DIRTY DANCING LAKE LURE NORTH CAROLINA

OUTFIT CONSISTS OF:

CATO:  Top 

BELK: Crown & Ivy Shorts

FOREVER 21: Quilted Handbag

ROSS: SBICCA Flats

Hi Fashion Loves,

This day was a last minute adventure I usually don’t go to more than one adventure a week but when the Dirty Dancing Festival popped up on facebook there was no way I was going to miss it. The weather this day was questionable in the forecast so I packed my rain coat my comfy outfit and off I went.

Summer is dying down and I could not let it end without wearing my cute little pink and white stripe shorts from Crown & Ivy that I purchased at Belk. 

Crown & Ivy is a brand Belk carries and it known for their Southern Style, great fit and patterns.  Crown & Ivy has become so well known that Belk has started  to open stand alone boutiques not located in Belk Department Stores.  I would love to set my goals to work in one of these boutiques preferably Charleston SC if they make that one permanent.

The Crown & Ivy Southern Style was perfect to pair with the lace top I picked up at Cato. I love the intricate details of the lace with the pattern change close to the bottom. 

The handbag I decided to use is my Forever 21 off white quilted handbag.  The handbag was the right choice because of the flexible material and the lightweight.  The weight was so light I keep checking to make sure my things were still in my bag.

I was planning to do a lot of walking so I had flats all day, Sorry Guys comfort is necessary.  My flats were from a Company called SBICCA of California that I purchased at Ross years ago. The flats are a snake print design with gold accents and have lasted me forever.  The SBICCA flats are comfortable but in a Rainstorm trying to stay balanced on them is hard.

DIRTY DANCING LAKE LURE NORTH CAROLINA AUGUST 19-20 2016

Lake Lure North Carolina started as a vision by Dr. Lucius B. Morse because of his poor health he wanted to create a year round resort community. Dr. Morse along with his wife Elizabeth Parkenson, his brothers Hiram and Asahel in 1902 purchased Chimney Rock and Lake Lure which totaled a whopping 8,000 acres of breathe taking views of mountains and beautiful valleys. Elizabeth Parkenson actually named the town of Lake Lure.  

The development of Lake Lure halted with the down turn of the economy in 1929 through different channels Lake Lure was then acquired by Carolina Mountain Corporation.  The Carolina Mountain Company leased Lake Lure to the Town of Lake Lure NC until July 26, 1965 when the Town of Lake Lure used revenue bonds to purchase the lake and surrounding areas. The use of bonds to purchase the property was a legislative act created by the North Carolina General Assembly in 1963.

 The history to acquire Lake Lure was the beginning of the future of a low budget film that wasn’t expected to gross much revenue.   The 1987 movie Dirty Dancing who starred Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey grossed $64 million dollars.  This phenomenon of this movie brought out something in everyone from the underdog winning the girl, the girl becoming her own person; don’t judge a book by its cover and the good ole days for the older generation. 

In 1986 the movie industry and actors descended upon the sleepy town of Lake Lure North Carolina in the Fall of 1986 after they left filming at the Mountain Lake Lodge in Pembroke Virginia. 

 The producers wanted to film the whole movie at Lake Lure but the town officials were not interested considering the movie was such a low-budget.  The local residents were the extras and participated in transforming the fall leaves of Lake Lure to look like summer time by airbrushing the leaves.

Dirty Dancing’s concept was a coming of age film set at Kellerman’s Resort in the Catskill Mountains of New York which doesn’t exist.  Frances “Baby” Houseman is from a wealthy family and is the good girl who pleases her family but not herself.  Baby meets Johnny Castle a dance instructor who is the bad boy which is not a proper suitor for her parents. Through unseen circumstances Johnny’s partner is unable to participate in any of the activities of the summer.  Johnny and Baby start practicing in secret which starts a romance and a grand finale of a dance scene.

 The Dirty Dancing Festival was started in the fall of 2010 with as a Memorial Service to Patrick Swayze who passed away in September 14, 2009 of pancreatic cancer. 

Friday August 19, 2016 was the beginning of the festival with the showing of the movie but I had to work. I arrived on Saturday August 20, 2016 the weather was in question but I was not going to waste a Saturday.  I headed to Lake Lure North Carolina with excitement to see where my favorite movie was filmed. The rain was off and on all day but I didn’t let that wreck my spirits. 

The Lake Lure Inn and Spa which is located at 2771 Memorial Hwy is where the cast and producers stayed and the pickpocket scene was filmed in the Inns Veranda Restaurant. 

  The Inn is on the National Registry of Historic Places and had it first clients in 1927. The dance practice scenes were filmed in the gymnasium which is now the Roosevelt Room. 

During the festival there is a Lake Lift competition to replicate the scene where Johnny is teaching Baby to jump in his arms during the dance finale. 

The steps where Baby practices dancing is on the other side of the lake  there is the Lake Lure Boat Tour at the local marina that shows you all the movie scenes around the lake and departs hourly on most days. 

                                                               

The employee cabins in the movie were filmed at The Boy Scout Camp that was vandalized and eventually torn down.

I wandered to the Lake Lure Flowering Bridge which was a concept by the locals when the historic 1925 Rocky River Bridge was closed to traffic in 2011 and a new bridge was built. 

 The Friends of Lake Lure got together and created gardens along the bridge which is 155 feet long.

 The Friends mission is creating a “Gateway to Somewhere Beautiful”.  The Beautiful Flowering Bridge is located just past the Welcome Center on the main road of the Town of Lake Lure.

Morse Park and Greenway is a 23 acre park with beautiful views of Hickory Nut Gorge and spectacular views of the Lake Lure Inn and Spa. 

 A storm was approaching and the pictures I captured were beautiful.  I was nervous of the approaching storm but I got my rain coat ready and proceed to photograph. I don’t regret that decision the photos are amazing.

Fashion loves Lake Lure North Carolina is only 1 hour 32 mins from my home and the views are beautiful.  Lake Lure North Carolina was named as National Geographic Magazines top ten most beautiful man made lakes. 

 In my research I found that many movies were filmed at this location such as My Fellow Americans, A Breed Apart, The Last of the Mohicans, Firestarter and many commercials and short films.  My Adventures are affordable and most people think I am traveling the world and I am basically in my own backyard. 

See what is around you and see what none else knows exist.  As the immortal words of Albert Einstien:

 The one who follows the crowd will usually get no further than the crowd.  The one who walks alone, is likely to find himself in places none has ever been. 

Love,
Dana

The storm approaches and I am reminded of
 Psalms 107:28
He calmed the storm to a whisper and stilled the waves.