Spring Fest Luray 2010

This weekend was the big annual “Festival of Spring” in Luray, and for the first time in a couple of years we didn’t have competing commitments and could join our friends to celebrate the arrival of spring. The event is held on Main Street in Luray, and despite a pesky brisk wind that kept toppling tents and knocking down displays, the crowds showed up and everybody had a good time.


We spent an hour taking a look around the booths and visiting folks we’ve come to know in Luray. After making the circuit, we took a break for lunch at Artisan’s; then we went down to bulldog field for the “disk dog” exhibition, which is co-sponsored by Howard and Appalachian Outdoors Adventures. Despite the breezes, it seemed like humans and canines alike were having a good time tossing and catching disks.

Here’s a photo of Lilly and Martha getting ready for the show. These two, and Athena, back at the store, were taking a break their trail dog duties; Athena was working the crowd in the shop and out at the booth. Lilly is the disk competitor, while Martha is the supporting cast.

In this photo, we’ve got Howard and Lilly off in the distance getting ready for the two-disk catch, a timed event where the dog has to retrieve two disks at a distance of more than 20 yards. Many herding breeds excel at this (all three of the AOA trail dogs have herding lineages), so you see a lot of collies and shelties here. There was also a young and alert German Shepherd mix who was quite excited to have the chance to show off.

After watching the retrieve event, we decided to head back and get out of the wind – a cloud of dust had blown in and sent me into a sneezing fit. We opted out of the beer garden (we won’t miss it next time, though!) and the wine garden, which are two welcome new components of the Spring Fest.

We have an important connection to this event – our first visit to Luray was at the Spring Fest in 2007. We were staying up in the SNP at Skyland for a three day weekend, and it was rainy on the mountain that spring morning, so we decided to head down into Luray to check it out. We stumbled upon the fest, and we were pretty much sold on the little town and area there in Page Valley. That’s my story, anyway, and I am sticking to it.