This Saturday, October 4, the Ryan Shelor Fund will hold its first annual Luau at the Salem Civic Center from 6 to 10 p.m. in the community room. Bands include “The Kings,” “The Elderly Brothers” and special guest Joe Yeatts. The night will feature “fine friends, heavy hors d’ouvres, and dancing.” Tickets are $30 per person and can be purchased at Blue Ridge Floors (next to Wendy’s on West Main in Salem,) by calling 520-3439, or at the door. The nonprofit organization’s purpose is “serving others with special needs.”

For more information, visit www.ryanshelorfund.org or keep reading the press release below:

“Ryan Shelor’s family and the Fund’s newly elected Board of Directors are pleased to announce the incorporation of the nonprofit Ryan Shelor Fund. The Fund will be used to carry out Ryan’s mission of expanding opportunities and enhancing the quality of life of children and young adults with physical, cognitive, and emotional challenges and their families who reside in the Roanoke Valley and surrounding areas.

Facing chronic and terminal illness in September of 2005, Ryan Shelor requested that the fund be established to assist children with special needs and used his 21st birthday as an event to launch his fund. Ryan passed away August 10, 2006 and the fund has continued to grow and make a difference in the lives of area children with special needs.

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Pumpkinfest will be held on Saturday, October 25th at the Salem Farmers Market from 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. Back again this year is Trick or Treating with the merchants!! Children can meet at the Farmers Market at and trick or treat up and down Main Street until 11 a.m.

Admission: Adults & Children, $1.00. Children are free if they are wearing a costume. Come join us for a costume contest, children’s play area, hay rides, favorite pumpkin contest followed by a silent pumpkin auction.

The event is sponsored by C.H.I.P, Q99-FM, and Salem Parks and Recreation. Come and join in the FUN!!!

For additional information call the Parks and Recreation Department at 375-3057

Cynthia Calaway sends us this photo of her granddaughters, Heather, Haley, and Isabella Moore in Narnia costumes made by the 13-year-old twins (their first attempts at sewing.) They love to act out the scenes from the movie.

If you’ve got photos of your kids, your friends, or your neighbors, a happy birthday wish, or a retirement send-off, (remember that Halloween is coming soon) send it to us at news@sosalem.com and we’ll post it, with the chance it could make it into an upcoming issue of So Salem.

Youth of Virginia Speak Out About Traffic Safety (YOVASO) coordinated a mock crash complete with stage blood from the drama department, real students and public officials, and a real message against drunk driving. Sergeant Tim Wyatt, the traffic coordinator for Roanoke County, helped set the scene for nearly the entire school–over 600 students.

“I think a lot of people were shocked by it, especially the underclassmen,” Glenvar’s YOVASO president Taylor Duncan said. “They didn’t think it would be as realistic as it was.” She played one of the drivers in a car donated by Woods Towing in Vinton. Her front seat passenger was Scott Carroll. Because his character wasn’t wearing a seatbelt, he was ejected through the front windshield onto the hood. The stage crew made it appear that he was impaled on the right wiper blade. The students were visibly moved–most through their facial expression, and a few with tears.

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James Archer of Salem has retired from the U.S. Army Reserve — at the rank of Major General. Folks in Salem may know him locally as executive Vice-President of Sales and Marketing for Blue Ridge Beverage Company, Inc.

Here’s the official release from the Army — followed by Archer’s bio:

SALEM, VA., RESIDENT ENDS 36-YEAR MILITARY CAREER
Two-Star General Leaves Mark on Transformed Army Reserve

FORT SILL, OKLA., Sept. 14, 2008— Army Maj. Gen. James E. Archer of Salem, Va., bid farewell to an institution he has served for the past 36 years. Archer retired from the U.S. Army Reserve, culminating his career as Commanding General of the 95th Division (Institutional Training), headquartered in Oklahoma City. Division Soldiers from subordinate units around the country convened for ceremonies at this Army post in southwest Oklahoma to wish their leader well. Ceremonies included a formal farewell dinner and a traditional “passing of the colors,” in which the Division flag is passed from the outgoing to the incoming commander. Archer returns to the relative leisure of civilian life, where he serves as executive vice president of his family’s wholesale beverage distribution company in Virginia.

Archer joined the Division as a one-star general in May 2001 and assumed command upon his promotion to two-star general in April 2004. Since then, Archer has led the Division through several major transformations, as the Army Reserve continues to streamline itself into a more relevant and ready force. As Archer departs, the Division is poised to assume a more focused training mission in the future, with a clear emphasis on initial entry training for new recruits.

Reflecting on his role in shaping the future of the Army Reserve, Archer observed, “’Boots on the ground’ will always be essential, and our Army will have the major role to play. Skills resident in the Army Reserve will have a disproportionate share of that role. The Citizen-Soldier increasingly has the background and perspective to participate on the world stage, while upholding the values of our institution.” Read more »

Salem grad Ross McDermott, left, and his college roommate Matt Burris are planning on traveling across the country for a year, capturing festival life with photography.

What do you get when you combine a 1969 Airstream Trailer, an old college roommate, festivals across the United States, a Dodge Ram 2500 that’s converted to run on vegetable oil, and photography?

Salem native Ross McDermott and his friend Matt Burris began traveling cross country earlier this month trying to find festivals and other community gatherings that say something about our culture.

So far, the two have been to “the world’s larges corn maze” in Springdale, Illinois, “the most popular fair in the world” in Hillsdale, Michigan, the World Mud Bowl Championships, the Key Underwood Coon Dog Memorial Day festival in rural Colbert County, Alabama, the “Glam on the Grand” Red Hat Society event in Grand Rapids, Michigan, with a machine gun shootout in Kentucky coming up soon.

After graduating from Salem High in 2000, McDermott went to Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, and earned a degree in industrial design. McDermott became really interested in photography during his senior year, and he began to turn away from the “very materialistic” attitudes that tend to be necessary for a career in his major. After college, he signed up for the Japanese Exchange and Teaching program upon graduation, and spent a year in the East.

“Observing festival life in Japan-it’s just the way that I sort of learned about the culture, [its] religious practices,” he said. “Upon returning from Japan, I was just thinking about a photo project I could do in the U.S…” McDermott has completed several freelance projects-his portfolio includes shots from Burma, Africa, India, and from all over the U.S. For his and Burris’s latest venture, they’ve got a subsidiary grant from the National Geographic Young Explorer’s Grant.

Click here to see the official American Festivals Project site.

Read more »

The City of Salem Parks and Recreation Department will be showing “E. T.” at Longwood Park on Saturday, October 18th, 2008. The movie will begin at dark. Admission is free!! The first 50 families will receive a free bag of popcorn from Frito Lay. Food will be available to purchase at the concession stand and everyone is welcome to bring chairs and a blanket. Bring the whole family and enjoy a movie under the stars!!

No rollerblades, skateboards or pets allowed on the premises. For additional information call Salem Parks and Recreation at (540) 375-3057

The Community Christmas Store is requesting your assistance in getting the following information to the families of children in your schools. Those families who qualify for Food Stamps and/or receiving free meals will qualify for our store. Our program is completely free to qualifying families. They will receive food, new clothing and new toys for their children birth through 17 years of age.The families must apply in person and bring the following:
-Picture ID with current address
-Proof of Income
-Social Security Card for all listed on application for verification
-Proof of Current Residency such as most recent utility bill, copy of lease, etc.

Dates of application:
*October 18: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Salem Library
*October 30: 1 to 6 p.m., Social Services Room 501 – StellarOne Bank Building, Salem
*November 8: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Vinton Library
*November 22: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Brambleton Center

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Judy Grubb at 389-3700 or Cindy Martin at 389-4395.

Submitted by Angie Agpar.

Our last post about the Community Christmas Store was on Sept. 22.

Alyce Haynes

Yesterday we reported that two Salem contestants in the weekend’s Miss Roanoke Valley pageants — note the plural — placed as runners up. Today we have two photos of them from the event.

Above, Alyce Haynes, a Radford University student from Salem, who placed as fourth runner-up in the Miss Roanoke Valley pageant. That’s her, at right, being interviewed during the on-stage interview.

Below, Katlyn Washenberger, a student at Glenvar High School, singing during the Miss Teen Roanoke Valley competition. She was the first runner up.

Photos by Garland Gay

We also have:

* A photo gallery from both pageants

* Photos of all the contestants

Katlyn Washenberger

Glenvar Middle School was well-represented at Sunday’s walk to raise money for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. Here’s the group outside the transportation museum in downtown Roanoke — and we also have a photo gallery.

Do you have photos from the walk to share? Or any event, for that matter, that involves people from Salem or western Roanoke County? If so, you can share at news@sosalem.com