifts at 119 S. Scales St. is hosting a wine tasting from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday. The tasting will feature the wines of Autumn Creek Vineyards of Mayodan.

Staff Writer Miranda Baines can be reached at or 349-4331, ext. 35.