Lenoir, NC held their 23rd annual sculpture exhibition in Broyhill Park on September 6, 2008. The winning entry is placed on permanent display in downtown Lenoir, and the small town is probably the best adorned city in all of North Carolina.
One of the exhibitors in this show was Victor Raul, my old neighbor in Franklin, and owner of his own sculpture studio, "Copper Creations" in Franklin. One of the sculptures he entered was this stork.
This is my second year to attend this sculpture and I highly recommend it. Some 200 + pieces of sculpture are on display along with their artists and there is lots of music (ranging from bluegrass to classical) provided by local groups and schools. This is a good show. Lots to photograph, and a really nice place to shoot some video.
We also attended a "Grape Stomp" at WoodMill Winery in Vale, NC. Highly touted in papers, and well attended. My recommendation is to pass it by and call yourself lucky. It was worse than a total flop. A total flop would have been sufferable; this was offal awful.
Probably a thousand people turned out and they were ALL miserable. Hot, no shade, stunk of sour grapes, the "stomp" was a pathetic joke and there was no real music or good food but lots of EXTREMELY loud amplified noise. Plus the place is hard to find, way out on back roads and very poorly marked.