News

The art of the place

A chilly March night, and the indoor space seems to be unheated. It’s not designed to be comfortable; it’s an industrial building in Harrisonburg repurposed as a climbing gym that also hosts music, and it has a concrete floor, a loft reached by a ladder missing a rung, and odd couches and crates. People bob […]

Erika Howsare | May 22, 2024

Arts Culture Food & Drink

Rooted wisdom

If Kat Maier were a plant, you could say she has released her seeds all around Charlottesville. She’s been here since 2005, teaching and practicing herbalism, so at this point she has many former students and clients in and around town. Her Belmont home, also the site of her apothecary, classroom, and garden, is a […]

Erika Howsare | May 11, 2022

2021 Best of C-VILLE Staff Picks

A room with a Vu

Eating vegan is great and all, but where’s the flavor? Lots of folks find it hard to let go of meat and dairy—or, rather, their taste buds find it hard. Since she opened Vu Noodles in 2013, Julie Whitaker has been trying to make it easier. Her Vietnamese noodle shop, serving almost totally vegan meals, […]

Erika Howsare | August 25, 2021

2021 Best of C-VILLE Staff Picks

Wine, pennants, pastries, and more

Picture a pair of people. One’s jonesing for coffee. The other’s ready to unwind with a glass of malbec. Where do they go? The Workshop—a combo coffee shop/wine shop that’s part of The Wool Factory complex—wants to be the answer to that dilemma. It’s all things to all craving-afflicted people: a café serving locally roasted […]

Erika Howsare | August 25, 2021

News

Fine specimens

Charlottesville wouldn’t be Charlottesville without its trees. When the city adopted a Tree Conservation Ordinance in 2013 to allow special protected status for certain trees, it was an acknowledgment of all their many benefits: beauty, history, a sense of place, and all the “ecosystem services” that trees provide for free. They cool the air and […]

Erika Howsare | May 5, 2021

Arts Culture

Look again: Sanjay Suchak finds new views of the Old Dominion

In a year defined by wild new perspectives—on health, on risk, on human separation and connectedness—images have played a central role. Photos of people in crowds or isolation are newly fraught, and as we gather virtually, the visual appearance of other humans on-screen has become a startling, imperfect social lifeline. Sanjay Suchak’s photography show at […]

Erika Howsare | October 14, 2020

Culture Living

Gathering swarm: Local beekeepers reflect on an unusual spring

While we humans have been preoccupied this spring, with pandemic worries and urgent national conversations, the natural world has seen other dramas unfold that most of us haven’t even noticed. Unless you’re a beekeeper, you wouldn’t know that this has been a very odd spring for honeybees. Carrie Meslar is the managing director of the […]

Erika Howsare | June 17, 2020