We have a gallery of photos from the I Love Virginia Fest Concert at Elmwood Park in Roanoke on Friday, July 24. The concert included Latin music, praise bands, drama groups, and a step team, and was part of Tour Impacto, a joint ministry of La Rocca, Chuch of the Holy Spirit Student Missions and Youth with a Mission of Santiago, Chile. The Tour Impacto team spent one week in Richmond and one week in Roanoke ministering and praying, culminating in the downtown Roanoke festival.

To see the photos, which are courtesy of Mickey Mixon and Kevin Myatt, view the slideshow above or click here to see a more traditional gallery view.

The RVSPCA and Loyalton held a cookout Friday, July 31 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.  Those who came out to the lunch were asked to bring $5 for lunch will will go to the RVSPCA and a bag of cat or dog food which will be distributed to beloved pets through the LOA’s Meals on Wheels program for housebound seniors and Manna Ministries, a food pantry for the working poor.

The cook out was hosted by Loyalton of Roanoke.

These local students have been accepted by Hampden-Sydney College and will begin classes in August 2009.

• Matthew Mason Burnette – Matt, enrolling with a President’s Award, is a graduate of Cave Spring High School and is the son of Wes and Melanie Burnette of Roanoke.
• Michael Alexander Cecil – Alex, enrolling with a President’s Award, is a graduate of North Cross School and is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Cecil of Roanoke.

According to Dean of Admissions Anita Garland, “This year’s freshman class comes from the largest applicant pool in the history of the College and is among the most selective ever enrolled. The academic and extracurricular talents of these young men are outstanding. All of us at Hampden-Sydney College are looking forward to the matriculation of the Class of 2013.”

* Jon Schmidt of Southwest Roanoke County received a Bachelor of Science in Information Technology Management from Western Governors University (www.wgu.edu). The online, nonprofit university awarded nearly 900 degrees at its semi-annual commencement ceremonies held in Salt Lake City on July 11. While more than 90 graduates attended the event in person, more than
425 participated live via the Internet.

Riley Fitzgerald of the Divine Dance Center in Southwest Roanoke County shares these photos from a recent competition. (See this July 20 post for a list of the awards that Divine Dancers won.)

You can view them in the slideshow above or in this gallery format, which offers captions.

Either way, the dancers you’ll see include Katie Walters, Tony d’Alelio, Elle Copperman, Jessi Buckley, and Brittany Zeller of Southwest Roanoke County.

Safe!

Mark Brittain this week shared not one, not two, but three, but four photo galleries from the Cave Spring American Junior League all-stars’ appearance in the state tournament. We were delighted to be able to use some in our print edition — and then share the rest here online.

Those aren’t the only online extras we have this week. Here’s an easy way to find the rest:

* School board approves renovation contracts for Cave Spring Elementary and Green Valley Elementary
* Cancer Society hosts community yard sale off Electric Road on Aug. 8
* Colonial Avenue Baptist mission team takes Kentucky youths to Major League Baseball game
* More photos from Teen Mystery Night
* Link to the Money Magazine article about Cave Spring being named one of the nation’s best small towns
* Photos from last year’s Knights in Training
* More photos from Miss Virginia at The Park-Oak Grove
* More photos from Cow Appreciation Day
* More photos from First Fridays

AND IN SPORTS . . .
* Valley AFC and Cave Spring Vet award scholarships
* Photos of Virginia Thunder and Roanoke Roar basketball teams
* More photos from the city-county swim meet
* More photos of the Cave Spring American Legion baseball team

So how can you get your news and photos in SWoCo? Easy! Just share at news@swo-co.com

For more information on us — and how to advertise and reach more than 90 percent of the households in Southwest Roanoke County — see below:
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Kyle Ewoldt of the Spring Run Swim Team displays the 5 first place gold medals that he won in the 11-12 year old age bracket at the Roanoke Valley Aquatic Association’s City/County Swim Meet.

Submitted by Lisa Ewoldt

National College in Salem has named the following students fromSouthwest Roanoke County to the Dean’s List for the Spring term. Lisa Harbert, Phyllis Jester, Ieachia Morris, Tia Rosser, David Simmons, Tammi Wood.
To make the dean’s list, a student have have a minimum grade point average of 3.5 out of a possible 4.0:

The Roanoke Valley Volkswagen Club presents its 2009 car show on Saturday, August 15, at Tanglewood Mall from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. The show will include street rods, trucks, motorcycles, antique cars, race cars and tuners. A portion of the proceeds from this show will benefit the Virginia Museum of Transportation, Inc. Auto Gallery.

For more information, please visit the club website at www.rvvwc.com. There you will be able to download a car show flyer and registration form.

Submitted by David Montgomery

Photographer Garland Gay was at FloydFest and found a lot of people from Southwest Roanoke County there, as this photo gallery attests.

You can view his photos in the slideshow above or in this gallery format, which offers captions.

Do you have photos from FloydFest? Or anything else involving people or events from Southwest Roanoke County? If so, you can share at news@swo-co.com

Music writer Tad Dickens spent the weekend blogging from the festival. You can check out his reports on his cut’n'scratch music blog.