Weird but Cool Town: Floyd, Virginia

Floyd, virginia is a county seat and has a population of about 500. We stayed there overnight on our recent vacation in the Hotel Floyd, a highly recommended little 13-roomer recently constructed with various green components, like geothermal heating, bamboo floors. Each room has a different theme and features art from local artists. Ours had an African feel.

Hotel Floyd, outside (above) and our room (below)

So this town, out in western Virginia, a handful of miles from the Blue Ridge Parkway, is branding itself as a mountain and roots kinda music place. And it's genuine. The country store features a weekly Friday Night Jamboree. There's a used bookstore with a coffee shop overhead. A few little shoppes and boutiques. A good ol' fashioned hardware store.

Those kids are going into the general store for music lessons. It's a big thing in Floyd.
And that's the Country Store - home of the Jamboree.

And we had just missed Floydfest, an annual music festival that brings in nationally and internationally known musicians. Blues Traveller had made the 2009 edition, and a bunch of indie artists.
The guy who runs the motel said his dad, an "aging hippie" who has operated his own successful business and who decided to take on the green motel venture, was one of the town's guiding lights. He said the town is about 1/3 old hippies, 1/3 farmers, and 1/3 business people, and they all seem to get along just fine in the microcosm that is Floyd.
I was fascinated by the town. Don't know if I will ever get back there, but if I do, I want to be there on a Friday night. (I did purchase a CD of "The Music of Floyd" - as expected, heavy on the bluegrass, which is ok by me. Proceeds go to the development of a new community park.)
For more info from the Floyd Chamber of Commerce, go here.