Can’t find the food that feeds your soul? These women took the tongs into their own hands. Stephanie Murray of Ula Tortilla People often ask what is the meaning of “Ula,” and for Stephanie Murray and her husband, James Price, it’s part of what inspired the family’s business to begin with: their children, Uriah, Lovissa […]
Bill Mawyer often asks a question that few can answer: Do you know where your water comes from? “Frequently in our business, people are shocked by the amount of time and money it takes to maintain a reliable water system,” says Mawyer, executive director of the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority, the agency charged with […]
For a town its size, Charlottesville is bursting with fitness club choices. “We really have a big city-level of unique offerings here,” says Claire Mitchell, co-founder and owner of treadHAPPY, a treadmill-based fitness studio located off West Main Street. In contrast to “big-box” clubs like ACAC or the YMCA, boutique, or niche gyms, like treadHAPPY […]
What should a public park contain? Swings and slides, shaded benches, a grassy picnic spot? Should there be gestures toward the region’s history, ecology and culture? Could a park be a place of encounter, of healing? In June, following their decision to remove statues of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson from park grounds, city […]
Upon their return from the Women’s March in Washington, D.C., in January of 2017, local moms Kristin Clarens and Amanda Sovik-Johnston felt empowered, but also challenged. “We were just emerging from the super-foggy days of having newborns and realized that we wanted to re-engage in our community,” says Clarens, an attorney. “It felt like a […]
To tell the full story of Vietnam along all of its harrowing dimensions, the producers of an epic new film series about the war required 10 years of research, more than 100 personal interviews and a healthy dose of humility. “I personally have been obsessed with the Vietnam War for most of my adult life,” […]
When tackling a renovation project, sometimes it’s hard to see what’s right in front of your face. Especially when it’s a wall. “People tend to put Band-Aids on things without looking at the overall effect,” says interior designer Wendi Smith, “so I try to take a step back.” Asked recently to spruce up an unattractive […]
On a picturesque, 92-acre hillside ranch in southern Ivy, native Virginian Alex Toomy and two partners have launched an enterprise centered on a perfect pairing: bourbon and beef. Craft distillery Ragged Branch, now open for business after five years of preparation and two more of whiskey-aging, is poised to make its mark on the Virginia […]
On the heels of the tragic events in Charlottesville August 11 and 12, the University of Virginia had to ready itself for another chaotic, but undeniably happier, weekend that began August 18: the arrival of several thousand excited and nervous students for move-in days (see page 29 for their reactions to the anticipated start of […]
When Piedmont Family YMCA CEO Jessica Maslaney was still a program director for the Y back in 2009, she tagged along on a tour of regional Y facilities with local VMDO architects to look at design ideas. “I think they invited me because I was an English major in college, and so I was the […]