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- Created: 20 July 2015
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By Chuck Hubbard
“Weekend in the Boroughs” brought people to the downtown areas of Wilkesboro and North Wilkesboro on Friday and Saturday.
With blue skies and warm temperatures, a big crowd turned up for Saturday’s Beach Music and Vettes event in downtown North Wilkesboro’s Yadkin Valley Marketplace.
Members of the Foothills Corvette Club sponsored the cruise-in, which featured Corvettes from Wilkes, the surrounding area and across North Carolina. Window World sponsored the beach music concert, which featured the Embers.
This was the third annual Beach Music and Vettes event.
Chief Joe Rankin of the North Wilkesboro, who drove his own Corvette to the show, estimated the crowd at 2,000 to 2,500. “It was the biggest attendance at one of our events yet” this year, he commented.
“We had people from all over North Carolina” and some from Virginia in attendance, he said. The Queen City Corvette Club from Charlotte brought 25 of their classic cars to the cruise-in.
Beginning around 6:30 p.m., The Embers, led by Craig Wollard, had concertgoers dancing right up until the end of the event between 9:30 and 10 p.m. The show ended a few minutes earlier because of lightning accompanying an intense thunderstorm approaching the area.
North Wilkesboro Town Manager Larry South said Saturday that he was thrilled with turnout and the high energy of the event. He noted that The Embers, with their dedicated following, always bring the biggest crown of the summer to the downtown events.
The dance floor was packed throughout the evening, with The Embers playing such beach music standards as “Summertime’s Calling Me,” “Carolina Girls,” “I Love Beach Music” and “Sixty Minute Man.”
Beach Music and Vettes has become so popular that South said he plans to already go ahead and book The Embers for next year. He said he has been pleased to see the event grow over the past three years.
Some 90 Corvettes were involved in the cruise-in, Rankin noted. The American sports cars were displayed on the Central Business Loop, blocked off for the show between Ninth and Sixth streets from 5 until 10 p.m.
As a bonus, the event went smoothly, with no health problems caused by the heat or anything else to spoil the evening, Rankin said.
Beach Music and Vettes was part of the popular monthly Concert on the Deck series, which features music and dancing each month in downtown North Wilkesboro.
Open Air Market
Wilkesboro’s “Third Friday” event at the town’s Open Air Market was themed as “Borough Soul” and featured the music of Asheville’s “Goldie and the Screamers.”
In addition to the music, activities included a market chef cooking demonstration, children’s activities, informational booths and food and beverages. The weekly Open Air Market offered fresh fruits, vegetables, plants and handcrafted artisan products.
The featured winery for the event was Raffaldini, located in the Clingman community.
“Movies on Main” concluded the Third Friday event with a free screening of Disney’s “Frozen” at dusk on the front lawn of the Wilkes Heritage Museum.