Pumpkin Carving Contest at Carver Recreation Center a Success
Over sixty people attended Carver Recreation Center’s first pumpkin carving contest last Friday, October 25. Participants helped twenty pumpkins transform into cats, ghosts, and monsters at the event.
“We had some very creative designs. Our winner in the family category was a pumpkin that got a little “sick” and had pumpkin guts and seeds coming out of his mouth,” said Dan Carpenter, Carver Recreation Center Manager. The winning pumpkin belonged to Kirsten Seay, Olivia Bryan, and Eli Seay. “The kids really got into it and showed a lot of pride in their pumpkins. A few participants gave their carved pumpkins a hug goodbye on Friday evening,” Carpenter added.
All pumpkins were voted on the next day at the Downtown Safe Halloween event, with over 1700 people voting. In addition to the family category winners, Rachel Mayo won in the adult category and Jasmine Gomez one in the youth category.
Carpenter was pleased with the event’s success. “Next year, we will probably add pumpkin bowling,” he said, adding that he plans on making the event a tradition. “Our name is Carver after all.”
The African American Heritage Center Celebrates First Friday with Poet Kendra Hamilton
The Jefferson School’s African American Heritage Center will kick off its second Watering Hole, a First Friday event co-sponsored by the Young Black Professional Network tonight (Friday, Nov 1) from 6 to 8 pm. The event will feature performances by Kendra Hamilton, local poet, scholar, and educator and musician Jamal Millner from 6 to 7 pm. Hamilton will read selections from her book of poetry, Goddess of Gumbo.
Guests can also view the temporary exhibit “Selections from Corapeake,” photographs by Kendall Messick on display through December 22. Messick’s work focuses on Corapeake, North Carolina, and explores issues of memory and forgetting in a small town that has changed little since its founding in the 18th century. Jefferson School African American Heritage Center Executive Director Andrea Douglas highlighted the synergy between Messick’s photographs and Hamilton’s poetry. “Like the exhibition, these poems are celebrations of a beloved place,” Douglas said.
Common Ground Hosts Jin Shin Jyutsu: Acupressure Techniques Workshop Saturday
Common Ground Healing Arts will host a workshop this Saturday on using Jin Shin Jyutsu®, a gentle form of acupressure, to promote stress relief and self-empowerment. With Jin Shin Jyutsu, students learn to place their fingertips on their own body to clear energetic pathways and bring healing, relief from fatigue and pain, and help with other conditions. In this workshop students will not only gain insight into the background and origins of Jin Shin Jyutsu, but they will also experience putting hands on themselves for stress relief and maintaining balance.
Additionally, participants will learn hands-on, self-care protocols, including some remedies for common ailments like headaches, stomach aches, itching from bug bites, sore throats and more. Parents are particularly encouraged to come to ready themselves with some handy tips for themselves and their families. The workshop is from 1:30 to 3:30pm, costs $25.00, and participants can register here. Funds raised from every full-paying client enable Common Ground to make the healing arts available to all.
Jefferson School City Center is a voice of the nine nonprofits located at Charlottesville’s intergenerational community center, the restored Jefferson School. We are a legacy preserved . . . a soul reborn . . . in the heart of Cville!
