C-VILLE Weekly | February 4 - 10, 2026

No wimps, no whiners

How Blue Ridge disc golfers turn Virginia winter into a fundraiser

Fast, cheap vaccines— made from 'good' bacteria P.9

Post-Ryan, UVA's housing promise still moving P.12

Learning death work with Darnell Lamont Walker P.25

U ASK, UVA ANSWERS

Join us on the second Sunday of each month at the Central Library for a free, public speaker series showcasing UVA Research. These talks are designed to spark curiosity and conversation, bringing the University’s discoveries to the heart of the community.

Curious Minds Welcome.

8

The Importance of Dark Skies

Kelsey Johnson, College of Arts & Sciences, Astronomy

How UVA’s Natural Infrastructure Lab Is Rethinking the Built Environment

Brian Davis & Michael Leugering, School of Architecture

HIV Research and Health Policies to Help End the Epidemic

Kathleen McManus, School of Medicine

Find out how UVA Research impacts our world every day. Join us at more events this Spring.

Thank you for reading C-VILLE Weekly.

2.4.26

After last week’s big ice storm, if I wasn’t on the computer working, or making my daughter a PB&J, or giving her the “motherlode” cheat code to “The Sims” (a recent addiction I can’t say I’m proud to have enabled), you could find me under an electric blanket on the couch catching up on “Hacks.”

Each morning, I made a half-hearted gesture to open the back door, blocked shut by a few inches of ice-covered snow, declared us trapped yet again, and hunkered back down. Which is why I find the subjects of this week’s cover story (p.16) all the more inspiring, especially knowing that even they had to wait out the worst of the storm before getting back out there.

Members of the Blue Ridge Disc Golf Club play their sport rain or shine—or sleet. The motto for their season-starting Ice Bowl is “No wimps, no whiners” (I liked it so much I put it on the cover). It made me think of the people in Minnesota—where the struggle right now isn’t against the weather, but against a wave of ICE enforcement that’s shaken communities, taken lives, and drawn people into the bitter cold to protest. Whether on a frozen disc golf course or a city street, getting out there matters, no matter the conditions.

This week’s contributors

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Towns Ackerman

Susan Albert

Mary Allen

Catherine Anninos

Jim & Gwen Baber

Lori Balaban

Timothy Bambury

Catherine Barnes

Julie Basic

Susan Battani

John & Nancy Baum

Josh Baumann

Jennifer Beachley

Mayanna Bean

Terry Belanger

Susan Bender

Denise Benson

Anne Bergamesca

Rebecca Berlin

Kim Biasiolli

Patrick Bird

Paddy Bowman

Olivia Branch

Paul Brewer

Susan Brickman

Claudia Murray

Brindle

Colette Brown

David Brown

Jack Brown

Sumner Brown

Kate Buford

Cathleen Burgess

Carol Burger

Patricia Burkett

David Calhoun

Michael Callahan

Linda & Pat

Canzanelli-Dantona

Brian Carlton

Helen Cathro

Janelle Catlett

James Clark Jr.

Diane Cluck

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Maria-Eugenia

Dalton

Charles Dassance

Pam & Peter Dennison

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Martha Donnelly

Helene Downs

Vincent Draddy

Charlotte Drummond

Louise Dudley

Lee Elberson

Jane Elmore

Karen Emmitt

Ken Engebretson

Elizabeth Engle

Rosa Ellen English

Gail Esterman

Joe Ethier

Tom & Anna Ferrell

M. Fife

Jon Fink

Lavonne Fitts

Kevin Foley

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Joan Forrest

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Thomas Garrison

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Donna Goings

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Eric & Diane Lawson

Elizabeth Lawson

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David Lemon

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Sean Libberton

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Peppy Linden

Jessica Lino

D. Little

Phillip Long

Rob Lynch

Catherine Maguire

Greg Mallard

Jeff Martin

Virginia Masterson

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Mary McIntyre

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James Mernin

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Joe Peacock

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Elayne Phillips

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Anne Price

Ernest Pugh

Harry Purkey

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Frances Racette

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Prue Thorner

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Rose Trapnell

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Susan Uland

Rick Vergot

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Kelly West

Gary & Anne Westmoreland

Richard Wiedemann

John Whitlow

Jay Wildermann

Marcia Wilds

Andrew Wolf

Natalie Yancey

Suzanne Yeaman

Nura Yingling

Kelly Zalewski

Kathleen Zenker

This Valentine’s Day… Don’t settle for ordinary.

From February 12th–15th, Blue Ridge Café invites you to an unforgettable evening of indulgence, romance, and flavor.

Valentine’s Day Specials available February 12–15

Limited seating. Reservations strongly recommended.

✨ Reserve your table now. ✨ 434-985-3633

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 8PM

Compositions by:

CABELL HALL, FREE Featuring Professor, Turntablist, Composer,

Kristin Hauge Molly Joyce Gabrielle Cerberville Rah Hite Qi Shen Andrea Gutierrez

Jennifer Ryu Lawton Hall Yiting Wang

LITERATURE IN THE WARSAW, LODZ, AND VILNA GHETTOS

SVEN-ERIK ROSE

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS

Sven-Erik Rose is Professor of German and of Comparative Literature, and the Director of the Program in Jewish Studies at the University of California, Davis He will speak about his most recent, book, Making and Unmaking Literature in the Warsaw, Lodz, and Vilna Ghettos, described as “The first scholarly account of the literature written in the ghettos that takes it seriously as literature.”

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 12

WILSON HALL 301 | 5:30 PM Reception to Follow

Event can be viewed both in person and live on our YouTube channel

ISSUE

Galleries: What’s on view this month.

One-way Water Street?, plus activity at UVA housing sites.

CULTURE

25 Pages: Death doula offers guidance and perspective

ED I TORIAL

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FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6

FEBRUARY 7

EXPERIENCE WITH THE BARONS

FRIDAY BEN HARPER & THE INNOCENT CRIMINALS

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY

MAY 2-ON SALE FRIDAY MELT THESOUTHERNCVILLE.COM JUST ANNOUNCED!

MARCH 13-ON SALE NOW THE BARONS WITH NO COMPOSURE

MARCH 14-ON SALE NOW SUNSQUABI & MANIC FOCUS

02-07| DOGWOOD TALES/EUPHORIA AGAIN WITH NABEEL PRESENTED BY WNRN 02-09| DAR WILLIAMS WITH SETH GLIER SOLD OUT

02-12| TIM 0’BRIEN WITH JAN FABRICUS 02-13| "MIGHTY MARLEY CELEBRATION" WITH MIGHTY JOSHUA

02-14| IMMODEST OPULENCE: VALENTINE'S DAY BURLESQUE 18+ EARLY SHOW AND LATE SHOW

02-19| J RODDY WALSTON AND THE AUTOMATIC BAND WITH JESSE'S HOUSE

02-20| THE JACK WHARFF BAND SOLD OUT

02-21| DIRTY GRASS PLAYERS

02-22| TANAEL JOACHIM – THE ALIEN EVERYWHERE TOUR HOSTED BY AMBER L. HENDRIX & FT. JOHN RADEMACHER

02-24| BLACKWATER HOLYLIGHT WITH GLASSING

02-25| LAUNDRY DAY WITH SATCHEL SHURE 02-26| KENDALL STREET COMPANY WITH SHAGWUF

02-27| FULL MOON FEVERTOM PETTY TRIBUTE

02-28| JOE PUG

03-04| AN EVENING WITH THE LARRY KEEL/JON STICKLEY DUO

FEB

Mar 1 - Joe troop & the truth machine

Mar 7 - Cheick hamala Diabate band and corey harris

Rescheduled from Jan 24

Mar 14 - “A Night In Nashville” Annual Fundraising Gala At Three Notch’d BREwing Co.

MAR 20 - the High & Wides

MAR 21 - the SAAMI BROTHERS

MAR 27 - Terri Allard, Jason Pollock, & Thomas Gunn

APRil 7 - ALASH At Potter’s craft ciider

April 10 - Mark SCHATz & Bryan McDowell Lizzie no lovers

April 18 - Driftwood

MAR 28 - Bill Evans A songwriters’ round FEB 27 - ERIN lunsford trio qawwali Masters from pakistan w/ special guest babi evans

APRil 4 - hiroya tsukamoto & ty burkhardt A fingerstyle guitar showcase

April 25/26 - Tom Tom fest 434.293.8825 | hedgefineblooms@gmail.com 115 4 St NE, Charlottesville, VA 22902 th

Ash Wednesday, February 18

7:30–9:00 a.m. | Ashes to Go, Old Trail Drive (across from Grit Coffee)

12:00 p.m., 7:00 p.m. | Holy Eucharist: Rite II with Imposition of Ashes

Join us Sundays in Lent

8:15 a.m. | Traditional Worship

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent with a call to penitence and remembrance that we are dust, and to dust we shall return. Join us this Lent for many opportunities to mark the sacred journey to Easter.

10:30 a.m. | Family Worship with Children’s Chapel 5:30 p.m. | Choral Evensong (1st, 3rd, 5th Sundays) Contemplative Evening Prayer (2nd, 4th Sundays)

Learn more about worship at stpaulsivy.org/worship

Bugs squashed

A UVA Health team enlists bacteria to build better, faster virus-fighting vaccines

BY NATHAN ALDERMAN

NEWS UVA

“Fast, cheap, and good,” the saying goes: “Pick two.” But a team from the University of Virginia School of Medicine has discovered a way to make vaccines that embrace all three. Their new process can develop powerful vaccines in weeks, while costing a dime a dose or less to manufacture. Lead researcher Dr. Steven Zeichner hopes this new platform, described in a peer-reviewed paper published December 22, will help tackle emerging viral threats.

Different approaches to making vaccines have trade-offs. Live modified viruses that deliver an immune-boosting payload against illnesses like Ebola can fail if the patient’s body recognizes and kills that carrier virus before it does its job. The mRNA vaccines that debuted against COVID work well, but they’re expensive and delicate, requiring storage at incredibly cold temperatures.

Vaccines against bacteria are often easier and cheaper to develop. Factories worldwide grow bad bugs, kill them, and use those dead bacteria to train our immune systems. Better yet, those vaccines can stay fresh for years at temperatures your home freezer can match. So Zeichner and his team decided to use bacteria to fight viruses.

They started by identifying potentially vulnerable parts of a virus—HIV, in this case—to attack. “Viruses mutate really fast,” Zeichner says. “You want that vaccine to induce the production of antibodies against something that the virus can’t easily change.”

Once the researchers decided which virus parts to target, they had to accurately mimic those weak points. An artificial intelligence called AlphaFold ensured that the strings of amino acids they encoded would produce the correct three-dimensional shape. The AI program uses a vast library of protein shapes and corresponding amino acid codes to predict how proteins will look. “Sometimes we design something and it doesn’t yield the structure that we want,” Zeichner says, “and we see that on AlphaFold before we make the DNA.”

Next, they had to get that DNA into a host.

Bacteria contain little circles of DNA called

plasmids that can share useful genes with other bacteria to increase their odds of survival. Zeichner and his team synthesized plasmids carrying their customized genetic code. Then they had to get a little rough. “We weaken [the bacteria] and we shock them with a big electrical jolt, and that opens up pores in the bacteria, and the plasmid can get in that way,” Zeichner says.

Once inside, the plasmids built proteins that resembled the targeted parts of the virus. To move those pieces to the bacteria’s outer shell, where the immune sys-

tem could notice them, the plasmids’ instructions attached those fake virus chunks to structures called autotransporters, alongside special proteins that acted like alarm signals to draw the immune system’s attention.

Most bacteria have lots of structures on their outer shells—to help them absorb food, for instance, or cling to the walls of an animal’s gastrointestinal tract. But the bacteria Zeichner and co. used were genetically modified to be as simple as possible. That meant fewer outer-shell structures, and

more room for the immune-alerting fake virus chunks to stand out.

Zeichner’s team then killed the bacteria to render them harmless, and dosed mice with their new vaccines. And while their creation didn’t kill the virus—Zeichner says he and his researchers basically picked the wrong target—it did generate lots of antibodies that matched the team’s chosen shape. With better targets, he thinks the vaccines will help immune systems catch and kill their viral quarries. In a second preprint paper awaiting peer review, he and his team have already tweaked their approach in ways that partially neutralized HIV.

The speedy, inexpensive process let Zeichner’s team test lots of different approaches at once. (According to Zeichner, waiting to measure immune response in their lab mice took longer than actually making the vaccines.) They could also rapidly tweak and improve new designs. “We don’t have to start from scratch,” Zeichner says. “We can incorporate all the components that we found were good in that iterative process, and then just make what we think is going to be a really good vaccine.”

Experts dream of creating vaccines in 100 days. Zeichner and his team’s approach takes about three weeks. The team is currently testing their technique against other diseases like flu and malaria.

According to Zeichner, this low-cost, fastpaced vaccine development process may have more wide-ranging applications. From a faster, cheaper approach to cancer immunotherapy, cranking out customized vaccines that teach patients’ bodies how to kill their own genetically unique tumors, to vaccines for livestock, protecting them and us against bird flu and other diseases that might otherwise jump from animals to humans—the possibilities, Zeichner hopes, are endless. So far, this new approach has been tested in mice. When it might reach humans, Zeichner says, depends on a more mundane roadblock. “How long it takes to get to human trials depends on how much money we get. The money and the people are the struggle right now.”

IMMIGRATION NEWS

ICE blocks

General Assembly debates bills to thwart immigration enforcement abuses in Virginia

BY CATIE RATLIFF

Amid a nationwide reckoning with Trump-era immigration policy, the Virginia General Assembly is weighing a slate of legislation regulating immigration enforcement in the Commonwealth.

Charlottesville representatives are among those championing the legislation, including Del. Katrina Callsen and Sen. Creigh Deeds. Both legislators cite ICE detentions in the Albemarle County Courthouse last April as the impetus.

Callsen’s HB650 and its state Senate equivalent, SB351, place limitations on civil arrests in, and in transit to, courthouses. The legislation extends protections to those required to attend court, their family, and their household members. The bill further requires officers conducting any civil arrest in a courthouse to provide identification and a validated judicial warrant or order authorizing the arrest.

At press time, HB650 has been assigned to a House Public Safety subcommittee.

“These are civil arrests that are happening. There’s really no reason, no circumstances, that [ICE] needs to come and jeopardize the safety of citizens and our courthouses and our trials for that type of enforcement activity,” says Callsen. “There is precedent for protecting our court spaces. States are tasked with that obligation, and a similar law has passed in New York and has withstood judicial scrutiny.”

Callsen is optimistic about HB650, but notes that not all immigration legislation is “faring as well, because it’s actually really hard to legislate around federal law.”

SB351 is also progressing through the state Senate. After committee members altered its

language, the bill passed the Courts of Justice Committee along party lines. SB352, which restricts state and federal law enforcement wearing face masks while conducting official duties, also passed the committee along party lines. Deeds, who sits on the committee, says his Republican colleagues’ arguments against the bills aren’t anything new.

“A lot of these people, like a lot of the Republicans in Washington, are afraid of being on Donald Trump’s bad side,” says Deeds.

“The boiler plate that was regurgitated by the Republicans was not anything unique. They didn’t present any unique arguments. It’s just

the typical pro-law enforcement and ... antiimmigrant sort of nonsense.”

At press time, SB352 has been referred with amendments to the Senate Committee on Finance and Appropriations. HB7, the House equivalent, was referred to the House Public Safety Committee upon its prefiling on November 20.

Deeds is also following the status of SB783. The legislation, as originally proposed, would stop Virginia law enforcement from entering into, extending, or renewing contracts authorizing local law enforcement to conduct federal immigration enforcement operations. It underwent significant edits in the Senate Courts of Justice Committee, with a January 30 supplement heavily regulating the contracts.

“We were afraid of the pushback from localities. … We rewrote that bill to say we’re not telling you what to do, but we’re telling you you can’t enter into an agreement with ICE unless they’re going to play by our rules,” says Deeds. “We made it very unlikely that ICE is going to want to go and enter into any agreement with a Virginia locality.”

To enter into a contract under the newly rewritten bill, state law enforcement agencies would need ICE to agree to provide a list of the names and ranks of all federal agents in Virginia carrying out immigration enforcement seven days before any activity, display clear visual identification as ICE when conducting operations, and stop asking for any person’s immigration status without a valid judicial warrant.

More information on bills affecting potential ICE operations in Virginia can be found on the Virginia State Legislative Information System. C

IN BRIEF

All the news you missed last week (in one sentence or less)

Money moves

It’s a big week for money in Charlottesville, with City Council appropriating more than $1 million, and the school district’s draft budget totaling almost $130 million.

At its February 2 meeting, City Council focused on funds in the current budget rather than FY27, making two major appropriations to Piedmont Housing Alliance initiatives.

The largest allocation, $700,000, helps PHA close a $1.7 million funding gap for the development of 501 Cherry Ave. The city has previously provided funding for the mixed-use, affordable project. In order to start construction this spring, and meet its 2027 completion goal, PHA needs to close the funding gap by April.

The second appropriation, $390,000, will support a rental arrears pilot program. Per the city’s policy briefing, PHA and the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority are both experiencing financial strain amid increased rent delinquency at their properties. The funds allocated will help partially cover the delinquencies, and fund a dedicated financial literacy counselor. Looking ahead, city schools Superintendent Royal Gurley will present the proposed FY27 budget to the school board on February 5. The district’s draft budget, as detailed in the meeting agenda, comes in at $129,635,641—$4.3 million more than last year.—Catie Ratliff

Read is strict

Redistricting drama continues in the Commonwealth, with a Tazewell County judge shooting down Democrats’ push for midcycle redistricting on January 27. While state Republicans are celebrating the ruling, Virginia Democrats have appealed the decision and argued it resulted from “court-shopping designed to block Virginians from voting on their own Constitution.”—CR

Dug in Charlottesville residents slog through days of snow-piled sidewalks and semi-plowed roads in the wake of last week’s winter storm. Lucky brake Virginia State Police say traffic accidents during the storm could have been worse: 504 crashes, 38 with injuries, one death. Street food City Council votes to name the stretch of West Main near the former Mel’s Cafe after late proprietor Mel Walker. Costly repair Advance Auto Parts on Pantops heads back to the garage for necessary maintenance after accumulated snow and ice collapse its roof. Dog gone Albemarle police mourn the death of K-9 officer Bella, a bloodhound who helped sniff out more than 20 missing or endangered people during her nine years on the job. Scar wars UVA Health researchers identify the specific immune cells that cause systemic scleroderma, a rare disease where built-up scar tissue fatally hardens skin and organs, bringing new hope for a cure.

NEWS DEVELOPMENT

One way?

Final concept for Ridge/West Main intersection would convert part of Water Street BY SEAN TUBBS

Four years after turning down millions in state funding to reconfigure one of Charlottesville’s most urban intersections, the city will try again with a version that would restrict the flow of traffic on three blocks of Water Street.

“Converting Water Street to a one-way simplifies the signal timing at the West Main and Ridge [streets] intersection, improving the peak period capacity of one of the busiest bottlenecks in town,” said Ben Chambers, the city’s transportation planning manager.

In June 2022, City Council terminated its previous attempt, the West Main Streetscape project, to address this intersection. The Virginia Department of Transportation has now been working with Charlottesville on a new design where West Main Street meets Water Street, and Ridge Street meets McIntire Street. Under current conditions, vehicles can also turn east onto South Street.

The plan faces a late-summer deadline for funding through VDOT’s Smart Scale process, a primary mechanism for how localities pay for large transportation projects.

After years of VDOT rejecting plans it deemed deficient, city staff are recommending an alternative that no longer would allow vehicles heading east to travel directly onto Water Street. Instead they would turn onto South Street, which runs for three blocks before ending at the Water Street parking garage.

Water Street for a protected bicycle facility, providing safer mobility options and a more inviting entrance to downtown.”

The plan would reserve the westbound lane of those three blocks of Water Street for cyclists only. It would extend a two-way bike lane across Ridge/McIntire onto West Main to Fourth Street SW. The plan would also eliminate the slip road leading to southbound Ridge Street, and move the plaza where the Lewis, Clark, and Sacajawea statue once stood to the north.

Ryan’s hope

Council will have to approve the project in August, after which VDOT would rank it along with dozens of others from across the Commonwealth.

Under the new plan, pedestrians would be given more time to walk across each of the intersections. Chambers said there are other benefits as well: “This capacity improvement also creates additional space on

Council killed another project on Ridge Street in late 2024 to get back in VDOT’s good graces after being found deficient in actually building anything. For instance, Charlottesville won three Smart Scale awards in 2016, but did not put any of them out to bid until January 30, 2026. That project, the East High Streetscape, will extend some of the wider sidewalks and bike lanes that came with completion of the Belmont Bridge.

A group that represents business owners is concerned the move will hurt access to the Water Street Parking Garage.

“Water Street was a one-way street when the mall opened in 1976,” says Greer Achenbach, director of Friends of Charlottesville Downtown. “That proved to be problematic and was changed.”

Chambers said this change would only create a partial one-way street and would provide transportation benefits.

“The one-way of Water Street currently being proposed showed major improvements to traffic flow during the peak periods, particularly for traffic at the West Main/ Ridge intersection,” Chambers said.

VDOT is taking public comments on the alternative through February 5 via email: sandy.shackelford@vdot.virginia.gov.

Activity at all three sites where UVA will donate land for affordable housing BY SEAN TUBBS

Though Jim Ryan is no longer the president of the University of Virginia, planning work continues on three affordable housing projects called for under one of his community initiatives.

In March 2020, Ryan announced that, over the next decade, UVA would build between 1,000 and 1,500 units to help increase its housing supply. After a delay related to the COVID-19 pandemic, three locations were selected and two of the projects have progressed to the point where local officials are reviewing applications for 555 places to live.

In December, the Piedmont Housing Alliance filed for a rezoning of just over 12.7 acres on UVA-owned land off Fontaine Avenue in Albemarle County.

“This is the right location for this project and having affordable housing in this location will be a major community benefit,” reads the narrative filed with the rezoning. More than 60 units currently on the Piedmont property have been used for years to house faculty and staff. All but

two historic structures will be replaced with several buildings that total 375 units. Rent for each will be capped at a cost considered affordable for households making 60 percent of the area median income.

PHA is also seeking an exception or modification to allow structures as tall as 70 feet, one to reduce the number of required parking spaces, and to have stepback requirements removed for buildings constructed 30 feet away from Fontaine Avenue.

PHA is still working on a financing plan for the project, and construction would not begin until 2028 at the earliest. The next step in the public process will be a community meeting at a date yet to be announced.

Another project being overseen by an out-of-town group would see 180 units constructed in a six-story building at the corner of 10th and Wertland streets in Charlottesville. Preservation of Affordable Housing has requested $3 million from the city to help improve its application for low-income housing tax credits. City Council will make a decision during

the budget development process after directing staff in January to pursue negotiations with UVA.

Charlottesville’s Board of Architectural Review has twice seen a preliminary review and still must sign off on the design for 1000 Wertland St., which would be by-right under the city’s development code.

The third site occupies a portion of the UVA Foundation’s North Fork Discovery Park. The Board of Supervisors approved a rezoning in February 2024 to allow residential uses on a 172-acre parcel. Bluestone Land LLC has been hired as the development partner.

“North Fork is a very different site from the initial two properties in terms of size, scale, project phasing, and affordability mix,” reads the website of Ryan’s Council on UVA-Community Partnerships. “We anticipate market rate and workforce/middle-income housing in addition to affordable units at this site.”

The earliest that project might go to construction would be 2027, according to the website.

Very nice Townhouse in convenient River Run. New roof and gutter leaf filters. Well maintained. Easy access to town and Penn Park. Easy walking distance to the Community pool.82

$1,860,000

Game of throws

throws

BY NATHAN ALDERMAN PHOTOGRAPHY BY EZE AMOS

Local disc golfers battle Mother Nature, each other to help feed the hungry

“Most people don’t get into disc golf until

The Ice Bowl, to be honest, seems like two excellent ideas surrounded by a lot of terrible ones.

The excellent ideas: Tossing a disc into a basket for fun, and raising money for the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank while you do so.

But you’re tossing that disc out in the middle of the woods, surrounded by razor-sharp laurel bushes, poison ivy, and any number of potentially unfriendly creatures. You’re trying to steer your disc to that basket around blind curves, through thick stands of trees.

And you’ll do all this for hours, in whatever nightmare mix of winter weather—rain, sleet, snow, freezing cold—Virginia feels like inflicting on you. Possibly after eating a large bowl of chili, while uncomfortably far from a restroom.

The local disc devotees of the Blue Ridge Disc Golf Club will brave the elements on February 28, as they’ve done every year since 2004, to meet that challenge. They play for charity. For bragging rights. And, perhaps most importantly, for a little engraved piece of metal about the size of a silver dollar.

A club (but no clubs)

In disc golf, players compete to see who can hurl a flying disc into a pole-mounted basket in the fewest number of throws. Ed Headrick, who patented the modern Frisbee design in 1966, also invented

Discs Decoded

disc golf’s signature chain-fringed basket in 1975. But disc golf’s origins as a sport remain murky; Frisbee maker Wham-O started selling a professional model disc in 1964, but the Professional Disc Golf Association’s official history places the first organized instance of disc golf in 1965.

The PDGA lists more than 100,000 current members on its web site, from countries as far-flung as Belize, Ethiopia, and New Zealand. Locally, the BRDGC’s 2025 club championship on November 22 drew 42 competitors; 44 vied for glory in the 2025 Ice Bowl last February 8. The club ended 2025 with 83 members.

“The sport of disc golf had this huge influx after COVID,” says 2026 club president Kerry Finnegan. During the pandemic, it provided a relatively safe outdoor activity—and a great reason to get out of the house. Disc golf’s ranks are still growing, Finnegan says, but at a slower rate than the pandemic boom.

“Most people don’t get into disc golf until they meet someone who’s into disc golf,” Finnegan says. He took up the sport in 2008, while managing a Chili’s in Staunton, after a coworker took him out to play. In 2020, working from home with two elementary- and middleschool-aged sons, he got back into disc golf as a family activity. “We had to get out of the house,” he says. “Otherwise, two boys would kill each other.”

Finnegan’s sons took to the sport even more than he had, and all three ended up getting involved with the local club after meeting friendly members on the 9-hole course at Meadowcreek Gardens, one of four the BRDGC maintains locally.

Joys and hazards

Andrew Lamont also started early, taking up disc golf at 8 and competing in amateur leagues by the time he was 12, while also playing baseball and other sports. “I think throwing things just tends to be something I gravitate toward,” he says. A physical therapist and former musician, Lamont, now 31, won both the 2024 club championship and the 2025 Ice Bowl. Like other players, Lamont says there’s just something inherently satisfying about a well-aimed throw. “When you get to a point where you can manipulate the disc’s flight based on the characteristics of that disc, and you understand it deeply and it works the first few times, it is the greatest feeling in the entire world.”

Flying discs made for disc golf are defined by four qualities, each with its own numerical score running least to most.

Speed

(1 to 14 or 15, varies by manufacturer)

How fast the disc can effectively fly through the air. A disc can only travel as fast as you’re able to throw it. But the harder you throw, the faster a disc with a higher speed score will be able to move.

Glide (1 to 7)

How long can the disc remain aloft? The lower the glide score, the faster the disc will drop toward the ground in flight. Lower scores can come in handy when throwing downhill or making sure you don’t overshoot a target.

Turn (1 to -5)

How much the disc is likely to turn to the right at high speeds, immediately after being thrown.

Fade (0 to 5)

How much the disc is likely to turn to the left at lower speeds, toward the end of its flight.

they meet someone who’s into disc golf.”

Most of the local disc golfers interviewed head out for a round with a specially designed backpack stocked with 10 to 20 discs. Asking golfers how many discs they have at home seems to be a fraught question; multiple BRDGC members, when asked about it, reply, “Have you been talking to my wife?” Lamont estimates he’s amassed 200, many stored on a custom wooden rack in his garage.

Just like golf clubs, discs are divided into long-range drivers, midrange discs, and short-range putters. Each disc has a different purpose and characteristics, defined by numerical codes that indicate how far they’ll fly, how fast they’ll drop, and how much they’ll curve to the left or right in flight. Those factors can be crucial in helping disc golfers evade tricky obstacles to reach the basket.

When a throw goes right, “it’s a great feeling, very euphoric,” longtime club member Peter Vines says. “And you quickly forget the previous two or three trees that you hit.”

When a throw goes wrong, and you’ve marooned a disc in the underbrush? Players wear tick repellent, try to avoid hostile plants, and try to respect wildlife. “I’m always careful about where I’m stepping,” Vines says, “because you certainly don’t want a rattlesnake or a copperhead to deal with.”

Those dangers don’t dampen players’ enthusiasm, but they can exact a price. This year, “I got cut with some plant or something,” Lamont says. “I had cellulitis on my leg and had to take antibiotics for three weeks. And then I went and did some blood work because I wanted to make sure I was all right and got diagnosed with alpha-gal.”

No. 1 with a frisbee

Injuries and health problems aren’t the only potential burden disc golfers must bear. After winning the Ice Bowl last year, Lamont earned a coveted, and possibly cursed, prize: the club’s No. 1 tag.

Each year, the club issues each dues-paying member a metal tag, numbered in the order in which they finish the season-starting Ice Bowl. Throughout the year, as players challenge each other to see who can finish a course in the fewest throws, the victor swaps tags with the vanquished. The lower the number on the tag you currently hold, the higher your skills, and the more prestigious your standing in the rankings.

The No. 1 tag is made larger than all the others, about the size of a silver dollar. Players who hold it during the season will write their initials on it in permanent marker, creating a record of its changing ownership. Lamont estimated that the No. 1 tag swaps hands 10 to 15 times a season. (This year, he’s taken himself out of the running; he and his wife moved to Wilmington, North Carolina, in January.)

Players find no honor in clinging to the No. 1 tag, Kerry Finnegan says. “You want to defend it. You don’t want to hold on to it for two weeks just because you dodged everybody.”

During his reign as the league leader, Lamont says he didn’t mind if the No. 1 tag became a target. “I love putting it up against other people, because I do like seeing people beat me and then take it,” he says. “We had a guy get it for the first time, I think, ever, and he came to the next [league tournament] to defend it. And he was wearing like a track suit and he was just, like, amped. He was so hyped to just to try to fend off anybody who was trying to take it from him.”

An ice day out

That love for the game keeps players coming out, even in the worst of weather—which brings us back to the annual Ice Bowl.

The Ice Bowl began nationally in 1987 and started raising money for food banks in 1996. The club has held its local edition every February for more than two decades now, in every flavor of winter weather.

Historically, it’s only postponed the event twice—once for 2010’s “snowpocalypse,” when 20 inches of snow blocked the entrance road to Greene County Community Park, and this year, when heavy snow turned to ice and rendered courses unsafe for the original January 31 date. But unless courses are literally impassable or dangerous, club members say, it’s game on.

“[Last] year, 2025, it rained all morning,” Peter Vines recalls. “Cold drizzly rain is probably the worst conditions. Everything gets wet: Your hands are wet, your discs are wet, your towels are wet, your clothes are wet. You need a good grip to throw it hard, and when [the discs] are slippery, it can be tough.”

“We were all, I think, pretty miserable, and we didn’t have as many tents or as many canopies as we probably should have,” says club member Morgan Clark. “The course we played at was not really ready for that amount of water. It was a slip-and-slide for sure.”

“You’re freezing,” says Lamont. “If the discs are 30 degrees, you’re trying to basically throw a piece of solid ice. I believe somebody came out in shorts one year, just because they like wearing shorts. I was like, what in the world are you doing, man? I have like four layers covering me, with gloves, and two layers on my legs, with a freaking ski mask on, and a big old hat.”

Between the morning and afternoon rounds, the club traditionally holds a chili cook-off. While that can keep golfers warm and energized, it has its trade-offs. “Chili on an empty stomach, not a great thing halfway through a disc golf tournament,” Lamont says. “There’s only one bathroom on that whole course. So that turns into a problem sometimes.”

“You know the Ice Bowl motto,” Vines says. “No wimps, no whiners.”

Food for thought

Of each player’s $45 entry fee, $30 covers their annual club dues, and $15 goes to the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank. Players can boost their donation by purchasing mulligans—do-over shots. Each year, Vines says, the club contributes $750 to $1,000 to the food bank in donations and canned goods.

This year, with government aid uncertain and hunger looming larger, players say they take particular pride in helping their neighbors.

“My wife and I, we come from a religious background,” Morgan Clark says. “We were taught as we were growing up, ‘feed the hungry.’ We are struggling with that because we’re seeing that that’s not a priority of the people who taught us that sometimes.”

“Eating is a basic right that shouldn’t be a choice for families,” Kerry Finnegan says. “Politicians will battle back and forth on what’s necessary and what’s not. Down on the ground, it’s more necessary [this year].”

“We know it’s not the biggest donation they’re going to get all year, and we know it’s not going to go the furthest, but we do know that it’s something,” Clark says.

As club members head into this year’s Ice Bowl, uncertain of the elements, they’ll have that charitable thought—and a bowl or two of chili—to keep them warm.

Where to play

The Blue Ridge Disc Golf Club maintains four local courses.

Walnut Creek

4250 Walnut Creek Park, North Garden 18 holes; $5 park admission, Memorial Day through Labor Day

Meadowcreek Gardens

2030 Morton Dr. 9 holes

Greene County Community Park

512 Jeri Allen Way, Ruckersville 9 holes

Chris Greene Lake Park

4748 Chris Greene Lake Rd. 18 holes; $5 park admission, Memorial Day through Labor Day

Join the Blue Ridge Disc Golf Club

Dues are $30 a year. Visit brdgc.org/membership for more information.

COURAGE STARTS WITH YOU

Help co-create the 14th Annual Tom Tom Festival— the culmination of a year of collaboration with local artists, organizations, and visionaries. Join as staff, pitch at Crowdfunded Pitch Night, or take the stage. Apply now!

Take the Stage!

Tom Tom Festival is calling! Take the stage at events like the Downtown Mall Block Party and Porchella, and join a dynamic lineup of music, dance, and artistic performances across Charlottesville. Apply by February 13.

Pitch your idea!

The Crowdfunded Pitch Night is back! Pitch your idea and rally support from a live audience ready to fund bold visions. No idea is too small or too big. Apply by February 27.

Join the Crew!

Join the Tom Tom team as staff or a volunteer and help create an unforgettable community experience. From conference support and production assistants to venue hosts and block party volunteers, there’s a role for you.

Save on Summit Tickets with Early Bird Pricing!

Join us this April for three dynamic days of panels, keynotes, workshops, and conversations with civic leaders, visionaries, and changemakers. Together, we’ll explore the ideas shaping technology, business, society, and wellness. Save big on individual tickets or go all in with the All Access Badge before prices increase!

Flora & Fauna

Fri, Feb 6, 7:00p, Trinity Episcopal, Staunton

Sat, Feb 7, 4:00p, Emmanuel Episcopal, Greenwood/Crozet Sun, Feb 8, 4:00p, Grace Episcopal, Keswick/Cville

Preconcert talk by Mark Nowakowski 30 minutes prior

Three Notch’d Road celebrates nature drawing from Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque sources. We present a theme of animals and Palestrina, Byrd, Biber, Billings, Hildegard of Bingen, Telemann, Schütz, folksong, and the world premiere of a setting of Hopkins’ poem “As Kingfishers Catch Fire” by composer Mark Nowakowski.

UVA MUSIC EVENTS

Date/Time/Place

Friday, 02/06, 8:00pm Old Cabell Hall

Saturday, 02/14, 7:30pm Old Cabell Hall

Sunday, 02/15, 3:30pm The Paramount

Saturday, 02/21, 8:00pm Old Cabell Hall

Sunday, 02/22, 3:30pm Old Cabell Hall

Saturday, 03/14, 3:30pm Old Cabell Hall

Sunday, 03/15, 3:30pm Old Cabell Hall

Saturday, 3/21, 3:30pm Old Cabell Hall

Saturday, 3/21, 7:30pm Old Cabell Hall

Sunday, 3/22, 3:30pm MLK Performance Center

Friday, 3/27, 8:00pm Old Cabell Hall

Event (* Denotes free events)

UVA Graduate Composers Concert * with composer & percussionist Val Jeanty

Charlottesville Symphony: Romance Rachmaninoff & Tchaikovsky

Charlottesville Symphony: Romance Rachmaninoff & Tchaikovsky

Stravinsky's Petrushka * For 2 pianos and 2 percussionists

UVA CMS: Cellist Adam Carter with Jeannette Jang, Violin & Jeremy Thompson, Piano

Katherine Tang's 4th Year Recital * Two Hands, One Breath: Where Air Meets Keys

UVA CMS: I-Jen Fang, Percussion with Ayn Balija, Viola

Performance Showcase Recital * featuring L. Kim, J. Lawson, T. Ledbetter, E. Mayhood

Charlottesville Symphony All-American- Celebrating VA250

Charlottesville Symphony All-American- Celebrating VA250

Michael Angelucci Piano Recital *

Tickets online or at the door: $30, youth/students free 434.409.3424 www.tnrbaroque.org

Science, Faith, Music and the Road to Wisdom

All artists, programs and venues are subject to change. Office: 434.924.3052; music@virginia.edu; https://music.virginia.edu Box Office: 434.924.3376, artsboxoffice.virginia.edu Subscribe to our music email: music.virginia.edu/events

CULTURE

SATURDAY 2/7

FAMILY AFFAIR

An Intimate Evening with David Foster & Katharine McPhee features the illustrious composer and piano man Foster performing with the powerhouse vocalist and Broadway star McPhee in a show packed with hits and bits. The multiple award-winning husband-and-wife duo plays a repertoire of showtunes, covers, and original compositions while sharing stories and jokes between songs, providing background on how different tunes—and the couple themselves—came together. $61.50–105.75, 8pm. The Paramount Theater, 215 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. theparamount.net

CULTURE TO-DO LIST

Wednesday 2/4

music

The Wavelength. Blues, jazz, vintage rock, and original music for you mid-week music boost. Free, 6:30pm. The Whiskey Jar, 227 W. Main St., Downtown Mall. thewhiskeyjarcville.com dance

Weekly Swing Dance. Beginner-friendly swing dance lessons teach the Lindy Hop, Charleston, Balboa, and blues. No partner needed, stay for social dancing after the class. $10, 7pm. The Front Porch, 221 E. Water St. frontporchcville.com etc.

Bingo Night. Four rounds of family-friendly fun, with prizes after each round. Free, 6pm. Firefly, 1304 E. Market St. fireflycville.com

Rapture Karaoke. Hosted by Thunder Music. Free, 9pm. Rapture, 303 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. rapturerestaurant.com

Rare Book School Open House. Explore a selection of items from the world-class teaching collection, print a letterpress keepsake, participate in a bookbinding demonstration, and enjoy light snacks and refreshments. Free, 2pm. Rare Book School in UVA’s Edgar Shannon Library, 160 McCormick Rd. rarebookschool.org

Thursday 2/5 music

Berto and Vincent. A night of wild flamenco rumba and Latin guitar. Free, 7pm. The Bebedero, 225 W. Main St., Downtown Mall. thebebedero.com Brookhouse. Rock, folk, funk, and virtuosic musicianship from three VA-based groups. With Chad Page & Joel Streeter, and Leslie & the Dots. Free, 7:30pm. Dürty Nelly’s, 2200 Jefferson Park Ave. durtynellyscharlottesville.com

Joe Jordan. Independent singer-songwriter with honest, unfiltered lyrics. $25, 8pm. The Southern Café & Music Hall, 103 S. First St. thesoutherncville.com

Travis Elliott. Thoughtful takes on classic and contemporary covers and originals. Free, 10pm. Rapture, 303 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. rapturerestaurant.com

stage

Havivra. Alexandra Déglise’s musical tale follows the childhood and youth of Havivra Da Ifrile, one of two survivors of the 1902 eruption of Mount Pelée on the Caribbean Island of Martinique. Free, 7pm. Ruth Caplin Theatre, 109 Culbreth Rd. drama.virginia.edu

classes

Paint + Sip: Snow Bird Wine Glasses. Paint the supplied design on one or two wine glasses in a step-by-step format. No experience necessary, all materials included. $44, 6pm. Eastwood Farm and Winery, 2531 Scottsville Rd. blueridgebrushes.com

Pet Photo Engraving Workshop. Engrave a favorite photo of your pet onto a keychain or earrings. Materials provided, please bring three to five photos of your pet. Ages 9+. Registration Required. Free, 5:30pm. Central Library, 201 E. Market St. jmrl.org

etc.

Brewery Puzzle Hunt. An escape room meets a pub crawl. Visit the Preston Avenue breweries, crack codes, unravel riddles, and sample Charlottesville’s best brews. Players get $1 off pints at each brewery. $15, noon. Starr Hill Brewery, Dairy Market. puzzledbee.com

Music Bingo Night. Sip, sing, and win playing a version of the classic game with a song-titlematching twist. Free, 6:30pm. Hardware Hills Vineyard, 5199 W. River Rd., Scottsville. hardwarehills.com

THROUGH MONDAY 2/9

THE FOLK’S UP

The 2026 WTJU Folk Marathon continues this week with ’round-the-clock Americana and international sounds celebrating the genre. Set your dial—or online stream—to 91.1 FM for shows airing out old-time, honky-tonk, global sounds, roots music, and more, including artist-centric sets that cover the oeuvres of Brandi Carlile, John Prine, and others. The marathon also features eight live concerts open to the public in person, on air, and online, featuring sets by the Buzzard Hollow Boys, Mama Tried, Ramona & the Holy Smokes, Red and the Romantics, and Scuffletown. Free, times vary. WTJU Radio, 2244 Ivy Rd. wtju.net

National Theatre Live in HD: Hamlet Olivier Award-winner Hiran Abeysekera (Life of Pi) is Hamlet in this fearless, contemporary take on Shakespeare’s famous tragedy. $14–20, 7pm. The Paramount Theater, 215 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. theparamount.net

Vineyard Puzzle Hunt. Like an escape room but at a winery. Crack codes and unravel riddles while sampling Charlottesville’s best wine, beer, and cider. Play when you want and go at your own pace. $15, 5pm. Eastwood Farm and Winery, 2531 Scottsville Rd. puzzledbee.com

Friday 2/6

music

Cherry Red: Rolling Stones Tribute. All Stones, all the time. Free, 7pm. Pro Re Nata, 6135 Rockfish Gap Tpke., Crozet. prnbrewery.com

Chickenhead Blues Band. Charlottesville’s premier boogie-woogie, beat, rhythm and blues dance band. Free, 9pm. Holly’s Diner, 1221 E. Market St. Gasolina Reggaetón Party. Dedicated to creating a community within the reggaetón and Latin-music scene across the United States through exciting and innovative events. Ages 18+. $26, 9pm. The Jefferson Theater, 110 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. jeffersontheater.com

GootGenuG. Jazz fusion originals and covers. Free, 5:30pm. Potter’s Craft Cider, 1350 Arrowhead Valley Rd. potterscraftcider.com

Jack Stepanian with Michael & The Misdemeanors. Richmond-based singer-songwriter and guitarist merges blues and rock with lyrical storytelling. $19, 8pm. The Southern Café & Music Hall, 103 S. First St. thesoutherncville.com

Jim Richardson. Singer-songwriter performs originals and deep covers all night long. Free, 5pm. Bottle House, 608 W. Main St. bottlehouse.net

John Kelly. Singer-songwriter with more than two decades of solo acoustic performing experience. Free, 5pm. Eastwood Farm and Winery, 2531 Scottsville Rd. eastwoodfarmandwinery.com

Kurt Crandall & True Story. Music that is contemporary in its themes but old school in its sounds and attitude, with cleverly crafted originals and lesser-known gems from the pantheon of blues greats. $10, 7pm. The Batesville Market, 6624 Plank Rd., Batesville. batesvillemarket.com

Ron Gentry. Solo acoustic singer-songwriter with the perfect repertoire for vineyards and breweries. Free, 5:30pm. Hardware Hills Vineyard, 5199 W. River Rd., Scottsville. hardwarehills.com

Susie and The Pistols. Susannah Hornsby, Andrew Green, Paul Rosner, and Michael Clem bring cajuntonk sounds to the stage. Free, 6pm. Glass House Winery, 5898 Free Union Rd., Free Union. glasshousewinery.com stage

Big Blue Door: First Friday Improv. A special 90-minute performance featuring Big Head Fight, the return of middle-school trio Y3K, and the premiere of BBD’s winter group, The Vortex. $10, 7pm. McGuffey Art Center, 201 Second St NW. bigbluedoor.org Havivra. See listing for Thursday, February 5. Free, 7pm. Ruth Caplin Theatre, 109 Culbreth Rd. drama. virginia.edu

Next Stop Comedy Night. Featuring top-tier talent from across the country, delivering highenergy performances. $25, 8pm. Albemarle CiderWorks, 2545 Rural Ridge Ln., North Garden. albemarleciderworks.com words

Guardians of Wonder: Writing What We Must Not Lose. Exploring poetry, nature, and activism, a panel of acclaimed poets share work and discuss writing as engagement with the world we inhabit. Free, 6:30pm. Piedmont Virginia Community College Bolick Center, 501 College Dr. piedmontgarden.org

PAGES CULTURE

Death doula 101

Darnell Lamont Walker builds community around grief and loss

BY SARAH LAWSON

Charlottesville native Darnell

Lamont Walker is a death doula whose debut book, Never Can Say Goodbye: The Life of a Death Doula and the Art of a Peaceful End, publishes on February 10. Equal parts memoir and death primer, the book shares stories from Walker’s work and offers guidance and perspective on topics from writing your own obituary and talking to kids about dying, to exploring what grief and rituals of loss may entail. Walker recently discussed some of the inspirations for his work.

C-VILLE: Your grandmother showed you the way into this work, as you describe in the book. How do you hope it helps prepare others to take up this calling?

Darnell Lamont Walker: I hope people see that they already have everything they need to do this work. When they see me listening, witnessing, advocating, sitting quietly, asking hard questions, or just staying when it would be easier to leave, I want them to recognize those capacities in themselves. This isn’t mystical work. It’s deeply human work. My grandmother didn’t have a title, but she knew how to be present, how to love someone through fear and uncertainty, how to grieve in real time.

I hope my work helps people understand that becoming a death doula isn’t about having the perfect words or knowing exactly what to do. It’s about learning to tolerate discomfort, to slow down, to listen without trying to fix or rush the moment. … If my work prepares others for anything, I hope it prepares them to trust themselves, to show up imperfectly, and to believe that their presence, just as they are, can matter at the end of a life.

From your work supporting Black men learning to grieve to your own experiences as a Black death doula, how do you hope your book speaks to Black readers?

I hope Black readers feel seen and less alone. It’s true. So many of us are carrying grief that didn’t start with us. Grief shaped by survival, by silence, by having to keep moving even when we were breaking. In many Black spaces, death is everywhere but talking about it isn’t. We show up, we cook, we sing, we say “be strong,” and then we go home carrying what never got named. … This book is my way of telling folks they’re not strange for feeling what they feel, and they’re not weak for needing help holding it.

I’ve seen how often we’re taught to grieve alone. How often we’re taught to internalize

loss rather than process it. I want this book to offer language where there has been silence, permission where there has been shame, and community where there has been isolation. More than anything, I hope it reminds Black readers that grieving is not something we’re meant to do by ourselves. Our ancestors survived because they relied on one another, and that truth still applies. Building community before death, during loss, and long after the funeral is not optional for us. It’s necessary. If this book helps someone feel less isolated in their grief and more connected to themselves and to others, then it’s doing the work I hoped it would do.

You share stories of becoming a death doula, but you’re also a storyteller and Emmynominated children’s television writer. Where has there been overlap in those experiences?

For me, they’ve always been intertwined. Being a death doula and being a storyteller both ask the same core thing: Pay attention. … Notice what’s being said and what’s being avoided. When I’m with someone at the end of their life, I’m listening for meaning, for patterns, for what they want remembered or repaired. … Children’s writing has taught me how to speak honestly without being overwhelming, how to sit with big ideas like fear, love, and loss in ways that are gentle and clear. Death work has taught me how much people need stories to make sense of what’s happening, to feel less afraid, to know their life mattered. Both have shaped my becoming by teaching me reverence for imagination, for memory, for the fact that we’re all just trying to understand what it means to be here for a little while.

How does it feel to be bringing this book home to Charlottesville?

It feels surreal, honestly, and deeply grounding at the same time. As a kid, I used to walk through New Dominion Bookshop and read

whatever I could, knowing I couldn’t afford most of the books. I went to the Virginia Festival of the Book every chance I got… imagining what it might feel like to one day be on the other side of those conversations. I didn’t have language then for the work I’d eventually do, but I had a sense that stories mattered, that books could be portals.

Bringing this work and this book back to Charlottesville feels like a full-circle moment. This is where people fed me, hugged me, gave me pillows and washcloths when I needed them. Where I was held in ways that made it possible for me to leave and come back changed. To be able to show those people that their care mattered, that their support helped make this life and this work possible, means everything to me. … Bringing this book back here feels like an offering of gratitude, a way of telling my people they were part of this long before there was a book, and they still are.

An evening with

SongWriter

featuring Bruce Holsinger + The Golden Hours

Where: THE GUILD at Vault Virginia

When: Saturday, February 21, at 6pm

Tickets: www.theguild.social cville

In a live recording of the SongWriter podcast, bestselling author Bruce Holsinger will read a new short story about a troublesome cat, and The Golden Hours (with members of David Wax Museum) will perform a new song written in response. Dr. Jennifer McQuiston will discuss animal intelligence with host Ben Arthur and the artists, and the audience will be invited to interact.

Friday 2/6

Author Event: A.D. Carson. Carson reads from his new book, Being Dope: Hip Hop and Theory through Mixtape Memoir. An audience Q&A follows. Free, 5:30pm. New Dominion Bookshop, 404 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. ndbookshop.com

Friday Night Writes. An open mic for emerging musicians and writers to perform their unpublished music, poetry, and short stories. Free, 7pm. New Dominion Bookshop, 404 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. newdominionbookshop.com etc.

Brewery Puzzle Hunt. See listing for Thursday, February 5. $15, noon. Starr Hill Brewery, Dairy Market. puzzledbee.com

Vineyard Puzzle Hunt. See listing for Thursday, February 5. $15, 5pm. Eastwood Farm and Winery, 2531 Scottsville Rd. puzzledbee.com

Saturday 2/7

music

Bailey Hayes. An eclectic range of music from country to classic rock, pop/soul, folk, original music, and more. Free, 2pm. DuCard Vineyards, 40 Gibson Hollow Ln., Etlan. ducardvineyards.com

Beleza Trio. An evening of funkalicious samba soul with Madeline Holly-Sales on vocals and keys, Berto Sales on guitar, voice, and loops. Featuring guest Flamenco dancers. Free, 5:30pm. Potter’s Craft Cider, 1350 Arrowhead Valley Rd. potterscraftcider.com

Brian Franke. Playing a range of folk and singersongwriter music from the 1960s through today, upbeat rock covers from the classic rock era, ’90s alternative rock, mainstream pop, and some of today’s hits. Free, 2:30pm. Albemarle CiderWorks, 2545 Rural Ridge Ln., North Garden. albemarleciderworks.com Dogwood Tales x Euphoria Again. Alt-country, lo-fi, shoegaze sounds. $19, 8pm. The Southern Café & Music Hall, 103 S. First St. thesoutherncville.com Goth Takeover. In the dark we glow and dance. DJs spin and Goth bands bring spookiness galore to go with the gore. Free, 9pm. Holly’s Diner, 1221 E. Market St.

Heidi Riddell. Singer-songwriter saved by grace through faith in Jesus. Free, 12:30pm. Eastwood Farm and Winery, 2531 Scottsville Rd. eastwoodfarmandwinery.com

Josh Mayo and The House Sauce. One of Charlottesville’s finest entertainers takes on the party porch with his band. Free, 9pm. Vision BBQ & Catering, 247 Ridge McIntire Rd. visionbbqcville.com Kat & The Travelers. R&B, soul, country, big band, jazz, swing, blues, and hillbilly boogie. Free, 5pm.

Eastwood Farm and Winery, 2531 Scottsville Rd. eastwoodfarmandwinery.com

An Intimate Evening with David Foster & Katharine McPhee. One of the most illustrious composers of our time joins with a chart-topping vocal powerhouse with a multi-faceted career. $61–105, 8pm. The Paramount Theater, 215 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. theparamount.net

The Pollocks. Rockin’ sounds in an indoor, pubstyle show. $10, 7pm. The Batesville Market, 6624 Plank Rd., Batesville. batesvillemarket.com

Three Notch’d Road Baroque Baroque Ensemble. Performing “Flora and Fauna: Music in Praise of Nature,” celebrating the natural world with the premiere of a commissioned setting of Hopkins’ poem “As Kingfishers Catch Fire,” by Mark Nowakowski. $30, 4pm. Emmanuel Episcopal Church, 7599 Rockfish Gap Tpk., Greenwood. tnrbaroque.org

Yesterday’s Gone: Authentic Fleetwood Mac. An unforgettable experience that captures the essence, energy, and soul of Fleetwood Mac with meticulous attention to musical detail and a deep love for the iconic band. $15–20, 7pm. Pro Re Nata, 6135 Rockfish Gap Tpke., Crozet. prnbrewery.com

Zoso: The Ultimate Led Zeppelin Experience. Drawing liberally and meticulously from Led Zeppelin’s recorded live output to present a vivid performance picture of the classic live Zeppelin of 1970–77. $32–45, 8pm. The Jefferson Theater, 110 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. jeffersontheater.com

words

Author Event: Anna Beecher. Beecher reads from her memoir, We All Come Home Alive: A Life in Shocks. A conversation with writer Jane Alison follows. Free, 7pm. New Dominion Bookshop, 404 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. newdominionbookshop. com

New Dominion Storytime. Featuring readings from recent storybooks and the classics kids know and love. Rain or shine. All ages welcome. Free, 11am. New Dominion Bookshop, 404 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. newdominionbookshop.com

classes

Beginner Hand Sewing. An introductory course for those with little or no hand-sewing experience. Ages 15+. $20, 10am. The Scrappy Elephant, 1745 Allied St. scrappyelephant.com

Crochet a Heart. Learn how to crochet an adorable little 3D heart. Basic crochet knowledge required. Ages 25+. $25, 2pm. The Scrappy Elephant, 1745 Allied St. scrappyelephant.com

Crochet for Beginners. Learn the basics of crochet. Leave with a crochet hook and a small crocheted washcloth. Ages 12+. $25, noon. The Scrappy Elephant, 1745 Allied St. scrappyelephant.com

THURSDAY 2/5 & FRIDAY 2/6

MARTINICAN MUSINGS

Tracing the evolution of musical expression through the life of a natural disaster survivor, Alexandra Déglise’s Havivra employs history and sound to explore culture. The jazz cabaret is based on the childhood and youth of Havivra Da Ifrile, one of two survivors of the 1902 Mount Pelée eruption on the Caribbean Island of Martinique. The eponymous character travels from the French colonial capital city of Saint-Pierre through New York to New Orleans, in a story told by compositions imbued with traditional biguine rhythms that progress toward contemporary innovations in jazz and pop, accompanied by pianist Maher Beauroy. Free, 7pm. Ruth Caplin Theatre, 109 Culbreth Rd. drama.virginia.edu

TO-DO LIST CULTURE

etc.

Brewery Puzzle Hunt. See listing for Thursday, February 5. $15, 12pm. Starr Hill Brewery, Dairy Market. puzzledbee.com

Vineyard Puzzle Hunt. See listing for Thursday, February 5. $15, 5pm. Eastwood Farm and Winery, 2531 Scottsville Rd. puzzledbee.com

Sunday 2/8 music

FarAway. Brian Franke and Sara Davenport perform folk and pop-rock sounds, highlighting amazing harmonies. Free, 2pm. Glass House Winery, 5898 Free Union Rd., Free Union. glasshousewinery.com

Kathleen Parks of Twisted Pine. Famous fiddler shares new songs. $25–30, 8pm. The Front Porch , 221 E. Water St. frontporchcville.com

Second Sunday Bluegrass Jam. Musicians gather in a circle to jam and the audience sneaks a spot to watch from the perimeter. Show up with instruments if you’ve got ’em. Otherwise, just show up. Free, 2pm. The Batesville Market, 6624 Plank Rd., Batesville. batesvillemarket.com

Three Notch’d Road Baroque Ensemble. Performing “Flora and Fauna: Music in Praise of Nature,” celebrating the natural world with the premiere of a commissioned setting of Hopkins’ poem “As Kingfishers Catch Fire,” by Mark Nowakowski. $30, 4pm. Grace Episcopal Church, 5607 Gordonsville Rd., Keswick. tnrbaroque.org

Wednesday Music Club: Competition Winners’ Recital. The public is invited to a concert featuring winners from the Wednesday Music Club’s recent competition. Free, 1:30pm. The Center, 540 Belvedere Blvd. thecentercville.org words

The Importance of Dark Skies. Curious minds are invited to explore the wonders of the universe with UVA astronomer Kelsey Johnson. Free, 2pm. Central Library, 201 E. Market St. jmrl.org classes

Oil Painting for Everybody: Landscape Edition. Learn oil painting in an approachable and organized format by rendering a landscape composition. Beginner focused, but all skill levels welcome. Ages 14+. $45, 2pm. The Scrappy Elephant, 1745 Allied St. scrappyelephant.com

Watercolor Florals: A Guided Painting Experience. A relaxing and creative watercolor class where you’ll paint a beautiful vase of flowers from a predrawn design. No prior experience needed. Ages 12+. $30, 11am. The Scrappy Elephant, 1745 Allied St. scrappyelephant.com

etc.

Brewery Puzzle Hunt. See listing for Thursday, February 5. $15, noon. Starr Hill Brewery, Dairy Market. puzzledbee.com

Craft Cville Galentine’s Market. Offering many different handmade goods produced by women makers and artists. Free, noon. Eastwood Farm and Winery, 2531 Scottsville Rd. eastwoodfarmandwinery.com Galentine’s Bingo Day. Leave the guys and kids and come have some well-deserved afternoon galfun. Prizes to be won, RSVPs requested. $5, 2pm. Hardware Hills Vineyard, 5199 W. River Rd., Scottsville. hardwarehills.com

Paramount On Screen: The Princess Diaries Shy San Francisco teenager Mia Thermopolis (Anne Hathaway) is thrown for a loop when, from out of the blue, she learns the astonishing news that she’s a real-life princess. $9–11, 2pm. The Paramount Theater, 215 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. theparamount.net Vineyard Puzzle Hunt. See listing for Thursday, February 5. $15, 5pm. Eastwood Farm and Winery, 2531 Scottsville Rd. puzzledbee.com

Monday 2/9 music

Dar Williams. Williams has been writing songs and touring for over twenty-five years, drawing inspiration from her travels over four continents. Prices vary, 7:30pm. The Southern Café & Music Hall, 103 S. First St. thesoutherncville.com

words

Storytime. A magical storytime adventure where the pages come alive and imagination knows no bounds. Free with museum admission, 10:30am. Virginia Discovery Museum, 524 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. vadm.org

classes

Valentine’s Day Collage Party. Collage some Valentine cards for your friends and loved ones at this fun and relaxed event. All materials provided, including card bases and envelopes. Ages 12+. $20, 4pm. The Scrappy Elephant, 1745 Allied St. scrappyelephant.com

Tuesday 2/10

music

Open Mic Night. An opportunity to test the waters, showcase what you’ve been working on, or just play for the love of playing. Hosted by The Open Mic Music Exchange and Nicole Giordano. Free, 9:30pm. Rapture, 303 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. rapturerestaurant.com Tuesday Jazz with Jeff Massanari. A cast of great players joins the jazz guitar virtuoso. Free, 6:30pm. Rapture, 303 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. rapturerestaurant.com

words

Plot Twisters Teen Book Club. Readers ages 11–18 are invited to read a book of choice on a monthly theme or genre, then meet to discuss the books, do crafts, and eat snacks. This month: Classic sci-fi. Registration required. Free, 5pm. Central Library, 201 E. Market St. jmrl.org classes

Product Photography: Getting Ready for Craft Shows. An intro class on object photography explores the basics of capturing good photos of your work, whether it’s two- or three-dimensional. $20, 6:30pm. The Scrappy Elephant, 1745 Allied St. scrappyelephant.com

etc.

Geeks Who Drink Trivia. Good trivia, good times. Teams of two to six people compete to win prizes like gift certificates and pint glasses, plus bragging rights. Free, 7pm. Firefly, 1304 E. Market St. fireflycville.com

Solidarity Complete Fitness is a full-service strength & conditioning studio. Our goal is to improve all areas of fitness by providing thoughtful programming, a supportive community, and premium coaching. We are here to help you reach all of your health and fitness goals, no matter what they are.

CULTURE GALLERIES

February Exhibitions

City Clay 700 Harris St., Suite 104. “A Bad Case of Stripes,” wheel-thrown ceramics by Maddy Watkins. February 6–March 1. First Fridays opening reception February 6, 4–6p.

Crozet Artisan Depot 5791 Three Notch’d Rd., Crozet. “Craft Lights,” one-of-a-kind lamps made from salvaged industrial and domestic objects by Bill Craft. “The Beloved,” geometric minimalist sculpture, wall art, paintings, prints, and installations by Haroun Misk. Both shows run through

February 28. Meet the artists event February 7, 11am–1pm.

C’ville Arts Cooperative Gallery 118 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. “Heart Meets Art: A Cooperative Showcase,” a group show featuring more than 60 Virginia artists exploring themes of togetherness, cooperation, and love. February 1–28. First Fridays opening reception with select artists, 5–7pm.

The Fralin Museum of Art at UVA 155 Rugby Rd. “The World Between: Egypt and Nubia in Africa” showcases the deep cultural embeddedness of ancient Egypt in Africa, beyond merely acknowledging its geographical position on the African conti-

FRIDAY 2/6 THROUGH SATURDAY 2/28

Phaeton Gallery presents “Near and Dear: Familiar Objects and Distant Landscapes,” a two-person exhibition featuring oil paintings by Tori Cherry in the Main Loft and acrylic paintings by Brittany Fan in the 1915 Gallery. The show brings together two distinct yet complementary artistic practices—one grounded in intimate, everyday experience and the other inspired by expansive natural environments. Together, Cherry and Fan explore how meaning is shaped through memory and place. The exhibition opens with a First Fridays reception from 5–8pm, and an artist talk at 6pm. Phaeton Gallery, 114 Old Preston Ave. phaetongallery.com

GALLERIES CULTURE

nent. The exhibition demonstrates the complex interaction of different cultures in Egypt and Nubia, from prehistory through the PostMeroitic era. “Pélagie Gbaguidi: Excavation and Knowledge,” site-specific installation of paintings, drawings, archival research, and sculptural components exploring the histories and tenets of faith that connect us all, by internationally acclaimed artist Gbaguidi. Both shows run through May 31.

The Gallery at Studio IX 969 Second St. SE. “Letters to Vivian,” variable silkscreen prints archiving an ephemeral correspondence between a young couple during their courtship in the 1940s, by Jacob Chandler Perkins. February 6–March 29. First Fridays opening reception, 5–7pm.

Infinite Repeats Gallery 1740 Broadway St. “Teenbeat 603: Teenbeat Grafika Exhibition,” a collection of graphic works and Teenbeat Records ephemera collected by Mark Robinson. February 6–March 29. First Fridays opening reception February 6, 6–9pm.

IX Art Park 522 Second St. SE. “The Looking Glass,” an immersive art space featuring a whimsical enchanted forest and kaleidoscopic cave. Ongoing.

Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of UVA 400 Worrell Dr. “In the Beginning: Paintings by Senior Artists of the Spinifex Arts Project” presents the bold, dynamic work of internationally renowned artists from the Spinifex Arts Project. Through March 8. “Tjukurpa | Handle It,” sculpture and mixed media

works by Robert Fielding. Through February 15. “Ngiya Murrakupupuni amintiya Jilamara (My Country and Art),” painting, sculpture, and fiber art by Michelle Pulatuwayu Woody Minnapinni. February 28–July 26.

Jefferson School African American Heritage Center 233 Fourth St. NW. Permanent exhibition, “Pride Overcomes Prejudice,” exploring the history of peoples of African descent in Charlottesville. Ongoing.

The John P. & Stephanie F. Connaughton Gallery at the UVA McIntire School of Commerce Rouss & Robertson Halls third floor, East Lawn. “Secrets of Botanical,” acrylics and watermedia works by Matalie Deane. Through March 6.

Les Yeux du Monde 841 Wolf Trap Rd. “Lost & Found: A Correspondence Transcending Time,” paintings and mixed media works by Tony Gonnet and Cassie Guy. Through February 22. “Seeing Past and Present,” works by Lincoln Perry and David Summers. February 28–April 4. Opening reception February 28, 4–6pm.

Live Arts 123 E. Water St. “People, Places, & a Dog,” colorful and narrative photographs by Susan Albert. Through March 22. First Fridays opening reception 6–7pm.

McGuffey Art Center 201 Second St. NW.

In the Sarah B. Smith Gallery, “Interference: A Retrospective of the Paintings of J.M. Henry,” guest curated by Deborah McLeod. In the First and Second Floor Galleries, “McGuffey Associate Members Show,” di-

verse voices and visions from artists who maintain studios outside the center. Both shows run February 6–March 1. First Friday opening reception 5:30–7:30pm. “LoveFest: love + art + community,” an afternoon of creativity and connection with Valentine crafts, interactive art activities, open studios, and more. February 8, 1–4pm.

New City Arts 114 Third St. NE. In the Welcome Gallery, “Sueños Florecientes/Flowering Dreams: Portals to Self” explores concepts of intergenerational matrilineal healing through art-making and the cultivation of dreaming practices, by Karina A. Monroy. Through February 18. First Fridays extended hours, 5–7:30pm.

Phaeton Gallery 114 Old Preston Ave. “Near and Dear: Familiar Objects and Distant Landscapes,” featuring oil paintings by Tori Cherry in the Loft and acrylic paintings by Brittany Fan in the 1915 Gallery. February 6–28. First Fridays opening reception 5–8pm with artist talk at 6pm.

The PVCC Gallery V. Earl Dickinson Building, 501 College Dr. “Community Connections: Creative Pathways to Understanding,” showcasing diverse voices and perspectives with a multimedia collection of artworks made possible through the work of local organizations that offer creative access and artmaking spaces for all. Produced in collaboration with the University of Virginia Center for Health Humanities & Ethics. Through March 28.

Ruffin Gallery UVA Grounds, Ruffin Hall, 179 Culbreth Rd. “We Dream of Life,” featuring painting, monotype, collage, and textile art by iris yirei hu and Paula Wilson. Through March 20.

Second Street Gallery 115 Second St. SE. In the Main Gallery, “Mixed Bag,” paintings and papier-mâché sculptures paired with original musical compositions by Ryan Trott. In the Dové Gallery, “Everyday Illuminations,” acrylic paintings depicting luck symbols and human archetypes by Sarah Hand. Both shows run February 6–March 20. First Friday opening reception with the artists, 5–7:30pm. Family Studio Day with Ryan Trott February 14, 10am–2pm.

The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Charlottesville 717 Rugby Rd. “Buddhist Imagery,” acrylic and giclee print works by Tom Larson. Through February 28, 2026.

UVA Health University Medical Center 1215 Lee St., Main Lobby. “Figuring the Sublime,” film photography by Brett Goerl exploring the relationship between humans and dramatic natural environments. Through March 12.

Visible Records 1740 Broadway St. “Th ng / Nh (Loving / Remembering),” textiles and installation by Ph ng-Duyên H i Nguy n. Through February 21. Drop-in washing performance February 7, 11am–1pm. Drop-in sewing performance February 13, 6–8pm.

THE WINE DOWN -

WHAT’S DELISH AT LOCAL WINERIES?

53RD WINERY AND VINEYARD

A note from Winegrower and Owner, Dave Drillock

Last month, I opened with our James Suckling.com scores.  Towards the end of the January, we received the results of 6 wines we entered in the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition.  We received 3 gold medals for our 2023 Two Springs, 2023 Cab Franc Reserve and our 2024 Chardonnay and 3 silver medals for our 2023 Romulus, 2023 Albarino and our 2024 Viognier.  Overall, Virginia Wines did well in this competition and is evidence of the strides the Virginia Wine Industry is making in producing high quality wines.

Our wine of the month is our newly released 2023 Chambourcin.  Chambourcin got a bad rap early on as it was mainly used for sweet wines.  However, its reputation is turning around.  Its grown in the Mid-western and Mid Atlantic States and Australia!  Chambourcin has been  compared to Gamay Noir, Petit Sirah or Sicilian reds.  Our 2023 Chambourcin is dry styled, aged in French and American oak.  This wine has dark berry flavors with low tannins and moderate acidity. Medium bodied, it goes well with savory dishes like grilled pork chops, short ribs, tomato-based sauces or BBQ, roasted vegetables and mushrooms.  We have had lots of positive feedback.  A good way to get to know this wine better would be at our Chambourcin food and wine pairing event scheduled for March 28th.  Details will be out soon. We invite you to visit our serene, meadow-like location in rural Louisa County. We pride ourselves on being genuine and approachable, eager to share our passion for wine without any scripted lines or memorized facts, just a warm and welcome atmosphere. We are a Winery that just wants to be a Winery!  Can it get a bit warmer soon?

February events

Sunday, February 15th:  Sweetheart Sips and Small Bites Wine and Food Pairing.

Sign up now before this annual event sells out.  Your experience includes a flight of our exceptional wines and a delicious sweetheart menu curated by Food for Functions and served in flight fashion for only $48 plus tax (per person).

Go to our website for more details.

Saturday, February 21st: Wine Club Appreciation Day with specialty selected wines and more.

Live Music: Denise O’Meara with piano in the pavilion

Food Truck: CubaMex LLC Specializes in authentic Cuban and Mexican Cuisine

Saturday, February 28th: First Taste: Wine Tasting and Charcuterie  Missed last month’s experience? Sign up in February! Get a first look at what’s coming next. Taste bottled but not released, award winning wines

paired with a generous charcuterie table to savor alongside.  Ticketed event, go to website to sign up.

For more details, please check our website at www.53rdwinery.com or call us at 540-894-1536.

Cheers!

Open 7 days a week, 11 am – 5 pm 13372 Shannon Hill Rd Louisa, VA 23093 (540) 894-5474 • 53rdwinery.com

DUCARD VINEYARDS

2023 Signature Viognier- New Release!

100% estate grown Viognier with notes of apricot, pear, and honeysuckle leading to a natural salinity and lovely, bright finish. Best served slightly chilled.  2026 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition Gold Medal Winner.  We are open 7 days a week throughout the month of February with live music every weekend. Visit our website and our social media pages for the most up to date listings of our upcoming live music and events!

Valentine’s Day Brunch, Sunday February 15, 2026 11:30 am

Enjoy a lovely Valentine’s Sunday Brunch catered by Chef Mark Gresge of l’etoile Catering of Charlottesville and featuring the beautiful harp music of Vicky Lee. Each mouth-watering course will be paired with DuCard wines. The beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains serve as your scenic backdrop for this elegant date with your loved one as you celebrate. $120 per person, plus tax (includes service charge and gratuity). See menu and purchase tickets at https://insidenovatix.com/ events/valentines-day-sundaybrunch-2-15-2026 Wine Club Members discount applies; please email Beth@ducardvineyards. com directly to reserve your space! Limited seating, and advance reservations are required.

Saturdays & Sundays - Live music every Saturday in January from 2-5 pm. Come to DuCard for the afternoon with family and friends and enjoy a variety of live music (no cover). Bring a picnic or select some local fare from our lite noshing menu to pair with our award-winning wine

for a fun afternoon in our amazing mountain setting.

Open daily

Mon-Thurs. 12-5 pm Fri. 12-9 pm Sat/Sun. 12-6 pm

40 Gibson Hollow Ln Etlan, VA 22719 (540) 923-4206 www.ducardvineyards.com

EASTWOOD FARM AND WINERY

February at Eastwood

Enjoy Friday night shrimp boils and weekly live music—along with awardwinning wines, ciders and beers, and all your favorite menu items, from mulled wine to flatbreads and fondues to roasting s’mores around our fire pits.  Also enjoy a refreshing lineup of non-alcoholic beverages - from vibrant mocktails and mimosas to extensive NA beer offerings.

Upcoming at the Winery:

Low-Country Shrimp Boil | Every Friday 4-7:30PM (open 12-8PM)

Get ready for a delicious, flavorpacked Shrimp Boil Feast Friday nights this Winter! We’re bringing the best of Southern tradition right to your plate with succulent shrimp, juicy sausage, tender corn on the cob, and perfectly seasoned potatoes – all served hot and ready to enjoy in a relaxed, fun atmosphere with live music from 5-8pm on the stage in our tasting room.

Nurses/First Responders

Appreciation Day|Friday, February

6th from 6-8 PM (open 12-8PM) with Shrimp Boil and live music by John Kelly

Open to the whole community. Tons of prizes, shrimp boil and live music. Nurses and First Responders receive 2 free raffle tickets and 10% off all food and beverages.  All raffle proceeds will be donated to a crowdchosen non-profit supporting first responders.

Paint & Sip | Thursday, February 5th 6-8PM and Sunday, February 22 12-2PM

Grab a glass of wine (or your favorite drink!) and let your creativity flow in our relaxed and fun Paint & Sip classes. Whether you’re an experienced artist or a first-time painter, the talented instructors of Blue Ridge Brushes will walk you through the painting process as you create your own masterpiece. Ticketed Event - Reserve Your Spot On Our Website

Looking for ways to Enjoy Valentines Day?

White Wine Blending

Workshop|Thursday, February 12th

6-8PM (open 12-8PM)

Join us on Thursday, February 12th for a hands-on workshop where you get to be the winemaker! You’ll sit down to a table with beakers, a flask, a large vessel and our winemaking team will walk you through the steps of making a great blend. Plus, there is some friendly competition involved and one of the team’s blends will be deemed the winner!

Ticketed Event - Reserve Your Spot On Our Website

Galentines Market & Live Music | Sundays, February 8th and 15th (12-5PM)

Join us for two special Galentine’s Markets on Sunday, February 8th and 15th along with free tastings of our newly released 2025 Rosé and a great lineup of local makers from Craft Cville! We also have juice flights and cheese boards for the kids and there

will be live music from 1-4PM.

Valentine’s Eve|Friday, February 13th (open 12-8PM)

What better way to spend the evening than with a Low Country Shrimp Boil and live music by crowd-favorite, Matthew O’Donnell!

Valentine’s Day|Saturday, February 14th (open 12-8PM)

Enjoy a casual day at the Winery (chocolate fondue, anyone?) or splurge for a guided tasting of award-winning wines paired with a curated sample of chocolates and cheese.   Try your hand (or feet!) at a free swing dance lesson by Swing Cville from 5-6PM and enjoy live music with Zuzus Hot 5 from 6-8PM.  There will also be special treats and crafts for the kids.

Open Mic Reader’s Night|Thursday, February 19th and March 19th, 6:30PM (open 12-8PM)

Join us for our newest feature, Open Mic Reader’s Night, an evening celebrating the written word. Local writers will take the mic to share readings from their short stories and poetry, showcasing their creativity and unique voices in a warm, welcoming setting.

Music Bingo|Sunday, February 22nd 2-4PM (open 12-5PM)

Everyone loves singing along with their favorite songs and who doesn’t love a competitive game of Bingo? Music Bingo brings together the best of both worlds for a high energy game that is fun for everyone. Simply listen to the music, match the songs to the titles on your music bingo cards, and win great prizes!

MUSIC AT EASTWOOD!

Join us for the popular Eastwood After Dark featuring upbeat, danceable music on Saturday nights from 5-8pm (in addition to our more mellow Saturday afternoon music program).  Eastwood also hosts a range of live performances by talented local and regional musicians every Thursday and Friday night (and Sundays!).  See the Winery Calendar on our website for details.

Every Thursday (open 12-8 PM): Live Music 5-8PM

Thursday “Thank You” Community Day at Eastwood— $5 Taps (Beer & Cider)

Every Friday (open 12-8 PM): Live Music 5-8PM

Shrimp Boil 5-8PM

Every Saturday (open 12-8 PM): Live Music 12:30-3:30PM + Eastwood After Dark with Live Music 5-8PM

Every Sunday (open 12-5 PM): Live Music or Music Bingo (See the Winery Calendar on our website for details.)

Also Open Monday through Wednesday 12-5 PM

What about the kids?

Kids can share in the experience with their own juice tasting flights and cheese boards!

OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK!

Winery Hours: Sunday-Wednesday (12-5 PM); Thursday-Saturday (12-8 PM)

We look forward to welcoming you to our cozy tasting room, seven days a week. Join us for award-winning wines, beer, and cider, as well as a delicious seasonal menu by Chef Andrew Partridge that is perfect for lunch or dinner. Delight in lounging on our enclosed & heated veranda with a glass of our gold medal 2022 Meritage Reserve. Or, stay inside and enjoy live music with a seasonal toasty flatbread or our scrumptious Cast Iron Baked Brie. Escape to Virginia Wine Country, only five miles from Downtown Charlottesville. Open year-round, seven days a week. Pet friendly and large groups are welcome. Ample indoor and outdoor seating.

Rt 20 near the intersection with Avon Extended (5 mi from Downtown Mall) Charlottesville, VA 22902 (434) 264-6727

www.eastwoodfarmandwinery.com

HARDWARE HILLS VINEYARD

Riparian Rose Sparkling Wine

Give your Valentine a little something to sparkle about!  This gorgeous wine will delight with beauty, flavor and fun. Enjoy elegance and whimsy with notable complexity, dazzling color and lively flavors of bright cherry, cranberry, strawberry and blood orange.

Our social media is worth taking a look!  Check us out on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube... fun wine humor here.

EVENTS:

January 22nd - 6 - 8:30 p.m. COUNTRY MUSIC DANCE NIGHT!  Grab your boots and your dancing pals and come out to boot scoot with us.  Line dancing expert Madison Kinney will lead us through new line dance lessons from 6 - 7, then the floor is open for all to enjoy!  Must be 18 to attend and there is a $10 cover charge.  Wine and food available all evening for purchase.

February 8 – 2-4 p.m. Galentine’s Bingo Day: Ditch the guys and kids and grab the girls and come have some wine-sipping fun!  BINGO -- we all love it!  Prizes all afternoon and a few surprises.  Cover is $5 to play... ages 21+.

February 12 - 6 p.m. Paint+Sip: Candy Hearts Wine Glasses:  Join us to learn how to paint this special design in a step by step format, no experience necessary! Each ticket includes either 1 or 2 wine glasses which you’ll select upon checkout, specialty glassware paint, and all instructions. Each class is taught by a professional artist that will guide you through various techniques at a comfortable pace.

Feb. 15 -- Valentine’s Dinner -- small and exclusive.  Watch for tickets on our website and social media.

Feb. 28 -- DUELING PIANOS Dinner and Show at the Hills -- tickets are on sale NOW

Fridays - LIVE MUSIC, check out our site for each week’s lineup!

Hours - We will be open during our regular winter hours

5199 W River Rd, Scottsville, VA  434.286.4710 • www.hardwarehills.com

KESWICK VINEYARDS

Fall in Love at Keswick Vineyards This February!  Wine & Chocolate

Pairing: February 13th & 14th

Four luscious red wines, each paired with irresistible chocolates, because some love stories are meant to be tasted.

Olive Oil Tasting: February 15th

A smooth, flavorful experience that’s rich, elegant, and full of warmth, just like the season of love. Tickets sell out fast!

Live Music Every Saturday: 12 - 4 PM

Let the music set the mood while you sip and soak in the moment.

Join Virginia’s Most Rewarding Wine Club

Where every pour feels personal and every visit feels like home. Ask us how to fall in love with Keswick wine all year long!

Hours:

Monday- Sunday from 10 am – 5 pm 1575 Keswick Winery Drive Keswick, Virginia 22947 Tasting Room: (434) 244-3341 ext 105 tastingroom@keswickvineyards.com www.keswickvineyards.com

PRINCE MICHEL VINEYARDS

February is for indulgence, connection, and savoring the moments that linger—and Prince Michel Vineyard & Winery is the perfect place to do just that. Nestled in the heart of Virginia Wine Country and proudly woman-owned, Prince Michel blends tradition with a modern, welcoming atmosphere that invites you to slow down, sip deeply, and enjoy the season of love.

This month, we’re featuring our Rapidan River Chocolate Red, a smooth, velvety blend crafted for cozy winter nights and romantic celebrations. Made from 43%

Chambourcin, 18% Merlot, and 39% Cabernet Sauvignon, this irresistibly satisfying wine layers dark berry fruit with rich cocoa warmth for a truly decadent experience.

Enjoy it slightly chilled, over ice, or as a luxurious after-dinner treat—it’s the perfect companion for chocolate desserts, fireside evenings, or Valentine’s Day celebrations.

Beyond the bottle, Prince Michel offers more than just great wine. From tastings and scenic views to delicious bites and craft beer at Tap 29 Brew Pub, every visit is designed to feel special!

Fall in love with Rapidan River Chocolate Red all February long— and make this month one worth savoring.

Join us for our Valentine’s Dinner Pairing on Friday February 13th from 3 p.m. – 8 p.m

Make your Reservations Here:  https://www.exploretock.com/ princemichel/event/590181/ valentines-dinner-pairing-dance

Live Music every Friday–Sunday (lineup on our website)

Trivia every Monday, 6–7:30 p.m. Tuesday is Beer & Wings Specials Day

Happy Hour every Thursday, 3–5 p.m.

Open 7 days a week at 11 a.m.

154 Winery Lane, Leon, VA  22725 (540) 547-3707 www.princemichel.com

A Woman-Owned Business

REVALATION VINEYARDS

2023 Village Estate Reserve

Our 2023 Village Estate Reserve proves that beauty can be singular, but when joined with others, it is spectacular. Crafted from 39% Cabernet Franc, 33% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 28% Tannat, is nicely structured, with refreshing acidity from the Tannat. It has a medium intensity of aromas, including black raspberries and currants, with a subtle touch of oak. Deep ruby, with an opaque core and rim, our 2023 Village Estate Reserve lingers on your palate.

This is a wine you will thoroughly enjoy on your own and proudly serve to your friends.  A wine that can easily complement red meat dishes or your favorite hard cheeses.

February Hours: Fridays & Saturdays, noon to 6 pm; Sundays, noon to 5 pm. Mondays and Thursdays by reservation.

Now Until February 28 – Art @ The Vineyard – Revalation Vineyards is pleased to feature artist Chelsea Kirby in both of our tasting rooms until the end of February. Chelsea is an animal lover and draws inspiration from them in her work. Her preferred medium is acrylic.

February 6 – Book World Meets Wine World – starting at 6 pm, author MK England will read from their novel, Field Guide for the Formerly Villainous.

February 7 – Pop-Up @ The Vineyard – Chocolatesville will be at the Vineyard from noon to 6 pm, selling delectable Belgian-style truffles. Great gifts for that special person on Valentine’s Day.

February 15 – Français with Françoise – Practice your French conversation skills with Françoise starting at 3 pm. Feel free to bring a snack to enjoy while talking with everyone.

February 16 – President’s Day Holiday – The Vineyard is open from noon to 5 pm.

February 22 – Sip & Learn – Historic Preservation Architect Jody Lahendro joins us at 3 pm to present Preserving Black History in Rural Virginia.

February 27 – Book Club @ The Vineyard – Join us at 6 pm as we discuss The Way We Live Now by Anthony Trollope.

March 1 – Art @ The Vineyard –Chee Ricketts is featured in both tasting rooms until the end of April. Her work has been featured in solo exhibitions at This Century Gallery in Williamsburg, Blue Skies Gallery in Hampton, and the Purcell Gallery of the Louisa Arts Center.

March 6 – Book World Meets Wine World – Author Dave Hirschman joins us at 6 pm to discuss his book, The Tenacious Bloom.

March 15 – Sip & Learn – Andrea Quinn joins us at 5 pm for her presentation, Civil War Nurses.

March 27 – Book Club @ The Vineyard – Our discussion will start at 6 pm. March’s book will be decided at the January Book Club.

2710 Hebron Valley Road, Madison, VA 22727 • 540-407-1236 www.revalationvineyards.com

VIRGINIA WINE COLLECTIVE

Join us at Eastwood Farm and Winery’s new production facility and downtown tasting room every Friday night from 4-9PM forwinemaker wine flights and a delicious pairing menu created by Chef Cory Partridge. Eastwood designed the Virginia Wine Collective to include nine winemaker suites and an incubator alongside the main production area. The suites provide a space where independent winemakers can anchor a license and make their wines. The Collective has been designed to reduce the costs associated with independent winemaking, and thereby support further innovation and talent in the Monticello AVA.

Upcoming at the Collective: Winemaker Pop-Ups | Select Fridays 6-8PM

Enjoy free samples and tour the facility with some of our independent winemakers on Fridays! Check out events on our website: (https:// eastwoodfarmandwinery.com/virginiawine-collective/) and Facebook page as we will be adding more dates.

February 6: Jake Busching, Jake Busching Wines

February 20: Chris Tropeano, Present Company Wines

February 27: Erin and Sandy Robertson, Dogwood & Thistle

March 6: Jake Busching, Jake Busching Wines

Production Tours and Guided Tastings

We look forward to welcoming guests to the Virginia Wine Collective for tours and guided tastings. Please email our Wine Collective Coordinator, Gabrielle Thomas, if you would like to schedule a tour or guided tasting. She may be reached at gabrielle@ eastwoodfarmandwinery.com

Large Party Reservations

Interested in making a large party reservation for your group? Reach out to mary@eastwoodfarmandwinery. com to book.

Current Winery Hours  Fridays 4-9 PM

1585 Avon Street Extended Charlottesville, VA 22902 (434) 264-6727

https://eastwoodfarmandwinery.com/ virginia-wine-collective/

FOR FUN PUZZLES

SUDOKU

1.

21. “Before,” if before

Rogue 26. Computer file, informally

Bayer cramp relief brand 28. Margaret Mead study site

30. German state whose capital is Dresden

31. Inspector Gadget villain who grabs plush toys at an arcade?

34. Gave a creepy glance

35. Night noise

36. “___ if I never left!”

37. Square root of nove

38. Army officers, for short

41. Persist in

42. Acrobatic

45. Take a big risk

46. “I heard him exclaim, ___ he drove out of sight ...”

47. Frasier ’s surname

48. Blender button

49. Spider-Man villain reading apprehensively through social media?

52. Genre for many boy bands

53. Enlighten

54. “In all likelihood ...”

55. Greek counterpart of Ceres

DOWN

1. Comedian called “The Entertainer”

2. Illinois’s second-most populous city

3. Apprehensive (with a more common opposite starting with “in”)

4. #1 picks

5. Suffix for many sicknesses

6. OPEC’s concern

7. Source of unpasteurized milk

8. 1920s anarchist in a prominent trial

9. Late-’90s Apple products now in their 7th version

10. FundaciÛ Joan ___ (art museum in Barcelona)

11. “Newhart” establishment

12. Jumped atop

13. Spare

14. At an alarming angle

18. “___ should you!”

23. Lose it

24. Undeliverable letter, in post office slang

26. Secluded valleys

27. 1984 Olympic slalom champ Phil (and not the talk show host Bill)

By Rob Brezsny Pisces

(Feb. 19-March 20): In alchemy, solve et coagula is a Latin phrase translated as “dissolve and coagulate.” It means that transformation must begin with the process of breaking down before any building begins. You can’t skip over the dissolving phase and jump straight into creating the new structure. I mention this, dear Pisces, because I believe you’re now in the dissolving phase. It might feel destabilizing, even a bit unnerving, but I urge you to stick with it. When the moment comes to construct the beautiful new forms, you will know. But that time isn’t yet. Keep dissolving a while longer.

Aries

(March 21-April 19): I’m thrilled by your genius for initiating what others only dream about. I celebrate your holy impatience with fakery and your refusal to waste precious life-force on enterprises that have gone stale. I’m in awe of how you make fire your ally rather than your enemy, wielding it not to destroy but to forge new realities from the raw materials of possibility. Everything I just described will be in your wheelhouse during the coming weeks.

Taurus

(April 20-May 20): How do I love you? Let me count some of the ways. 1. Your patience is masterful. You understand that some treasures can’t be rushed and that many beautiful things require slow nurturing through your devoted attention. 2. You have a knack for inducing the mundane world to reveal its small miracles and spiritual secrets. 3. You practice lucid loyalty without being in bondage to the past. You honor your history even as you make room for the future. 4. You know when to cling tightly to what needs to be protected and preserved, and you know when to gracefully loosen your grip to let everything breathe. In the coming weeks, all these superpowers of yours will be especially available to you and the people you care for.

Gemini

(May 21-June 20): In carpentry, there’s a technique called “kerf bending.” It involves making a series of small cuts in wood so it can curve without breaking. The cuts weaken the material in one sense, but they make it flexible enough to create shapes that would otherwise be impossible. I suspect you’re being kerf-bent right now, Gemini. Life is making small nicks in your certainties, your plans, and your self-image. It might feel like you’re being diminished, but you’re actually being made flexible enough to bend into a new form. Don’t interpret the nicks as damage. They’re preparation for adjustments you can’t see yet. Let yourself be shaped.

Cancer

(June 21-July 22): In Irish folklore, “thin places” are situations or areas where the

FREE WILL ASTROLOGY FOR FUN

(Jan 20-Feb. 18): The coming weeks will challenge you to think with tenderness and feel with clarity. You’ll be called on to stay sharply alert even as you remain loose, kind, and at ease. Your good fortune will expand as you open your awareness wider, while also firming up the boundaries that keep mean people from bothering you. The really good news is that cosmic forces are lining up to guide you and coach you in exactly these skills. You are primed to explore intriguing paradoxes and contradictions that have valuable lessons.

material and spiritual worlds overlap. They aren’t always geographical. A thin place may be a moment: like the pre-dawn hour between sleeping and waking, or the silence after someone says “I love you” for the first time. I believe you’re living in a thin place right now, Cancer. The boundary between your inner world and outer circumstances is more porous than usual. This means your emotions may affect your environment more directly. Your intuitions will be even more accurate than usual, and your nightly dreams will provide you with practical clues. Be alert. Magic will be available if you notice it.

Leo

(July 23-Aug. 22): In traditional Korean jogakbo, scraps of fabric too small to be useful alone are stitched together into a piece that’s both functional and beautiful. Every fragment contributes to the whole. I encourage you to treat your current life this way, Leo. Don’t dismiss iffy or unfinished experiences as “wasted time.” Instead, see if you can weave all the bits and scraps together into a valuable lesson or asset. Prediction: I foresee a lovely jogakbo in your future.

Virgo

(Aug. 22-Sept. 22): The Maori people of New Zealand practice mirimiri, a form of healing that works not by fighting disease but by restoring flow. The technique involves removing blockages so life force can move freely again. I think you need the equivalent of mirimiri, Virgo. There’s a small but nontrivial obstruction in your life. The good news is that you now have the power to figure out where the flow got stuck and then

gently coax it back into motion. Let the healing begin! Here’s a good way to begin: Vow that you won’t hold yourself back from enjoying your life to the max.

Libra

(Sept. 23-Oct. 22): In the coming weeks, I encourage you to prioritize mirth, revelry, and gratification. For starters, you could invite kindred spirits to join you in pursuing experimental forms of pleasure. Have fun riffing and brainstorming about feeling good in ways you’ve never tried or even imagined before. Seek out stories from other explorers of bliss and delight who can inspire you to expand your sense of wonder. Then, with your mind as open as your heart, give yourself the freedom to enjoy as many playful adventures and evocative amusements as you dare.

Scorpio

(Oct. 23-Nov. 21): In the Inuktitut language of the Intuit people, the word ajurnarmat is translated as “it can’t be helped.” It acknowledges forces at work beyond human control. Rather than pure resignation, it reflects an attitude of accepting what can’t be changed, which helps people conserve energy and adapt creatively to challenging circumstances. So for example, when hunters encounter impossible ice conditions, ajurnarmat allows them to refrain from forcing the situation and notice what may actually be possible. I suspect you’re facing your own ajurnarmat, Scorpio. Your breakthrough will emerge as soon as you admit the truth of what’s happening and allow your perception to shift. What looks unnavigable from one angle may reveal a solu-

tion if you approach it from another direction. Practice strategic surrender.

Sagittarius

(Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Your hunger for meaning is admirable! I love it. I never want you to mute your drive to discover what’s interesting and useful. But now and then, the hot intensity of your quest can make you feel that nothing is ever enough. You get into the habit of always looking past what’s actually here and being obsessed with what you imagine should be or could be there. In the coming days, dear Sagittarius, I invite you to avoid that tendency. Rather than compulsively pursuing high adventure and vast vistas, focus on the sweet, intimate details. The wisdom you yearn for might be embedded in ordinariness.

Capricorn

(Dec. 22-Jan. 19): In architecture, a “flying buttress” is an external support system that allows a massive building like a cathedral to reach greater heights without collapsing under its own weight. Because the buttress is partly open to the air rather than solidly built against the wall from top to bottom, it appears to “fly,” which is where the name comes from. In the coming weeks, I encourage you Capricorns to acquire your own equivalent of at least one new flying buttress. Who or what could this be? A collaborator who shares the load? A new form of discipline that provides scaffolding? A truth you finally speak aloud that lets others help you? To get the process started, shed any belief you have that strength means carrying everything all by yourself.

Expanded weekly audio horoscopes and daily text message horoscopes: RealAstrology.com, (877) 873-4888

P.S. THE BIG PICTURE

Walk this way

A group of Buddhist monks from Fort Worth, Texas, headed for Richmond from Petersburg on February 1 as part of a 2,300-mile Walk for Peace, a four-month journey that began in the monks’ home state and will end in Washington, D.C. The walk, which aims to promote peace, compassion, and nonviolence, is being documented on the group’s Facebook page, Walk for Peace. “Step by step, we carry the message of peace, mindfulness, loving-kindness and compassion forward,” they posted February 1. “We are deeply grateful for the continued support and warm welcome we receive along the way.”

TIME FOR A CLICK DATE

Snap, sip, swoon.

Calling all singles for a fun, first-date adventure. Each duo starts with a portrait session with a local photographer, capturing those first-date sparks, and then heads to a nearby bar for drinks and conversation. It’s part photo shoot, part cocktail hour— and all about seeing if you…click

“Jordan

“Jordan

My name is Jordan Hague and I created Equity Saver USA in 2008 to offer a better, more affordable service to disrupt and challenge what I personally experienced to be an outdated and flawed approach to Realtor compensation at the expense of sellers and buyers.

My name is Jordan Hague and I created Equity Saver USA in 2008 to offer a better, more affordable service to disrupt and challenge what I personally experienced to be an outdated and flawed approach to Realtor compensation at the expense of sellers and buyers.

In 2024 the National Association of Realtors settled a billion dollar lawsuit related to inflated Realtor commission practices. This monumental settlement opens the door for true free market competition and innovation to thrive. I’ve successfully sold homes using a 1% model for nearly 2 decades proving the old “6% legacy” commission model is a waste of money and does nothing to help promote affordable housing. Contact me direct to arrange a no obligation meeting to learn more.

In 2024 the National Association of Realtors settled a billion dollar lawsuit related to inflated Realtor commission practices. This monumental settlement opens the door for true free market competition and innovation to thrive. I’ve successfully sold homes using a 1% model for nearly 2 decades proving the old “6% legacy” commission model is a waste of money and does nothing to help promote affordable housing. Contact me direct to arrange a no obligation meeting to learn more.

Ben

“Jordan

“Jordan

Jerry and

Sam