Month: August 2023

Like New Yorkers with the Empire State Building or Washingtonians with their monument, Charlottesville residents may only visit UVA when guests come to town. Fortunately, the University Guide Service offers a free, hour-long historic tour of the Lawn area daily during the academic year, providing a whole different perspective on our company town.

UGS student volunteers go through a semester-long training program to develop one tour geared to UVA applicants, and another version for visitors, tourists, and locals interested in learning more about the history of the university. 

“Everyone thinks UVA and Jefferson,” says rising third-year John Beddell, current UGS chair. “People are amazed at how much history we cover.” They are also surprised to learn that UVA’s founder and architect died after serving only one year as its president.

The guides aim to tell a complete story—not just about the Academical Village, but also about the enslaved laborers who built and worked on Grounds; UVA’s development in the context of Charlottesville’s history; and efforts over the years pushing for change at the institution. A tour focusing on UVA’s Black history is offered every Sunday afternoon. Specialty tours can also be requested—the history of women at UVA, children’s tours, or large-group tours.

But—no surprise to area residents—no tours are offered on days with home football games.

For artists and art appreciators alike, McGuffey Art Center is the place to be.

Housed in a former elementary school (the classrooms were transformed into studios, galleries, and a gift shop), the artist-run cooperative was established in 1975, and celebrates all things creative, with exhibitions, classes, workshops, camps, and more. 

“The City of Charlottesville leases this historic building to McGuffey at a discounted rate as part of its commitment to making art of all kinds—visual arts, dance, music—accessible to the public,” says McGuffey Art Center Operations Manager Bill LeSueur about the space that is home to more than 45 renting artists and 100-plus associate artists.

From individual artist spotlights to all-member shows, McGuffey’s galleries include a wide variety of work, such as L. Michelle Geiger’s “Flotsam,” which shows how discarded and recycled materials can be transformed into stunning ocean scenes, or the annual Summer Group Show that features recent work from both renting and associate members.   

“In addition to members’ work, McGuffey’s exhibition schedule makes room for other groups in our community, including area high schools and The Charlottesville Black Arts Collective,” says LeSueur.

Classes offer creatives of all ages an opportunity to expand their skills in a wide range of mediums, from ceramics and painting, to fiber arts and performance arts (to name just a few). Whether you’re trying out a potential hobby or are an experienced artist, classes like Drawing Essentials and Introduction to Machine Sewing offer adults and older teenagers an opportunity to build their skill sets.

For younger artists, a variety of courses engage participants’ imagination. While most of McGuffey’s classes are meant for children 5 years and older, Blue Ridge Music Together is a year-round gathering for children from birth to kindergarten. Five- to 12-year-olds can try their hands at sculpting, drawing, and painting, or attend one of the center’s many summer camps. 

Outside, the center paints its love for the arts with two rotating mural projects: Karina Monroy’s La Cultura Cura; Somos Medicina covers McGuffey’s north wall with vibrant butterflies and pomegranates that decorate the entryway, while the Red Shed Mural Project, showcasing the work of Laura Lee Gulledge and her students from the 2021 Street Art Camp, delights with swirling hues, neon green, and pink flora, all branching along an amorphous blob on the building’s, well, red shed.

Post-pandemic, McGuffey has continued its virtual offerings, which are available online. Check out the center’s figure drawing video or watch one of the numerous artist talks or poetry readings. Throughout the summer, the center also hosts Thursday Evening on the Lawn, which has something for everyone, with music, dancing, life drawing, open artist studios, and food trucks.

Later this year, McGuffey holds its annual Día de los Muertos celebration. “Organized by member Estela Knott in 2011 along with a number of groups in the community, this joyful holiday brings hundreds of volunteers and participants together for a day of prayer and remembrance of friends and family who have come before,” says LeSueur, who adds: “We are a community of artists dedicated to practicing our art and to passing on the creative spirit.”

Calling all bookworms. Er, more specifically, nature bookworms. In January, with the help of its Junior Naturalists, Ivy Creek Foundation added a Little Free Library to its regular offering of walking trails, wildflower gardens, and educational opportunities. Located in the parking lot of the Ivy Creek Natural Area and Historic River View Farm, the lending library includes nature education books and Charlottesville- and Albemarle-related Black history books.

If you have a budding Jackson Pollock on your hands (or just a kid who likes to make a mess, aka all kids), there’s nothing better than a place that can turn chaos into creativity. The Art Bar’s splatter room does just that. Your little one suits up in protective gear, then goes to town on a blank canvas hanging on the wall. Whether it’s abstract expressionism or total confusion is your call. Either way, a window into the room provides a peek at your tiny creative genius in progress.

Puzzle junkies, history buffs, and wannabe sleuths will all find something to challenge them in Unlocked History Escape Rooms. Check out The British Are Coming, the room that started it all, or take flight in The Raven, a more macabre challenge based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe. Oh, and don’t forget to reserve in advance.

Lily Casteen was 7 years old when her parents enrolled her in ARC
Natural History Day Camp, on the back acres of Panorama Farms in Earlysville. Now in her 20s and a wildlife conservation major at Virginia Tech, Casteen says the summers she spent at “mud camp,” first as a camper and then for seven years as a counselor, were instrumental in setting her on her current career path.

“I’m now doing exactly what I was doing there,” but on a bit larger scale, says Casteen, who’s in Alaska this summer, surveying a threatened species of ducks. “I learned so much from Kevin, and from the other people around me.”

“Kevin” is Kevin Murphy, a retired science teacher who’s been the camp’s director for 33 of its 38 years. The goal of ARC Natural History Day Camp is to “teach young people how to be observant, inquisitive, sensitive, and resourceful.” And discovery is imperative: Every day, campers explore a different habitat—pond, creek, meadow, or forest—“to see what each area has to offer.” 

One of the most important lessons, recalls Casteen, is to “leave no trace. When you turned a rock over in a stream, you had to turn it back the way it was. I still do that.”

Sponsored by the garden clubs of Albemarle, Rivanna, and Charlottesville (hence the ARC in its name), the camp runs for two weeks every June, rain or shine, because everyone knows that exploring woods and streams is even more fun when you’re soaking wet and covered in mud.

As a chef, Tucker Yoder has dedicated 20 years to feeding hungry customers.
Yoder began his restaurant career at 15 years old, working as a host, waiter, and dishwasher. After attending the New England Culinary Institute, he worked as a chef at local restaurants Oxo, Clifton Inn, Red Hen, and Back 40, before coming to his current position as executive chef at Broadcloth, where he serves up versatile dishes that highlight Virginia’s seasonal offerings. 

For Yoder, the fight to end hunger continues long after the ovens have cooled and his apron is off. Through Chefs Cycle, a fundraising endurance event, Yoder puts the pedal to the metal and helps raise money for No Kid Hungry and its mission to end childhood hunger. In May, the 2023 fundraiser culminated in a three-day, 300-mile race in Santa Rosa, California, where Yoder and other members of the culinary community pushed themselves to the limit for the cause. Yoder helped raise thousands of dollars, and it looks like the preparation for next year has begun—Yoder is already logging some major miles on his rider page.

The closing of the much-beloved Pie Chest in March left a triangle-sized hole in all of our hearts, but we’ve noticed a not-so-new kid in town taking its place: Timberlake’s, the century-old drug store on the Downtown Mall, will forever take the cake—er, pie—for its pecan, its chocolate coconut, and its Kentucky Derby. And don’t forget to wash down your slice with an old-fashioned egg cream.

For years, new brewers all said it: I brew what I like. But times have changed, and spots like SuperFly Brewing Co., which opened this summer at 943 Preston Ave., have changed with them. “The thing that excites me is drinkability,” SuperFly owner Ed Liversidge says. “But when a band writes a record, it’s hard for them to know what the hits will be. The fans decide that.”

Andre Xavier knows booze tourism. As owner of Cville Tours, he’s seen what banding together can do for co-located breweries like those on Route 151.

So when Xavier helped open Patch Brewing Co. in Gordonsville, he got together with other purveyors of fine beverages and branded their alliance Route 231. Along with Patch, the founding members included Keswick Vineyards, Castle Hill Cider, Merrie Mill Farm & Vineyard, Early Mountain Vineyards, Barboursville Vineyards, Thistlerock Mead Company, Virginia Foothills Distillery, and the yet-to-open Southwest Mountain Vineyards.

Route 231 officially launched as a branded destination last April, and Xavier says the co-promotion has been successful, with several other wineries since joining the portfolio. He says that, in addition to bringing folks to one place for multiple tipples, Route 231 is about collaborating on best practices, sharing lessons learned and resources, and finding ways to give back to the community.

“What separates us is the diversity of our offerings, but also the commitment of our members to being stewards of the land and embracing agri-tourism,” Xavier says. “Alcohol obviously is the main thing, but the food, the culture, the way of life—those are all critical.”