The Virginia Highlands Festival recently presented the 2010 French Moore, Jr. Award to an outstanding volunteer: Sandra Parker.
ABINGDON, VA -- Each year more than 90 volunteers work year-round to produce the Virginia Highlands Festival, a 16-day summer event held annually in Abingdon for more than 62 years.
The 2010 French Moore, Jr. Award was recently presented to an outstanding volunteer: Sandra Parker. Following are excerpts from the award nomination:
• Sandra has been active on the Festival Board and the Music Committee for 15 years. She has served as Chairman of the Music Committee for 12 years.
• She founded the Festival's popular Celtic Music Weekend 10 years ago. The tenth anniversary of Celtic Weekend this past season was a phenomenal success. She booked many interesting and culturally enriching performers including Cast in Bronze, who played bells weighing several tons, and Drums and Drones, a duo featuring music from the Celtic world and beyond.
• Sandra is a vocalist and musician and a lifelong resident of this area. She plays the harp and loves Celtic music.
The Festival's Board of Directors presents the French Moore, Jr. Award to volunteers who have shown dedication above and beyond usual expectations. The award is named for French Moore, Jr., a former mayor of Abingdon, whose service to the Festival has been exemplary and whose time commitment to the event has been extraordinary.
The 2011 Virginia Highlands Festival will be held July 23-August 7. The Festival began in 1948 and, over the years, has grown and flourished. Today it is one of the Top 100 tourist events in North America and one of the Top 20 in the Southeast - offering plenty of entertainment, an enormous antiques market, juried fine art and photography competitions, and a juried arts and crafts show, as well as nationally-known writers, lecturers, and visual and performing artists.
For more information, call the Festival Office (276-623-5266) or visit www.vahighlandsfestival.org.
