Marion NC - 8-8-15 Saturday - 8-9-15 Sunday

Marion NC 8-8-15 Saturday We did our normal morning routine of walking and having breakfast. Then I went to pickup our wrist bands and seat assignment number for the bluegrass festival.

(Rant on) The company that puts on the festival does a great job of getting top notch groups to perform, have a great announcer and great sound company but they don't do such a good job with the assignment of seats under the pavilion. This is a popular event so lots of people come and all can't get a seat under the pavilion so they set up two large tents on either side of the pavilion. So to get a good position under the pavilion you have to get here a few days before the actual event. Then on the day the numbers are passed out you have to line up, get your number and wrist bands and then come back a few days later and line up again and wait for your number to be called to place your chairs in any available place. One thing that bothers me is a person can come and get their wrist bands and number and also wrist bands and number for other people that have not arrived yet. I don't see why the numbers aren't assigned based on when you pay for your tickets. This would eliminate the first day of lining up. Then have one day to get your wrist bands and place your seats based on what your preassigned number is. Also a person that has not purchased a ticket can get in line ahead of those that have prepaid for their tickets and buy a ticket and get a lower number for their chair location. (Rant off)

Then we drove to Black Mountain. This is a neat old town just off I-40 between Marion and Asheville. We discovered it a few years ago while attending a PT Cruiser car owner's event in town. The town was having their 38^th Annual Sourwood Festival. We attended last year but had forgotten that it was this weekend. There were lots of tents setup on the side streets where people were selling crafts, sourwood honey, a variety of food and lots of other products. We visited the vendor tents and listened to some of the music in the entertainment tent. We went to My Father's Pizza for lunch. We have eaten here a few times and really like their pizza. We got there just ahead of the noon rush.

Then we returned to the campground and relaxed until later in the evening when we rode our bicycles around for awhile.

Marion – 8-9-15 Sunday We did our normal morning routine and then the rest of the day was relaxing, reading, riding our bicycles and watching the NASCAR race.