Dave Fafara stands over the noisy machine in the back of his Shenandoah Joe’s Preston Avenue shop, coffee-scented steam rising from a batch of freshly roasted beans. A metal arm pushes through the beans heaped in the cooling tray, and Fafara occasionally stirs them with his hand, until they’re cool enough to slide out a […]
Dave Fafara stands over the noisy machine in the back of his Shenandoah Joe’s Preston Avenue shop, coffee-scented steam rising from a batch of freshly roasted beans. A metal arm pushes through the beans heaped in the cooling tray, and Fafara occasionally stirs them with his hand, until they’re cool enough to slide out a […]
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 […]
Cutter Huston has never had to worry about clean clothes. But it wasn’t until he became involved with The Laundry Project that he realized not everyone takes something so basic for granted. The son of an Army brigadier general, Huston was living in Tampa, Florida, when his mother, Michelle, saw a news story about people […]
Holly Regan sat with her son in a lightened theater last year, watching a Four County Players production of A Charlie Brown Christmas. It was a special performance, and not just because of the time of year; it was a sensory-friendly production put on for people like Regan’s son, Jimmy Seidl, who’s autistic. The show […]
While it’s true that proper manners can take a lifetime to learn (or is that just us?), Etiquette Empowerment founder Patty Hughson teaches a local four-week course in the foundations of table manners and polite interaction to young adults. But because attention spans are fickle things, we asked her to distill it down even further […]
Five years ago, Cale Elementary School principal Lisa Jones instituted a Foreign Language in the Elementary Schools program for her incoming class of kindergarteners and rising first- and second-graders. For three years, offerings featured typical FLES programming—that is, 120 minutes a week of instruction in Spanish. However, as Jones saw it, that wasn’t enough. “By […]
As winter sets in caves offer surprisingly balmy family adventures. With temperatures hovering around 53 degrees, a subterranean visit provides hours of active outdoor fun sans the cold. From paved walking tours to rigorous guided explorations through wild caverns, the following resources will help you take advantage of the region’s many spelunking opportunities. Luray Caverns […]
Most teenagers have pretty predictable birthday wish lists … video games, iTunes cards, maybe money to use toward buying a car. Charlottesville’s Ashton Ryan is different. He wants coats. Lots and lots of coats. It all started six years ago, just before his 12th birthday. “I saw a kid in school without a coat and […]
As a professional designer, Kathy Heiner is familiar with all the twists and turns of the renovation process. So, when it came time to redo the kitchen in the Bellair house she’s shared with her sons since 2012, she appreciated having the luxury of time to think about what she wanted. “Lori Randle and I […]
Perched high in the surrounding mountains of Crozet is the stunning and solitudinous modern home of Rod and Maggie Walker. Located in Albemarle County and overlooking the Sugar Hollow Reservoir, the 1,500-acre property is accessed by way of a lengthy country road that, after winding through forested hills and over single-lane bridges, arrives at the […]