Faith Wesleyan Chapel’s annual Spring Rummage Sale will be held Saturday, May 5, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Faith Wesleyan Community Center (the former Ft. Lewis Lions Club building) at 4379 Alleghany Drive, Salem. Turn right at Northwest Hardware.

There will be lots of secondhand and new items for sale, plus breakfast biscuits, hot dogs, coffee and drinks for sale. Proceeds go to support missions projects.

– Submitted by Linda Shelor

Music writer Tad Dickens has the May line-up of music acts at Awful Arthur’s in Salem in this post on his cut’n'scratch music blog.

ITT Technical Institute’s Salem campus will begin educating nurses in June through its Breckinridge School of Nursing and Health Sciences.

The Virginia Board of Nursing provisionally approved the private college’s new two-year, associate degree in nursing program in January, said Paula Saxby, deputy executive director for the Virginia Board of Nursing.

To read more by Roanoke Times health reporter Sarah Bruyn Jones, click here.

Anatomy for Humanity did their 12th house Saturday, April 28 on Chamberlain Lane in Salem. Around 50 anatomy students painted, cleared brush, landscaped flowers and ate on a mixed weather day. Donations were from Sherwin Williams, Pine Ridge Nursery, Mac & Bobs, Cook Siding and River Side Nursery.

Submitted by Chris Tucker

You can read the story and see more photos from Sunday’s Roanoke Times here.

Photo courtesy Roanoke College

“The Dirty Dozen” are headed to the NCAA tournament.

The Roanoke College softball team, which has just 12 players, cruised past Bridgewater 7-2 on Sunday to win the ODAC tournament at the Moyer Sports Complex in Salem.

The second-seeded Maroons claimed an automatic berth to the NCAA Division III playoffs. It will be Roanoke’s first NCAA appearance in six years.

“We started [the season] off with only 12 players and I think everyone kind of counted us out in the ODAC just because there was only 12 of us. But we’re a spunky little 12,” said catcher Felice Lowery, one of the team’s two seniors. “I’ve never played for a team that has just picked up each other the way this one does.

To read the rest of the story from today’s Roanoke Times by Mark Berman, click here.

The 21st annual Roanoke Valley Spring Gem, Mineral and Jewelry Show (open to the public) will be held May 25-27 at the Salem Civic Center. The event will be 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday.

The event will feature jewelry makers, goldsmiths and silversmiths from all over the United States who can reconstruct, repair, design or make original jewelry from customer-selected gems, stones, opals and crystals. Gem trees, wire sculpture, wire wrap, pearls, stone beads, stone setting, amber, opal, mineral, rough and fossil dealers will be included. Dealers from Brazil, China, India and Russia will have items and stones unique to their part of the world at our show.

There will be hourly door prizes, including a gold ring with a precious stone as a Grand Door Prize. You do not have to be present to win the Grand Prize. This show is fun for the whole family. Bring the kids. There will be a gift of tumbled stones for the kids.

Admission is $4, and your ticket is good for all three days. Children under age 16 are free. Parking is free.

– Submitted by Van Wimmer, show director

Sponsored by the City of Salem Parks and Recreation Department, hundreds try their hand at landing trout at the 61st Annual Ernest “Pig” Robertson Fishing Rodeo, April 28 at Lake Spring Park. The lake was stocked with about 4,400 pounds of fish.

This day was for 3- to 8-year-olds. Next Saturday, May 5, the rodeo is open to ages 9 to 12; see the previous post with details.

To see the photos by Hank Ebert, see the slideshow above, or see them in a gallery with captions here. Send your own photos from the fishing rodeo to news@so.salem.com.

The rain held off just long enough for the ceremony at the Glenvar Youth Boosters’ grand opening. We’ve got a few photos from the ceremony and many of folks who braved the chilly weather to watch the warm-ups of the first few games scheduled after.

Photos by Miranda Beck

If you have photos to share from rec league or varsity, JV, or middle school sports, you can email them to news@sosalem.com or use our handy “SHARE” tool to upload 10 at a time.

Here’s another set of photos from the ALMS vs. GMS girls soccer match Wednesday, April 25 by So Salem community journalist Miranda Beck.

Todd Clingenpeel shared some photos, too. Here’s a link to his.

The Roanoke Times has more on the story here.