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Check Out the Various Tents that Sprawled Out at the Symphony by the Lake Last Weekend; Photos Included!

by Madison Fisler Lewis

July 28, 2014. Some come for the music, some come for the food and some come for the fireworks. But for many attendees at the annual Symphony by the Lake, presented by the Blowing Rock Chamber of Commerce, the best parts of the Symphony event are the reserved tents. 

The tents began more than 20 years ago after the first rainy Symphony. Since then, tents have been rented out for a fee to help protect Symphony attendees from the elements, but also to allow attendees to express their style and have fun with it. 

This year, 45 tents were reserved by companies, organizations and individuals to give them a personalized spot to enjoy the Symphony experience. For many Symphony-goers, the tents are the only way to go. 

Guests that choose to rent tents decorate their rented tent according to the theme, which this year was Fiddles and Fiddleheads, in hopes of winning the coveted title of best tent of the year. Many tents are decked out with themed decorations, flowers, foods, bars and much more. Even the guests are decorated!

“We just have fun with it,” said Karyn Herterich, whose tent won this year. “We all try to outdo each other. For instance, last year the theme was plaid and we thought we really couldn’t compete so we just did something completely off the wall. While everyone else wore tartan plaids, we decided to do resort plaids!”

Herterich’s tent this year won with its all-white canvas theme, which represented Herterich’s confusion over the selected theme for this year. 

“This year when I got the theme, it was fiddles and Fiddleheads and I didn’t really understand the theme. I was talking to my son and I said that my mind had just gone blank with the theme, and he suggested that we do a blank canvas. A blank white theme, and that is how it all started,” she said.

This year, the 45 tents housed bars, catered food, festive themes and plenty of excited conversation. But don’t take our word for it. Check out the photos of all of the tents this year. 

 

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