New W’burg stage will be named in honor of ‘Nannie’ during Pops in the Park Saturday

The stage in Williamsburg’s newest park will soon officially be named after one of Williamsburg High School’s longest serving and most popular band directors, Nannie Hays.

The stage dedication will take place during the Pops in the Park event on Saturday, April 23, at River Fog Park, which is the green space located at the corner of Main Street and Third Street.

The event is hosted by the Williamsburg Independent School Music Department.

The Williamsburg High School Band, the high school jazz band, and the middle school band along with the University of the Cumberlands Jazz Band will be performing.

The event will start about 6 p.m. and end about 8:30 p.m.

Williamsburg Main Street Manager Jonathan Wyatt noted the event will be somewhat similar to the Brown Bag Bash that happens annually each spring when the Williamsburg High School Choir and Williamsburg High School Band play a free concert on the courthouse lawn at lunch time while selling polish sausage sack lunches as a fundraiser.

“We will have brown bag meals for $5 downtown. It will be at River Fog Park on the new stage, which is the Nannie L. Hays Memorial Stage, which will also be dedicated and named that day. We thought it would be very appropriate since that is the band that she directed. It is also our first event on Main Street for that stage. We are so excited to inaugurate that and let it be a fitting tribute to Nannie,” Wyatt said.

In addition to serving as band director at Williamsburg High School throughout her teaching career, Hays was also the first Main Street manager in Williamsburg history serving from 2007 until her death on April 23, 2021.

“Just come down and lend your support. All the proceeds will go to support the band for their upcoming school spring trips that they will be doing. It will be a nice fundraiser for them,” Wyatt said.