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Top of the Grade concert features Paper Crowns

The Paper Crowns will perform at the Top of the Grade Friday night.

SALUDA — The Top of the Grade Concerts in historic downtown Saluda return at 7 Friday night with a show by the Asheville band The Paper Crowns.

The free community concert will be held on the Ella Grace Mintz Stage at McCreery Park. Top of the Grade concerts are coordinated by the City of Saluda and the Saluda Downtown Foundation. All concerts are free to the public thanks to donations and sponsorships from downtown businesses and residents.

The Paper Crowns are the multi-instrument power duo of Spiro and Nicole Nicolopoulos. Their musical chemistry is a gumbo of Appalachian folk and bluegrass, Dixieland melodies, delta blues, acid rock, murder ballads, outlaw country and Southern Gospel that they cook up into a sound all their own. Their mix of modern and traditional performance creates a captivating intensity yet always honors their intimacy and emotional rawness as a duo. With the full band, the sound is dynamic and soulful with intrepid improvisation.

Attendees should bring their own chairs or blankets. Food, soft drinks, beer and wine, and coolers are allowed in the stage area. No food will be available at the park, but Saluda’s top-notch restaurants will be open serving everything from hamburgers and pizzas to gourmet meals. Events are rain or shine so bring an umbrella if rain is in the forecast. In some cases, rain events may move to the park’s Pavilion.

The concerts have been made possible by donations from platinum sponsors RiverStreet Networks, Green River Bar-B-Que, Heartwood Gallery, Don Mintz Builders, and Pam and Clark Thompson; gold sponsors Hall House Vacation Rental, Mineral Spirits Gallery, The Purple Onion Cafe, and Blacktop Media, and silver sponsors The Orchard Inn and Newman’s Restaurant and The Triangle Stop’s Mountain River Tap & Growlers. The next concert in the series will be Aug. 20 with Bob Sinclair and the Big Deals.