GILES COUNTY, Va. – Nobody was put in a corner for the first day of the Dirty Dancing Days Festival up at Mountain Lake Lodge.
Dirty Dancing is a classic ‘80s movie, and yet 37 years after its release, the nostalgia of Johnna and Baby’s story lives on at the lodge up in Giles County.
Friday and Saturday, the lodge is hosting the first-ever Dirty Dancing Days Festival. The lodge normally has Dirty Dancing Days throughout the summer but you need to stay overnight at the lodge to enjoy them. The festival allows anyone to come up and enjoy the lodge, which has some of the notable backdrops people will remember from the movie.
Heidi Stone is the CEO and President of the Mountain Lake Lodge. She knows there is going to be a party on Friday and Saturday. She and her team did everything they could to make it feel like the movie.
“There’s no movie that’s the cult classic that Dirty Dancing is right. When you’re here, it is a completely immersive environment. All of the staff are wearing Kellerman’s t-shirts. Nothing has changed with the lodge. It’s this big stone iconic lodge. It feels like dirty dancing,” Stone said.
People from all over the state started out their weekend right by coming to night one.
Julie Moore traveled with her daughter up from Martinsville Virginia. They both came prepared with their Dirty Dancing T-shirts on.
“It opened up, this huge fog came down just like in the scene and I looked over at my daughter who carried the watermelon at all the family reunions and she literally said ‘We are having the time of our life mom’ and it’s been on since then,” Moore said.
Some people drove from even further away. Melissa Stalbird’s mom was celebrating her 70th birthday this weekend. She knew this would be a great opportunity to celebrate in a special way.
“Obviously everyone here is a fan but we got to show our camaraderie right. We’re like let’s go get some t-shirts. We’re like why didn’t we buy them ahead of time? It’s cool that everyone enjoys it as much as we do,” Stalbird said.
The event includes scavenger hunts, 80′s dress-up dance competitions, dance lessons, watermelon races, trivia contests, drink specials, “Dirty Dancing” merchandise, and screenings of the original film.
Even if you didn’t make it to day one, you can still go to day two. Tickets can be purchased here.
To see the full festival itinerary, click here.