Annual Doc Watson Festival in Todd

August 21 3-7 pm

The eighth annual Todd community benefit concert featuring Doc Watson & Friends is set for Saturday, Aug. 21, from 3 to 7 PM. The Tillers and The Forget-Me-Nots will also be featured at the concert.

Tickets to the concert are $15, $17 for credit card purchases. Children under 12 are admitted free. Only 1,500 tickets will be sold, that number being the capacity of Cook Memorial Park in the middle of Todd’s historic district.

Tickets are available at the following outlets:

• Boone Area Chamber of Commerce, Howard Street, Boone

• Ashe County Chamber of Commerce Visitor Center, Jefferson Avenue, West Jefferson

• Mast General Store, King Street, Boone

• RiverGirl Fishing Company, Todd Railroad Grade Road, Todd

• Todd Mercantile & Bakery, Todd Railroad Grade Road, Todd

If any tickets are left by the 21st, they will be available at the gate. For more information, call 336-877-5401.

Doc’s concert will again be dedicated to the memory of James Parsons, who was part of music in Todd from its very beginnings in the 1990s. Although James is now gone, the James “Crow” Parsons Memorial Fund is being built to finance future summer concerts at Cook Park. A pickle jar in the Todd Mercantile Bakery collects change and dollars for the fund, and the pickle jar is passed around during the Saturday afternoon concerts to help the memorial fund grow. TCPO, the nonprofit community organization, also seeks larger contributions to permanently endow the fund to provide dependable financing for the music series that James Parsons helped bring to Todd.

But the Memorial Fund, and James Parsons’ surviving family, benefit primarily from the sale of tickets for Doc’s concert. TCPO and the Todd community are forever grateful for Doc’s support and for his incomparable music.

This year’s Summer Music Series and other events at Cook Park are also supported by a grant from The Conservation Fund’s Creating New Economies Fund. In addition to the grant and ticket sales, sponsors have come forward, helping to underwrite some of the concert expense and leaving more for the memorial fund. Among this year’s sponsors are the West Jefferson TDA, local businesses, and several members of the Todd community.