Event/Site: Tim Frye’s Pickin’ on the Creek Concert
Series
Date: A Saturday each month beginning at 7:30pm. (Usually the second
Saturday.) Doors open at 6:30pm.
Type: Monthly evening performance of old-time and bluegrass, with
dance area for audience members.
Location:
Granite City Floor Covering located at 3332 Westfield Road in Mount Airy,
at the corner of Westfield Road (Highway
89 East) and Indian Grove
Church Road in Mount Airy. Click
here for a map.
Cost: $5. Children under 12
free.
Parking:
Limited parking behind building. Parking adequate for bus tours.
Special Needs Access: Yes.
Signage:
Sign at location, not
en route.
Sponsor: Granite City Floor Covering
Web
Site: www.visitmayberry.com
Contact:
Tim and Mary
Frye
3332 Westfield Road
Mount Airy, NC 27030
(336) 786-5039
Mt. Airy Chamber of Commerce, Tourism
Dept
PO Box 913
220 N. Main St.
Mount Airy, NC
27030
(336) 786-6116
(800) 948-0949
tourism@visitmayberry.com
Description of Event: Every month, a regional bluegrass and old-time band perform.
Bands come from with in a hundred mile radius to play at this popular
venue. Each perform
in the first set and second sets, with an intermission in between. Folks often will get up and dance on
the dance floor in front of the stage. The event is promoted as a
family event and no alcohol is allowed.
Snacks are available for sale.
History of Site/Event: The event began in 1998. Tim Frye plays mandolin and guitar in
a bluegrass band called the Carolina Travelers. He and his parents wanted to share their love of
bluegrass with the greater community on a regular basis in a family
atmosphere. Stringband
talent runs deep in Tim Frye’s family. Tim’s great grandfather, Willis
Hall, played clawhammer banjo and often
performed live on WPAQ in the station’s early years in the 40s
and 50s. Hall’s two
daughters Tiny and Flossie Hall performed as The Hall Sisters and had a popular Sunday radio show on
WPAQ during the station’s early years.
Description of Site/Facility: Pickin’ on the Creek takes place on the lower level of the main building at Granite City
Floor Covering. There is a
stage, a small dance floor, and a seating area for 135.
The building is located on land that has been named a
certified century farm and lies between two creeks. The land has been in Tim Frye’s
family since 1830. Where the
Granite Floor Covering building now stands was once a Native American
camp site. As Mary Frye says, “When you’re with us,
you’re with history.”
Significance of Site/Event to the Community: Pickin on the Creek provides a lively, family-friendly venue for
performers and listeners to celebrate and perpetuate the stringband traditions that have been integral to
life in Surry
County for
centuries. It is particularly
fitting that the event is hosted by a family deeply rooted in Surry County’s stringband traditions on land that has been in the
family since 1830.
Reference Source: Mary
Frye; Blue Ridge Music Trails
Music Inventory for North
Carolina by Sally Council.
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