Sparta and Alleghany County have a rich heritage of music, crafts, and agriculture. Crouse Park, including the Crouse House, was donated to the town in 1969 and hosts the Crouse House Pickers Monday night jam sessions, the Blue Ridge Mountain Craft Fair, and the Summer Music in the Park Series. The Spartan Theater opened in early 1935 and served as a movie theater until the late 1980s; it included a stage, and in the 1940s it hosted several well-known country and bluegrass talents. In 1993, the theater was renovated to house the Alleghany Jubilee for old-time and bluegrass music and dancing. Robert L. Doughton, a local farmer, represented the 9th District in Washington for 33 years and, as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, helped create Social Security and the Blue Ridge Parkway; Doughton Park at Mile Post 239.2 was named in his honor. Along Alleghany County's country roads, agriculture remains a way of life, from vegetable farms to cattle, tobacco, pumpkins, and Christmas tree farms, with the local farmers market and Choose and Cut tree farms highlighting these local products.