Felts Park

Bliss.
I wish I had known about this decades ago. My father and I intend to keep it as our yearly tradition. While the stage is quite entertaining, treat yourself to walking around the camp grounds after 2 or 3 hours. There are groups everywhere jamming outside the RVs… rich, full sound. Groups range from about 3 — 15 or so. It’s an amazing experience. Young players learning from seasoned players… and maybe a little the other way around.

The main City Park in the town of Galax, VA, Felts Park hosts the annual Galax Old Fiddlers’ Convention every August. The Fiddlers’ Convention is the pre-​imminent get-​together in the world for lovers of bluegrass and old-​time mountain music, and routinely draws over 5,000 folks for a six/​seven day celebration of all things old-​time musical. Felts Park provides its 3,000 seat covered grandstand and huge covered stage for the event, as well as space for 500 – 800 travel trailers and campers for those attendees wishing to «rough it» while attending the festival. The park is over 28 acres in size, and offers plenty of room for attendees to spread out, and just have a great week of music, fellowship and relaxation in the mountains.
Local Galax residents have a lot of other park features to enjoy when the Old Fiddlers’ Convention isn’t in town: a huge outdoor swimming pool, baseball and soccer fields, tennis and basketball courts, playgrounds and covered picnic shelters and lots of room to walk and jog. The Park is a lovely civic asset, and a wonderful host to my favorite annual mountain music celebration.