Happenings for August 13

THIS WEEK

‘Letters From Home’ returns to Sunset  Saturday; donations benefit local vets

ASHEBORO — Erinn and Dan of Letters From Home are back Aug. 16 to again support Randolph County veterans and their families with a show that incorporates hits from the WWII and Vietnam eras in one show.

Admission is donation-based, with all donations from this event going to support local veteran projects. 

Doors open at 6 p.m. for the three-hour event, which begins at 7. Tickets can be reserved online for $12.51. Visit sunsettheatre.org for a link to the ticket site.

Southeast Express visits for Friday Night Bluegrass

ASHEBORO — Southeast Express will be the band playing in this month’s Friday Night Bluegrass program at Sunset Theatre, 234 Sunset Ave., Asheboro.

Southeast Express performs traditional, Gospel and contemporary bluegrass with comedy thrown in and an occasional country or rock’n’roll song for variety.

Current members include Jim Boren of Pleasant Garden on dobro, guitar and vocals; Ray Coble of Julian on bass and vocals; Jon Cox of Randleman on mandolin and vocals; Brian Faircloth of High Point on guitar and vocals; and Jeff Wiseman of Reidsville on banjo and vocals. Admission is $10.

Twitty & Lynn are back in Liberty Showcase Theater

LIBERTY — How can you keep love — and popular music — alive? Sometimes through grandchildren.

Tre Twitty and Tayla Lynn — the grandson of Conway Twitty and the granddaughter of Loretta Lynn — are back to perform from the famous song archives of their famous country singing grandparents. And they’ll have stories to tell, too.

The two will be in Liberty Showcase Theater on Saturday, Aug. 16, beginning at 7 p.m. The theater is located at 101 S. Fayetteville St. in Liberty.

Tayla will recount stories from the road with Loretta and how her grandmother filled yellow pads with lyrics over thousands of miles of traveling.

Tre will offer a memorable audience participation song that will make someone onstage feel like Twitty is singing right to them.

Tickets range from $40 to $60.

UPCOMING

August’s Summer Cruise-In set for Saturday, Aug. 23

ASHEBORO — Asheboro Summer Cruise-In Series, organized by Grounded Elegance Car Club (Michael Allred) and Brightside Gallery (Mary Murkin), will host its fifth event of the season on Aug. 23 from 6 to 10 p.m. in the parking lot of its 2025 summer sponsor, C4 Church, at 1128 N. Fayetteville Street, Asheboro. The theme: Cars, cruising, fellowship and yummy food.

Along with the cruise-in gathering of cars to view, the event also pays homage to the Asheboro tradition of cruising up and down Fayetteville Street. At least once each evening, Michael Allred will lead a group of cars out onto Fayetteville Street to get the group back into the swing of cruising the drag.

There’s no cost to visit or participate. Many people actually pull up chairs alongside Fayetteville St. and watch the cruising cars go by.

Bio prof to explore glowing insects in NC in library talk

ASHEBORO — North Carolina is home to an impressive diversity of glowing insects, including fireflies, glow worms and a really interesting little fly that lives in the mountains.

Learn about this phenomenon in a talk entitled “Synchronous Shows and Foxfire Glows: The Bioluminescent Insects of North Carolina” by Dr. Clyde Sorensen of North Carolina State University, at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Aug. 25, at the Asheboro Public Library, 201 Worth St.

Sorensen will discuss the diversity of the state’s bioluminescent insects, how they make their light, and what they do with it. He also will talk about threats to the glowing insects and what individuals can do to help them.

Sorensen, who resides in Clayton, is Alumni Association Distinguished Professor of Entomology at NCSU, where he has served on the faculty for 29 years. His research interests include biology, ecology and management of insects and other arthropods in agricultural ecosystems.

He also specializes in the ecology of insects, and rare and endangered plants in longleaf pine ecosystems. For the last eight years, Sorensen has intensively studied the occurrence and distribution of fireflies in North Carolina.

To learn more, call 336-318-6803.

Gene Watson returns to Liberty Showcase Aug. 23

LIBERTY — Gene Watson has been piling up the songs and road acts for some 60 years, and fans still want more. The proof is in the pudding: His return to Liberty Showcase Theater was nearly sold out by Aug. 6. Only a handful of single seats on ground level and dozens of seats in the balcony remained.

And for who? A country crooner whose nickname is “The Singer’s Singer.” A Grand Ole Opry Hall of Famer, Watson has more than 75 charted titles, 23 Top 10 hits, six No. 1 country singles and five No. 1 gospel hits.

Tickets range from $40 to $70. Find out more at www.thelibertyshowcase.com.

Bugs return to FarmPark for Aug. 23-24 weekend

DENTON — VW bugs, that is.

The Bug’N at The FarmPark VW Show seeks to bring together Volkswagen enthusiasts for the second year in a row.

The two-day event begins at 9 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 23, and ends at 3 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 24.

Enjoy camping (available Friday night and Saturday night), vendors (new ones for this year), show cars, train rides and more.

Admission is $10. Denton FarmPark is located at 1072 Cranford Rd, Denton.