Galax unveils birthday blueprint

By BRIAN FUNK Staff Reporter

Planning for Galax's 100th birthday bash is well underway, several months before 2006 begins. The scope of the celebration has required extensive advance planning, which was revealed for the first time to the public during the Galax Centennial's "roll-out" event at the Rex Theater on Monday. About 65 people attended.

The organizers are promoting the year-long series of events as a way to honor the past, celebrate the present and imagine the future. The event's steering team unveiled plans for commemorative sculptures, art projects, a historical play, interpretive signs, publications, festivals and a "First Night" kickoff celebration on Dec. 31, 2005. They also showed off Galax artist Becky Guynn's logo design, featuring a mountain and fiddle, along with the centennial slogan, "Come Home to Galax."

"We're inviting our community's civic groups, organizations and churches to shine the spotlight on your hometown," said Galax Tourism Director Debbie Robinson. The Rex crowd included representatives from several organizations looking for ways to tie their annual events to the centennial theme in 2006. A short movie presentation took the audience through Galax's past with old photos and clips of festivals, accompanied by music from a local band. Mayor C.M. Mitchell's narration asked the community to think about all the things that make Galax unique - music, festivals, businesses, landmarks, artists, recreation - and use the city's birthday "to reflect on where we've come from and where we're going."

Plans for 2006 include:

  • sculptures, to be designed by artist Al Frega, which will be placed along the New River Trail extension on North Main Street. The Durham, N.C.-based sculptor was one of five finalists for a Millennium Trails sculpture project for the New River Trail. Penny Moseley of the Arts & Cultural Council of the Twin Counties said the city tapped Frega because his skills in working with wood and metal are perfect for the centennial project. Frega said he plans to use railroad rails in the functional sculptures, samples of which were on display in the Rex lobby. One sample, about two feet high, was "the scroll of a fiddle forged from a rail." The final versions will be much bigger, and double as benches. These will be joined by an even larger "centennial piece," the design of which is still undecided. "It's wide open at this point," Frega told the crowd. "We're hoping to get the community involved." All he knows so far is that it will be supported by forged rails rising from the ground." "What goes in the middle is up to the community." David Hill of Hill Studio also is working with the city on interpretive signs for the trail extension.
  • Street lights were just installed on the walking path and more landscaping is on the way. By 2006, Hill said, the city will install kiosks directing pedestrians to downtown businesses and landmarks and post a series of signs that tell the story of Galax. Each sign will focus on a different aspect of the city - music, furniture, railroad and the galax leaf.
  • "We're thinking of using rails for the supports for the kiosks, also," Frega added.a "First Night" event on New Year's Eve 2005, which will officially kick off the centennial celebration. Organizers Tony Truitt and Mary Guynn said these events have been hosted in other cities for 25 years. Guynn said this will be the largest and most ambitious of the centennial events. The First Night festivities will be held at venues throughout the city. A total of 60 events are planned. It is alcohol-free and family-friendly, they stressed. "You can bring your kids. It's for everybody," Guynn said. People will buy buttons to grant them admission to the venues to enjoy music, art and refreshments. "It will end with a procession through the streets of Galax and a countdown and fireworks display in Felts Park," Truitt said.a "black tie optional" gala celebration, sponsored by the arts council, which will feature a swing band.
  • a play, written by Frank Levering, about Galax's history.
  • a book festival, sponsored by the Galax Book Club. Carol Morris said the club is working with Chapters Bookstore to bring local authors and at least one well-known author to the city for signings. "We can have a great year. Let's all get involved," Morris said.
  • a calendar featuring pictures of landmarks past and present, drawn by art students at Galax High School. Art teacher Debbie Adams showed off a collection of photos from the 1930s and 1940s, which her students will use for reference. The arts council will help with this project. The calendar will be ready by next year's fiddlers' convention and can be sold through 2006.
  • a commemorative poster, to be compiled by Becky Guynn, featuring a timeline of Galax's first 100 years and artwork from several local artists. "We're putting out a call to artists to choose a historical place and use their own medium." The poster could include a mix of paintings, drawings, photography and other media. The poster will be available as a souvenir throughout 2006.
  • a historical photo database, to be compiled by the Galax Public Library. Library Director Laura Bryant said people will be able to bring photos to be scanned and stored in the database. "We can keep them and show them, or make prints for people." The library will collect photos from Galax's first days through the centennial year events "so we can preserve that for the future and show our grandchildren how Galax celebrated its 100th birthday." The photos also could be collected into a published photo album.
  • an event celebrating local musicians, sponsored by the Legacy of Mountain Music Association.
  • a traveling "caboose" with railroad displays and memorabilia, sponsored by the Twin County Railroad Club. Club member Stu Shenk said the railroad is an important part of the city's past, even though it no longer runs through Galax. "On July 9, 1904, the first passenger ticket to Galax was sold," Shenk said. The city was founded as a new shipping center for the North Carolina Branch of the Norfolk & Western Railway. The city - formerly Bonaparte - got its name from the loads of galax leaves shipped out by rail. Shenk said the railroad club has a horse trailer that will be "converted to look like a caboose. It will have a model train inside, and other displays.

For more information or to find out how to get involved with the celebration, visit www.galaxcentennial.com on the Internet. To get involved in Galax's First Night celebration, send e-mail to first.night.galax@earthlink.com