New program guides homeless in starting their own businesses

Becky Blanton became invisible 10 years ago. She shared her story—how she went from working as a newspaper editor to living out of her van and eventually identifying as homeless—with her fellow entrepreneurs in a Community Investment Collaborative program in the fall of 2015. CIC runs a 16-week program for local entrepreneurs in Charlottesville, as […]

C-VILLE’s most-read stories of 2016

In honor of saying good-bye to 2016, here’s a rundown of the 16 most-read stories published on our website in the last year. Sole mates: Anthony Gill will rock Jordans for the big day Heroin overdose: Friends grieve 25-year-old’s death Sunny Ortiz of Widespread Panic on what’s next after 30 years Concealed-carry rattles some ACAC members Serve-yourself bar […]

2016: the wild ride is almost over

So here’s the thing: There’s always going to be a worse year. 1347, when the bubonic plague erupted across Europe, beginning a pandemic that would eventually eliminate at least a third of the existent human population, is right up there. 1862, when the devastating charnel house of the American Civil War reached a destructive peak, […]

Brookville Restaurant to serve last meal this weekend

Brookville Restaurant will serve its final meal—a brunch—this Sunday, December 18, from 10am to 2pm. “Every restaurant has a lifetime and Brookville has come to the end of its,” chef Harrison Keevil wrote in an e-mail shortly after making the announcement. He and his wife, Jennifer Keevil, opened Brookville, known for its farm-to-table comfort food—egg […]

Cottage character: Lots to love at an Ivy country place

“The most interesting faces generally oscillate between charm and crookedness,” writes Alain de Botton in his Essays in Love. Replace “crookedness” with “quirkiness,” and you’ll have a fair description of why we’re drawn to this listing in Ivy: It it isn’t intimidatingly perfect. It’s lovely but not bland, and it feels real. Sited at the […]

Local teens lobby for refugee rights

Elizabeth Valtierra was nervous. Like many across the nation, the Charlottesville High School senior spent election night with her family, gathered around a television in the living room. As the earliest states were called for Donald Trump, her family made jokes and tried to laugh it off. They thought Hillary Clinton would pull ahead, as […]

Self-published and small-press authors connect for book signing event

For many artists, the act of promoting their own work can feel counterintuitive, a business that necessitates turning outward to the public after so much time spent turned inward in order to create. For this reason, local author Carolyn O’Neal says with some surprise, “I’ve become, oddly, a marketing guru.” Her firsthand experience with marketing […]

Downtown Mall at 40: Is innovation still around?

Even in November, balmy weather and the Virginia Film Festival had throngs out on the Downtown Mall. But it wasn’t always that way. For years after Charlottesville bricked its main street in 1976, the place was a ghost town after 5pm. Landscape architect Lawrence Halprin’s early 1970s vision of a bustling public space took 15 […]

Local nonprofits employ creative collaborations

On a recent day, Cristine Nardi, executive director of the Center for Nonprofit Excellence, was working with four different nonprofits on a variety of challenges: a succession plan for an executive director; how to handle a potential sexual harassment issue within the organization; how to do a 360-degree evaluation for an executive leader; and coaching […]

City regulations could have an effect on new breweries

Breweries have been popping up around Charlottesville like mushrooms after a rain. About a dozen beer producers are now located within an easy drive from town. But curiously, only four breweries are actually located within the city’s limits: Champion, South Street, Three Notch’d and—the newest addition in September—Random Row. In the middle of a regional […]