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WEEKEND TIPOFF: Beach music, horses and coon dogs

Saluda's Coon Dog Day Festival features a parade, street dance and coon dog contests.

A beach music festival, Saluda's Coon Dog Day, the Songcatchers Music Series and the traditional Friday night and Monday night music events downtown highlight weekend offerings.

Music on Main, 7-9 p.m. Friday, features Carolina Rex. A Corvette car show will also take place on the street. Visitors Center. Free.

Coon Dog Day, 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday, in Saluda features coon dog competition, live music, parade, crafts, street dance and more.

Concert in the Park, Fletcher Community Park, at 6 p.m. Saturday features Steve Weems & the Caribbean Cowboys. Free.

Tryon International Equestrian Center hosts a Carolina Beach Bash at 6 p.m. Saturday featuring The Flashbacks, a seven-piece beach and soul band out of Greenville, S.C., and a sand sculpture-building contest. A freestyle shag dance competition will be held. The first place couple will win $250, second place $125 and third place $75. Couples interested in competing can sign up on site at TIEC by 5:30 p.m. The competition starts at 6 p.m.
Sand will be trucked onsite for a sand sculpture-building contest. The contest is free to enter and open to the public, and is limited to the first 12 teams that register at www.tryon.com. Cash prizes include $250 for first place, $125 for second, and $75 for third.
Plenty of free, family fun is also planned for the evening as part of TIEC's ongoing "Saturday Night Lights" series held on Grand Prix Saturdays from 6 p.m. – 10 p.m. Kids can enjoy free face painting, airbrush tattoos and rides on a hand painted Venetian carousel, plus other family entertainment including live music, eclectically clad stilt walkers, magicians, jugglers and more. The evening culminates with the $210,000 Asheville Regional Airport Grand Prix CSI3 to be held in the George Morris International Arena. Admission to TIEC and parking are free and open to the public.

The 2015 Magnolia Concert Series presents Grammy nominees Eric Brace and Peter Cooper on the stage at Flat Rock Cinema at 3 p.m. Sunday. The duo has opened on large stages for John Prine, Nanci Griffith, Don Williams, Todd Snider, Rodney Crowell, Iris Dement, Chris Smither, Dan Tyminsky, Travis Tritt and Jerry Douglas, among others and have shared the stage with Tom T. Hall, Jim Lauderdale, Suzy Bogguss, Dan Navarro, Marshall Chapman, Kim Carnes, Emmylou Harris and others. Tickets are $15 plus tax.

The Songcatchers Music Series continues at 4 p.m. Sunday at the Cradle of Forestry in Pisgah National Forest featuring two-time Florida banjo champion and recording artist Mary Z. Cox and award winning North Carolina fiddler Tim Gardner. Expect West Virginia tunes, North Carolina tunes, Florida tunes, blues, banjo/ fiddle duets, ukulele madness, and songs of heartbreak, love and even porcupines delivered in a fun and friendly performance on banjo, fiddle, guitar, and banjo ukulele. Admission is $6 for ages 16 and older; $3 for youth 15 and under and America the Beautiful and Golden Age pass holders. The Cradle of Forestry is on U.S. 276 in the Pisgah National Forest, six miles north of Looking Glass Falls and four miles south of the Blue Ridge Parkway.

The Monday Night Street Dance starting at 7 p.m. features Bobby and the Blue Ridge Tradition and the Thunder Mountain Cloggers and traditional Southern Appalachian clogging and square dance music. Visitors Center. Free.