The Shadow
CLIFTON FORGE, VA (VR) – Appalfolks of America Association (AAA) has met its goal of raising $10,000 in support of its outreach programs via its annual “I Have a Heart Fund Drive” which began on March 1, and ended on May 19.
President M. Ray Allen remarked, “AAA received donations from donors who live in California, Arizona, Wisconsin, Kentucky, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Virginia during the fund drive, and I wish to thank each and every one who responded to my request for financial support.”
The three outreach programs that AAA conducts are The Virginia Opry, the Commonwealth of Virginia’s official Opry which AAA established in 1992, Special Theatrical Artists Revue & Showcase (STARS), the troupe of performers who face intellectual challenges and/or physical disabilities that AAA established in 1996, and the Appalfolks of America Cloggers that AAA founded in 2022.
Allen recalled, “After establishing AAA as a nonprofit organization in 1985, to promote the literary and performing arts in Southern Appalachia while promoting drug-free creativity and advocating for preserving Appalachian heritage, Irwin R. Cohen gifted the Historic Masonic Theatre (circa 1905) in Clifton Forge to AAA on Dec. 20, 1991.”
The Historic Masonic Theatre was operating as The Historic Stonewall Theatre at the time and had been sitting empty for four years. President of RC Theatres John Wayne Anderson, represented Cohen by handing the keys to the theatre to Allen inside the theatre while Roanoke’s Channel 7 Star Link Van was parked outside broadcasting the event live on TV.
“The theatre was in need of thousands of dollars of repairs, and I was able to persuade ACE Hardware’s owner, Charles Overstreet, to donate all of the hardware items needed to repair the pipes that had frozen and broken during the four years the theatre sat empty,” Allen remembered.
Allen also organized the “Save the Stonewall Committee” that recruited more than 100 citizens to donate their time to cleaning and repairing the inside and outside of the historic building that had been appraised for $125,000 for its historic value and $75,000 for its commercial value by Durrer Appraisals based in Roanoke.
“We were able to open the theatre for our first concert in May, and The Announcers, a local gospel music quartet, provided the entertainment free of charge, and a packed house donated $500 to AAA in support of the restoration project,” Allen said.
After 12 years of ownership during which AAA made more than $200,000 in restoration improvements, AAA donated the theatre to the Town of Clifton Forge, the current owner that leases the theatre to the Masonic Theatre Preservation Foundation for $1 per year following the MTPF raising $6.9 million to completely restore the theatre while it was closed from 2012 till reopening in 2016.
Allen concluded, “AAA established many programs to fill the seats during our 12 years of ownership, including the Southern Gospel Revue, Stonewall Children’s Theatre, Clifton Forge Players, Stonewall Players, Performance Series for Students, but the two that have survived and attained statewide and national recognition are The Virginia Opry and STARS.”
The Virginia Opry’s first show of its “Summer and Fall Performance Season” will feature Michael Hoover and Denise Glass performing Patsy Meets Elvis at The Virginia Opry on stage at The Historic Masonic Theatre on Sat., Aug. 8, at 7:00 p.m. Nashville recording artist Glen Shelton will emcee the show that will feature the Doug Lester Band backing the vocalists.
Hoover won the International Elvis Tribute Artist Championship by defeating 95 other Elvis tribute artists in Memphis during the 1990s, and he has toured Japan, England, Mexico, and Canada performing his “Memories of Elvis.” He performed at the U.S. Olympics Summer Games in Atlanta for a week, and he has made numerous TV appearances as an Elvis tribute artist.
Glass has performed in Winchester at the home of Patsy Cline, and she has performed her “Tribute to Patsy Cline” across the Commonwealth of Virginia, having received a standing ovation for her performance at the Natural Bridge Historic Hotel and Conference Center’s Washington Hall in 2022. She will be returning to The Historic Masonic Theatre where she was inducted into The Virginia Opry and served as the headliner on Feb. 10, 2024, to begin The Virginia Opry’s “33 rd Performance Season.”
AAA finished second out of the 15 medium-sized nonprofit organizations on Giving Tuesday, May 19, to claim the $3,000 second place prize, won the 8:00 p.m. till 9:00 p.m. Power Hour to win $1,500, won a $250 Golden Ticket, and managed to attract enough new donors to win $135 during the Mighty Cause competition that was held in conjunction with
The Alleghany Foundation, the competition that enabled AAA to surpass its $10,000 fund drive goal.
