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Scenes from the Symphony: Blowing Rock Chamber of Commerce’s Symphony by the Lake a Massive Success

by Madison Fisler Lewis

July 28, 2014. On Friday, July 25, the Blowing Rock Chamber of Commerce once again hosted the highly-anticipated Symphony by Chetola Lake, featuring Symphony of the Mountains. While this year’s total numbers are not yet counted, it is safe to say that this year’s event was yet again a rocking success.

“I will say that I think this year was definitely a record breaker,” said Billie Rogers, Events Coordinator at the Blowing Rock Chamber of Commerce.

“We sold out of all of our tickets, and then we ended up having to give out wine festival wristbands because we had no more tickets left!”

Rogers credits the beautiful weather for the event’s success, and also credits the reputation that this spectacular event has built over the years.

“We always have great weather for the Symphony,” Rogers said. “It is always a beautiful evening, we are in the mountains, the weather is in the 70s and people are always having a great time. It is a very relaxed evening.”

While there are always a fair share of locals at the annual event, this year, many attendees traveled from far and wide to make it to the Symphony by the Lake.

“We have a lot of people that come up the mountain,” Rogers said. “This year we had more telephone calls coming from Tennessee than we have ever had in the past. Lots of people come up from Charlotte and Winston-Salem and Greensboro and Raleigh and even Georgia. There is even a man that comes down every year from Indiana just for the Symphony.”

For dining accommodations, Marcia Greene, Director of Marketing at Chetola Resort noted that Dinner on the Patio was completely sold out, as was the inaugural Celebration on the Arbor.

“This is the first time that we had the Celebration on the Arbor which included heavy hors d’oeuvres and fantastic seats,” Greene said. “That sold out, and people loved it so we are going to offer it again next year. It was such a good deal, it included a parking pass on the property, a really nice menu, a cash bar, a dessert bar and a great view.”

And this is one event that just keeps surpassing itself year after year.

“This was a record breaking year and I think the best symphony we have ever had,” said Greene. “We had a great weather report, a great pool of volunteers and everyone just did a very exceptional job. It was a really great event.”

Each year, for many of the attendees, the event just keeps getting better. For that fact, Rogers credits hard work and a long list of sponsors for this year who made it possible.

“The sponsorships this year really helped to add to the abilities of the Chamber to put on such a great event,” Rogers said.

Sponsors this year were:

  • Hendrick Northlake
  • Wells Fargo
  • Charles Schwab
  • Monkee’s
  • Chetola Resort
  • 100 W. Union Menswear
  • Party Reflections

With the Tanger Shoppes on the Parkway, usually a prime parking zone for the event, under construction, many worried that parking would be an issue for this event. However, due to the hard work and dedication of Town staff and police force, many issues were easily avoided.

“In the past we have had one officer at Chetola and the police department has helped a little in the past. But this year, with the new police chief and the new town manager, they got completely waist deep in the traffic planning. We had six officers taking care of traffic. They even helped with the parking! Usually when people leave the Symphony they are getting on the shuttle and we always have a few complaints. But we timed it this year and it only took 34 minutes for the last person to depart, and we had at least 1,000 people standing in line.”

Check out the photos of the record-breaking Symphony below and take a glimpse of what may be in the making for next year.

Photos by Ken Ketchie

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