By Chris Cooper

David Holt is a happy guy. In a recent phone (cell phone, no less) conversation as he strolled down the streets of San Francisco, he let me know one of the reasons why. “I just played the biggest show I’ve ever played,” he said. Accompanying that living, breathing piece of bluegrass history that’s known as Doc Watson, the previous afternoon found Holt playing the Golden Gate Park festival for, oh, about 100,000 music lovers. Which kind of beat me to the whole “favorite moments in your career” question I’d planned to ask later.

Most of us in the course of a week find a reason to go to downtown Sylva. We may go out to eat, or to the library, post office or bank, or perhaps just shop. There’s plenty of pleasure — and necessity — to be found downtown for residents of the area. As a real, working, genuine town, Sylva functions very well.

The Bridge Park Project is a community effort to create a covered performance pavilion, market space, public gardens, and improved parking at the municipal parking lot in downtown Sylva, between Mill Street and Scotts Creek.