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Come Decked out in Your Finest Denim to the 3rd Annual Denim Ball, this Friday at Chetola Resort

 

 

 

By Elly Murray

This Friday, the Denim Ball, hosted by the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation, returns for a third year of music, auctions, and—of course—denim!

The event kicks off Friday, August 3rd at 6 p.m., and the main feature is the auction, which includes several interesting pieces. The proceeds go to support the reconstruction of the Moses H. Cone Memorial Park.

Rita Larken, the Communications Director of the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation, describes Moses Cone as, “a tycoon of the textile industry. He brought denim production to the South with some mills in Greensboro, so he and his brother Ceaser kind of built their fortune that way.”

She details the plans for the park, “Basically, Moses Cone Memorial Park is about 3500 acres of land, and then it has Flat Top Manor, which is the centerpiece of the estate. So we are going to be using the proceeds from this event to help with the rehab of the house. There’s exterior components that need to be replaced, like wood and things like that. We’re putting in a fire suppression system, we’ve done trail work. So it’s really just to bring the estate back up to it’s kind of former glory.”

Tickets to this event include entry, dinner, beverages, access to a cash bar, live music, and two different auctions. Larken says that the dinner is, “going to be a buffet dinner, and it’s presented by Chetola Resort….Ugga Mugga Bakery is providing the desert.”

 

 

Live music will be provided by none other than local favorites, the Jeff Little Trio. Larken describes the group, saying, “The Jeff Little Trio is this awesome threesome of guys who play wonderful music. Jeff Little is from Boone, and he kind of translates Appalachian guitar flat-picking but he’s taken it to the piano. So he has this really neat style of playing, and then he’s got two other great guys who perform with him. It’s a really upbeat, kind of fun music, but it’s influenced by Blue Ridge Music as well.”

And of course, everyone comes decked out in their finest denim attire, to show their support. Larken says that, “Everyone has a lot of fun with it. There’s everything from denim dresses to really blinged out jeans with jewels on them. Everybody just kind of interprets it their own way, and they have a lot of fun….I think everybody just has fun seeing what the other person is going to wear. I know a lot of planning goes into picking out the outfits before the event.”

 

 

This year, there are two auctions; the live auction and the silent auction. The live auction has only select items available, and is actually online, so people who cannot attend the event itself can still bid. Larken says that one of the items in this auction is, “a cabin… that is at Grandfather Mountain, and is typically not open to the public. It’s called Anvil Rock Cabin. So, that package includes a two night stay at the cabin, and you also get a behind the scenes tour of the animal habitat there and you get lunch and dinner at the Mildred’s Grill, which is on the mountain.”

Larken says that a few of the items in the silent auction include, “A scotch tasting for eight folks with a local gentleman and his friend who have offered to do a special craft tasting. They’re encouraging folks to wear kilts to the event…. We have beautiful artwork. We have some paintings, a nice rug from a local rug company in Blowing Rock, we have an opportunity to have a portrait session, we have wine, we have all kinds of great stuff.”

 

 

Another amazing item that will be auctioned off is a 2017 Les Paul SL guitar, autographed by Eric Church, an award-winning country music star who has roots in the High Country. He’s from Granite Falls, and has been awarded the ACM Merle Haggard Spirit Award, and the CMA Album of the Year honor for Chief, among others. The guitar is slim, lightweight, and “Cherry Sunburst” colored.

It’s advised that you get your tickets to this fun event soon, because according to Larken, “Each year’s sold out, and each year we’ve upped the numbers. So, I think we were at maybe 175 (two years ago), and then we went up to 200, and this year we’re gonna have 250.”

The Denim Ball is a fantastic way to have fun while supporting a good cause, the restoration of a historic park and its manor. Larken says, “We always have a good time, so we’re really excited and it’s great to see the community, and how much they love Moses Cone, and how much fun they have at this event in celebration of taking care of the estate.”

The Denim Ball will be at Chetola Resort on Friday, August 3rd. For more information on the event, to purchase tickets, or to place online bids, please visit https://www.brpfoundation.org/events/third-annual-denim-ball