Susan Sorensen

Talk about a gift that keeps on giving: In 2006, local philanthropist Fred Scott donated an antique carousel to the Virginia Discovery Museum, which oversaw its installation on the Downtown Mall. After 15 years and millions of rotations by seven horses (the VDM estimates that more than 100,000 children ride the carousel every year!), the […]

It takes a lot to surprise Sarah Fay Waller. No, she’s not a spy. Nor is she a volcanologist or a roller coaster designer or an underwater welder. She’s a wedding planner, and when she says she’s seen and heard it all (say, a bride who dreamed of synchronized swimmers performing during the cocktail hour), […]

What beats tucking into a big ol’ plate of Huevos BlueMoonos? Tucking into a big ol’ plate of Huevos BlueMoonos while enjoying a rooftop view of the city. Always a stellar bet for breakfast, the Blue Moon Diner now boasts an open-air space with primary-colored tables and chairs beneath large umbrellas atop its recently renovated […]

Jennifer Naylor, affectionately known as Mama Bird to those who frequent her Sussex Farm stall at area farmers’ markets, serves up a wide variety of Korean kimchi. It changes with the season, from cabbage or cucumber to apple or radish (to name just a few), and Naylor swears by what she grows on her farm: […]

“One to two to three to two to one, and now two. And I’m never going back to three.” That’s Suzannah Fischer, eyes closed, recounting the number of O’Suzannah shops she’s owned at one time since she first opened her eclectic boutique in 1996 on the Downtown Mall. Before going out on her own, Fischer […]

Former UVA pitcher and Major League Baseball player Sean Doolittle made national headlines last year when sporting events were shuttered, and he reminded us that “sports are the reward for a functioning society.”  If that’s true, the University of Virginia is functioning just fine.  Since March, UVA’s student-athletes have earned four national championships (women’s swimming […]

If you’re expecting the same old, same old (a basket filled with dress-up clothes, say, or some beat-up Legos and a small train table or two), you’re in for a huge surprise when you step inside the Virginia Discovery Museum on the Downtown Mall.  The first thing you see is Amazing Airways, a tangle of […]