Clifton Forge, VA (August 31, 2015) - Bill Cook & Friends return each year to “home ground” and the Masonic Amphitheatre Stage which is named in his honor to play a SAVE THE MASONIC fundraiser for the Masonic Theatre. The second annual Amphitheatre Pie Baking Contest will also take place during the evening.
Bill Cook is a man of many talents who luckily has many talented bluegrass-playing friends. He also runs a successful tire wholesale business, he is a fan and promoter of bluegrass music and he used to own the property where the Masonic Amphitheatre now resides. All that changed in 2010 when he donated his land and building to the Masonic Theatre Preservation Foundation and took up residence at the former Sonoco Building near Interstate 64. This relocation was made possible by the Alleghany County Board of Supervisors, the Alleghany Foundation and Alleghany Highlands Economic Development Corporation.
On Sunday, September 13 at 6:00 pm Bill Cook & Friends will host the “Bill Cook & Friends Bluegrass Jammin’ Picnic and Pie Baking Contest on the Masonic Amphitheatre grounds. The event will include music by the band in addition to barbeque, and attendees are encouraged to bake a pie and enter the Pie Baking contest. Pie slices will be sold at the event, after the judging.
When Bill Cook vacated the property behind the Masonic Theatre, and the warehouse he once owned was deconstructed by the design/buildLAB students from Virginia Tech to use in the building of the Covington Farmer’s Market, the site revealed a perfectly useable concrete slab beside Smith Creek. The Masonic Theatre presented several fund raising events in 2011 on that location—a flea market and picnic with tents and catered food supplied by area restaurants. The entertainment for that picnic was supplied by Bill Cook and Friends when Bill returned to his former property to play for a Masonic Theatre fund-raiser. Bill Cook & Friends returned to that concrete slab four times to play for fund-raisers for the Masonic Theatre—with all proceeds from the event going to the “Save the Masonic” restoration campaign. In September of 2012, shortly after the Amphitheatre opened, Bill Cook was honored when he was told that the Amphitheatre stage would be named the “Bill Cook & Friends Stage”. With the Masonic Theatre restoration a reality and plans for the Theatre to open in the summer of 2016, Bill Cook and Friends have lots to celebrate.
Bill nurtures the genre of bluegrass by welcoming talented musicians who love to play and perform once a year on July 4 at his Potts Creek farm. So when Bill is asked to perform by area organizations, he has a host of “friends” that he can call on to perform with him. Dr. David Crandall, one of Bill’s “friends” says that Bill Cook is the “center of the blue grass scene in Alleghany County. People like to come to play music with him and each other.”
John Hillert, member of the Masonic Theatre Preservation Foundation, says “It is an honor and privilege and a homecoming of sorts to welcome Bill and his friends to play on the Masonic Amphitheatre stage-his stage. This Amphitheatre was made possible in part by Bill’s generous spirit—and that spirit spills over into the music and musicians he encourages. It is a great story.”
Bill Cook & Friends will perform at the Masonic Amphitheatre at 6:00 p.m. on Sunday, September 13.
Admission is a donation to the SAVE THE MASONIC campaign. Entry tent will open at 5:00 p.m. and concessions will be available. If you are interested in entering a pie in the pie-baking contest, please contact John Hillert at 540 862 5655, or bring your pie to the Entrance Tent between 5:00 and 6:00 pm on Sunday, the 13th and register to enter.
To read more about the “Save the Masonic” restoration efforts, please visit www.historicmasonictheatre.com or the Historic Masonic Theatre and Amphitheatre’s Facebook page.
|  | Judges judging the entrants for the pie baking contest last year...
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