Smith Stokes:   2008 Keepin' The Blues Alive Award Winner

Smith Stokes became active in the Carolina Blues Festival in the early 90's at the request of then-Trustee Pat Freitag. Ms. Freitag was in charge of preparing the food for the bands and invited guests backstage, and she needed transportation to get the meals to the Festival site. She contacted Smith Stokes, who arranged to have one of the vans from his Reidsville dealership be used for this purpose.

For the next several years, Smith Stokes's vehicles became the "official transportation" of the Carolina Blues Festival. His involvement grew from that point forward. Smith Stokes Chrysler Dodge Jeep became a sponsor of the Festival, donating the use of cars and vans for the PBPS to transport food and souvenirs to and from the Festival site. Later, Smith became active with the Annual Piedmont Blues Preservation Society Blues Challenge, donating a passenger van for the winning performers to drive to and from Memphis, TN for the International Blues Challenge.

To this very day, Smith Stokes is an active participating year-round sponsor of the PBPS events. Through the years he has proven to be a very good friend of the Blues Society.

Congratulations to Smith Stokes, winner of the 2008 Keepin' The Blues Alive Award.