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Dining downturn
During the first week of Virginia’s coronavirus crisis, a timer went off every 30 minutes at Perch, the high-end Pacific Rim seafood restaurant in Richmond. It was time to wipe down all surfaces again. “We can control the inside, but we can’t control the outside,” says Mike Ledesma, executive chef and owner. The restau[...]
A good walk improved
The course at Kinloch Golf Club unfolds and reveals itself like an epic novel. Over the course of 19 holes — yes, 19 — its spectacular, elevated terrain clashes dramatically with its diabolical sporting challenges. “Kinloch is wonderful,” says noted course designer Rees Jones, who has designed or restored more than 260 c[...]
Hometown college
On the town of Wise’s website, information about the University of Virginia’s College at Wise sits behind an appropriately labeled tab: “Our College.” When U.Va. Wise was founded in 1954, it was called Clinch Valley College of the University of Virginia, and it was the commonwealth’s first public college west of Radfor[...]
Regional group forms to bring in manufacturing jobs
Like many rural communities, Mecklenburg County relies on regional cooperation to boost its economy. A newly formed partnership — Virginia’s Manufacturing Region — is a regional coalition to market Southern Virginia as a top destination for manufacturing jobs. It’s a bit like a supergroup, with Virginia’s Growth Allian[...]
COVID-19: Y2K or Walking Dead?
A hungover partier wakes up amid the flotsam of the previous night’s New Year’s Eve bash, dons his Nikes and heads into the streets for a jog. It’s Saturday morning, Jan. 1, 2000. He’s in the zone, totally oblivious to the chaos erupting around him, ranging from armed troops marching the streets to cash-spitting ATMs [&h[...]
Crossing the line
A city famous for birthing country music and straddling the Virginia-Tennessee state line, Bristol, Virginia, has spent the last decade struggling to recover from the Great Recession and the coal industry’s steep decline. However, a new surge of economic life is reenergizing Bristol as it enters the 2020s. More visitors are fl[...]
A woman of science
Beakers and chemicals. Sparkles and high heels. An uncommon pairing for most is Miss America’s reality— something she’s working to normalize for young women. When Miss America 2020 Camille Schrier jumped back into the pageant world last year, she was initially stumped as to what she could do for the talent competition. A m[...]
The safety net
Even before the outbreak of COVID-19, many Virginia hospital beds were routinely full. “We are 90% to 100% occupied every day in VCU Health, generally [from] elective surgical care,” says Dr. Ron Clark, interim CEO of VCU Hospitals and Clinics. In the days following Gov. Ralph Northam’s state of emergency declaration, heal[...]
Virginia is for coronavirus
Within the first week of coronavirus spreading into Virginia, Lansdowne Resort and Spa in Leesburg saw about 50% of its conferences and events for March and April immediately postponed or canceled. “For now, it’s a short-term event,” says Rich Keurajian, Lansdowne director of sales and marketing. But that may have been wis[...]
Something in the Water sequel is canceled
Virginia Beach’s annual Something in the Water festival, set to take place in late April, has been canceled due to the coronavirus crisis. It will be back next year on April 23-25, 2021, say organizers. The brainchild of Grammy-winning musician and Virginia Beach native Pharrell Williams, the first festival in April 2019 sold[...]
Opportunity Appalachia hopes to match investors, projects
A group of Southwest Virginia community leaders are helping regional entrepreneurs market their ideas to investors as part of Appalachian Community Capital’s multistate Opportunity Appalachia economic development initiative. Through the initiative, Appalachian Community Capital is seeking to match investors to 15 “shovel-rea[...]
Working in the time of coronavirus
It was the week everything changed. On Saturday, March 7, Virginians woke up to learn that the novel coronavirus sweeping around the world had spread to the Old Dominion, with the news that a U.S. Marine at Fort Belvoir in Fairfax tested positive for COVID-19. By the following Saturday, Gov. Ralph Northam had declared a [&hellip[...]
