Felts Park — Attraction in Galax

This is the venue for the Old Fiddlers Convention The longest-running and most successful fund-raising project in the Moose realm. It is also probably the largest and most popular traditional music attraction in North America. IT is the Old Fiddlers’ Convention sponsored by the Galax Moose Lodge #733.I kt was in a barbershop downtown Galax where, in 1924, a group of musicians organized a vocal quartet with string instruments. That group, which took the name “The Hill Billies”, recorded some of its music and eventually went to New York to do professional recording. That was the first major commercial success in what was to become “country music”, and “hillbilly” music was named for it. Due to that significant milestone, the City of Galax rightfully bills itself as “The World’s Capitol of Old Time...

This place was a little underwhelming, but part of that was on me for not having information about it. I was hoping I could take my car and drive through the lights, like with tanglewood, but it's more of a park and walk around place. The carriage ride looked awesome, but the line was super packed; again, not their fault, and more mine due to poor planning. The lights themselves were fun; my wife pointed out that they could have benefited from some outdoor speakers, as the lights went on and off to the beat of the music on their...

We visited Celts Park to watch the annual High Country Christmas Light Show. The show was very well staged and performed. In fact, it was better than a lot of laser shows I've seen. There were various tableaux depicting typical Christmas scenes, with the lights responding to the Christmas music. I had never heard of it before our niece took us there. If you're in Galax during Christmas week, plan to attend - you won't be...