Today's Features

In the “Memories: The Blue Ridge Parkway in Retrospect” juried art show at Chestnut Creek School of the Arts, a watercolor painting by local artist Jarrod Wilson depicts a classic Plymouth pulled to the side of the road on the parkway with a blanket spread out on a grassy knoll.

The Gerald Anderson Band will perform at the Rex Theater at 5 p.m on April 17 as part of the grand opening celebration for the Chestnut Creek School of the Arts.

Anderson will be joined by Jimmy Edmonds on fiddle, Butch Barker on bass and Paul Trianosky on mandolin.

Anderson, accomplished guitar player and luthier, has made more than 25 recordings and has more than 200 ribbons from musical competitions — the most prestigious being the award for best guitar player at the 2003 Galax Old Fiddlers' Convention.

The Young Actors Co-op — a group of talented, young actors — will ham it up in Victorian-era theater costumes and show off their juggling and unicycle-riding skills in the Parade of the Arts on Saturday at noon, a featured event of Chestnut Creek School of the Arts' grand opening.

The parade will begin at the Galax Recreation Center and head north on Main Street, turning onto Center Street and then onto Grayson Street.

“This parade is going to be full of fun and surprises,” said Sandra Hankley, a volunteer for CCSA.

When local DJ and emcee Harold Mitchell was bedridden with rheumatic fever at six years old, the radio kept him company as he listened to the legends on the Grand Ole Opry.

During the five-hour radio program, he would hear greats such as Hank Williams, Hank Snow, Kitty Wells and comedians and radio announcers. However, it was the harmonies of Bill Monroe's Bluegrass Boys that caught his ear, and that’s when he fell in love with bluegrass.

From then on, he knew one way or another he was going to be in the radio business.