Teaming up to spread some serious love for the mountains

It’s official — Appalachian Voices is partnering with one of the premiere music and arts festivals in the country to spread some serious love for mountains!

This year, our organization was chosen by FloydFest 2015: Fire on the Mountain as the featured nonprofit. FloydFest is a 5-day music and arts festival held each year just off the Blue Ridge Parkway near Floyd, Va. This year’s festival features more than 100 musical acts of all genres playing on eight different stages, with a lineup that boasts of top acts such as Brandi Carlile, Emmylou Harris, Drive-By Truckers, Grace Potter, Leftover Salmon and Keller Williams, as well as up-and-comers including Annabelle’s Curse, American Aquarium, Miss Tess and the Talkbacks and Pitchblak Brass Band.

Festivalgoers have a chance to donate to Appalachian Voices when purchasing their tickets, and the festival organizers will match with a donation from their proceeds. We’re also planning all kinds of fun collaborations with FloydFest organizers to promote stewardship of the Appalachian mountains, including an “I Love Mountains” temporary tattoo parlor and a raffle to win a West Virginia rafting trip.

We’ll also be holding a contest to give away four tickets this spring, so stay tuned!

A partnership is born: Jamie Goodman and Jeff Deal from Appalachian Voices enjoy the scene with Sam and Trish Calhoun, staff with FloydFest, at the 2014 festival.

“We’re excited to be teaming up with Appalachian Voices” Erika Johnson, CFO of Across-the-Way Productions and co-founder of FloydFest, says. “The theme for this year’s FloydFest, “Fire on the Mountain,” is amongst other things, an homage to mountains as they should be — mountains alive with trees, animals, and the fire of music loving festival-goers … not the smoking rubble of mountaintop removal.”

FloydFest is more than just a music festival, and incorporates hands-on learning with a bent for family-friendly activities. Guided outdoor adventures, including hikes, mountain biking, a disc golf course and a geocache adventure. Workshops and panels cover everything from bee-keeping and primitive tool making to hula hooping and conservation discussions. And the Workshop Porch offers music lovers a chance to get up close and personal with some legends of mountain music culture.

If you’ve never been to FloydFest, you are in for a treat. Floydfest was voted “Best Outdoor Music Festival” by Blue Ridge Magazine, and the organizers go above and beyond to create a festive and joyous atmosphere. Lights festoon the trees, a “high roller” camping section accommodates folks who like a more all-inclusive experience, and the vendors are comprised of a juried selection of more than 70 jewelers, potters, clothiers, (mad) hatters, shoemakers, painters, photographers, candle makers and more. The food court includes delicious local and vegetarian fare, and the variety of music and other activities ensures you will have to work to be bored.

So come join us for this unique and merry festival nestled deep in the Blue Ridge, and help us spread some love for the mountains.

For more information and to purchase tickets, visit our special FloydFest page.