C-BIZ

Outdoors, again: High Tor fills a local need for secondhand gear

When Erin James was pregnant with her first child, she and her husband Seth Herman were amazed by the amount of hand-me-down baby stuff that came their way. In local secondhand stores, too, the used baby gear abounded. At the time, they were looking to start a business that would set a positive example for […]

Erika Howsare | December 24, 2019

C-BIZ

Riding it out: Freestyle survives 36 years of change

Remember all those specialty shops that went belly-up when the internet came along? Freestyle wasn’t one of them. Founded in 1983, the local sporting goods store is way older than online shopping—and it’s managed to stay relevant through lots of industry changes. “We want customers for life,” says store manager Don Cochrane. That’s meant operating […]

Erika Howsare | September 9, 2019

C-BIZ

A leg up: The CIC helps entrepreneurs get the right start

Since 2012, locals wanting to start their own businesses have been turning to the Community Investment Collaborative for support. The CIC runs a training program to help folks develop their business ideas—its 16-week Entrepreneur Workshop has graduated more than 300 people so far. It also offers financing, mentorship, and co-working space. We chatted with Stephen […]

Erika Howsare | September 9, 2019

News

Deer crossing

There are more than 50,000 deer-vehicle collisions in Virginia each year. One local scientist has a low-cost solution.    May 3, 2013. It’s 7:50 in the morning. A 51-year-old man driving an SUV west on I-64 collides with a deer. The man is unhurt; police notify VDOT that they’ll need to remove the carcass. October […]

Erika Howsare | September 4, 2019

Weddings

Video Q&A: Essential questions for your videographer

You know your maid of honor will slay them during her toast. If you hope to be laughing at her jokes decades from now, you’re going to want a wedding video. So what important questions should you ask potential videographers when you’re deciding who to hire? We talked with Ian Atkins of Ian’s Creations and […]

Erika Howsare | August 8, 2019

Arts

Land here now: Les Yeux du Monde challenges traditions of landscape art

In the Anthropocene, what does it mean to paint the landscape? Pristine, unspoiled wilderness no longer exists (even places that look “untouched” are affected by climate change),  and we’ve learned to cast a suspicious eye at bucolic pastoral zones, now that we know how often they involve Roundup runoff and soil erosion. This isn’t meant […]

Erika Howsare | July 10, 2019

C-BIZ

Steering the bus: JAUNT’s Brad Sheffield looks to the future

From its origins in 1975 as a public service corporation transporting elderly and disabled customers, JAUNT (that’s Jefferson Area United Transportation) has grown to cover a six-county, 2,600-square-mile service area while welcoming the general public onto its 85 vehicles. Recently, the organization has been expanding into commuter routes for areas underserved by public transit. JAUNT’s […]

Erika Howsare | June 5, 2019