Members of the Roan Mountain community, along with some friends, pulled together this past weekend and raised more than $2,000 to help some of their neighbors who were displaced by an apartment fire in December.
On Saturday, Jan. 2, a crowd gathered at Triple J Farm on Heaton Creek Road to take part in Care Fest 2016 — a festival-style concert and community pot luck dinner.
In early December, a fire damaged an apartment building in Roan Mountain and displaced four families. Early on, it was thought only three families were affected by the fire, but Commissioner Mike Hill, one of the organizers for Care Fest, said just days before the concert he learned of another family that had been displaced following the fire.
As news of the fire and the affected families spread through the community, Hill, who represents Roan Mountain, began working with other community leaders to organize some way to help the families out. Several musicians in the community volunteered their talents and the owners of Triple J Farm offered their facilities to host the concert.
The line up for the night featured a wide array of performers including: T.V. Barnett and his Roan Mountain Moonshiners; The Heaton Creek Ridge Runners; Michael Puckett; The Repossessed; Jim and Cheri Miller; Rhonda Gouge and Roan Mountain Rain; Thistle Dew; Art Lang and Friends; Siam Symphony; Third Generation Bluegrass with Lauren Turbyfill; Croonin Creakers; and The Roan Crows. Attendees also got the chance to show off their skills with a special Open Mic session.
At the end of the night on Saturday, donations received totaled $2,144, which Hill said was split evenly among the four affected families.