Cave Spring High School contributed sweet creations to the Gingerbread Festival coming up this weekend. Enjoy photos of their handiwork, above, and read more below about the details about the festival:
The Salem-Roanoke County Chamber of Commerce Foundation (a 501(c) 3 organization) will host the Gingerbread Festival Saturday, December 5th at Longwood Park in Salem. The event will be held from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Arts and craft vendors will be on hand, along with a variety of food vendors and live entertainment on stage. There will be an arts and craft activity for children to participate in. A nice cozy fire for marshmallow roasting will keep everyone warm. Gingerbread houses will be on display inside the carriage house during the event and festival goers are encouraged to vote for their favorites, which will determine the Best in Show winner. The houses on display will also be on silent auction, which will determine category winners, and will be awarded to the highest bidders.
The event is hosted by the Salem-Roanoke County Chamber of Commerce Foundation with members of the Chamber bringing a holiday kickoff event to the community.
For more information visit www.s-rcchamber.org or call 540-387-0267
Text submitted by the Salem Roanoke County Chamber of Commerce; photos by Miranda Adkins
Hidden Valley’s girls cross country team placed third in the Southeast Regionals in Cary, N.C. over the weekend — and earned a big trip to the Nike Cross Nationals next Saturday in Portland, Oregon.
Jeff Cutright shares these photos of the team in Cary. You can view his photos in the slideshow above or in this gallery format.
Do you have photos involving teams or players from Southwest Roanoke County? If so, you can share at news@swo-co.com.
Before Christmas music is even being played on the radio, Wayne Riley, of Southwest Roanoke County is inside and outside of his home setting up thousands (three to five thousand, he says) of holiday lights. That’s right, if you’ve driven down Green Meadows Road, you’ve probably seen him hard at work.
Riley, who has lived in the Roanoke area all his life, begins his journey at the end of September and doesn’t complete the outside for about two weeks. This year he finished the outside in mid-October and finished inside around Halloween.
“It’s a process to get everything done,” he said. “It can take anywhere from two to three weeks, to a month just getting things ready inside and out.”
And he’s not completely satisfied until the gingerbread house goes in (the last piece to be installed), which also happens to take several people just to build.
Seeing the visual work is the easy part, but the hard part is realizing just how much work goes into his hobby. Riley said that he starts checking all of his lights as early as spring, just to make sure they work. And of course, if they don’t they have to be replaced. But Riley never gets discouraged.
“I don’t let it get to me,” Riley said. “I get out there and I start early. I make a lot of trips to the Home Depot.”
When Riley and his wife, Karen, first moved into their house about 9 years ago, Riley was able to start his dream of decorating for the holidays.
“I had always wanted to decorate outside. Mom and dad growing up, always decorated in and out. It’s something I wanted to start doing and it’s grown over the years. I enjoy watching the cars come by to take photos and see the lights. I enjoy the people coming to see and the neighbors walk by.”
“I started with just a few things,” he said. “And each year I add something new. This year I added more to it. I added four LED animated cars of a train.”
And as his decorations grew, he also had to get four more electrical outlets installed and he’s been doing it for so long that most of his pieces are rare and can no longer be bought. His outdoor decorations also include a three piece nativity set with angels, the gingerbread house, candy canes that light up, carolers, a helicopter, toy soldier, and even decorated Christmas trees.
Inside of his home, Riley has a collection of Christmas Trees, on upstairs and one downstairs, as well as a lighted tree in the shape of a cross, a fiber-optic angel which is about three feet tall, nativity scenes, and villages of every make and model, style and collection.
Riley buys almost all of his decorations off the internet from Christmas Done Bright in Springfield, Tenn.
If you haven’t gotten out to view any Christmas lights yet, now is your chance. Riley welcomes everyone to drive by and see his handy work. His lights are lit from about 5:30 to 9 p.m. seven nights a week (weather permitting). Riley says he will leave them up until New Years. He lives at 5631 Green Meadows Road (Castle Rock area).
Of course, if you miss them this year, don’t fret. Riley says, “As long as I’m physically able, I’m going to keep on doing.”
On Sunday, Dec. 6 from 7 to 8 p.m., Cave Spring United Methodist Church, a Moravian Church, will hold their 35th annual Love Feast.
The Moravian Love feast began in the 1700s in Germany when the Moravian Church was rediscovered. It was originally adopted at the church as a way of sharing the Christmas Season. Hot chocolate and Moravian buns were prepared at the church and every two parishioners shared a bun as a symbol of sharing the season. This tradition has evolved and now every congregation member receives their own bun, symbolic of CSUMC sharing the beginning of this holy time with the community.
“While everyone is singing, buns carried in baskets and mugs filled with hot cocoa carried on trays are presented by servers to the congregation and guests. After all are served, everyone partakes in this delightful treat to the accompaniment of our chancel choir and instrumental music,” Michaela Pace-Wilson,Lovefeast Coordinator said.
“The Lovefeast is a wonderful time to come together for an hour or two, leave the holiday frenzy behind and celebrate the true meaning of Christmas with family and friends,” Pace-Wilson said.
After everyone has finished, mugs are collected and beeswax candles will be distributed for the candlelight service. Highlight to the service is ”O Holy Night”, song by soloist, Danny Horsley.
The special music for the evening will be under the direction of Mark Milberger, Director of Music and Ronn Lowe, Organist and the Roanoke Chamber Brass.
Servers include 21 couples who are members of Cave Spring United Methodist Church. Dress is simple and reverent: black pants or skirt, white blouse or shirt, no jewelry. Dress for congregation and visitors is casual. Come casual! Nursery provided.
The love feast service is described in the dictionary as “a service dedicated to Christian love” which “seeks to strengthen the bonds and the spirit of harmony, goodwill, and congeniality, as well as to forgive past disputes and instead love one another.”
Cave Spring UMC’s love feast takes the help of the entire church congregation.
The church youth group, which consists of about 50 youth, spends many months collecting used milk jugs for their luminaries which are filled with sand with a beeswax candle inside. They also lite the guests candles and make the hot chocolate for the service.
The youth group plays a big role in the service. They will place 800 luminaries throughout the sanctuary prior to the service and light them and every single person’s candle. They are also responsible to make sure the luminaries stay lit.
The service which lasts about an hour is a huge hit within the community and includes about 550 guests. Open to the public members of the church and the community attend each year.
A nursery is available during the service and community members who would like to attend are asked to carpool to save space in the parking lot. Dress is casual.
“We extend a warm invitation to our Cave Spring neighbors to come and join us for this annual celebration. It is our gift to the community,” Pastor Ronnie Morris said.
During his first time hunting, ten year old Mason Goad shot a coyote with a 30-06 rifle in Eagle Rock. He was hunting with his stepdad, Jason Cole Nov. 25.
Beginning THIS FRIDAY, December 4th, at Church of the Holy Spirit is sponsoring a Christian Recovery. It is open to anyone and everyone who wants to overcome a ‘Hurt, Hangup or Habit.” The program is at 6 p.m.
The location is 6011 Merriman Road, 24018 and do not be afraid, there will be some people in recovery waiting to warmly greet you.
Celebrate Recovery (CR) is a dynamic, Christ-centered 12-step program. CR clearly acknowledges Christ Jesus as the one and only “Higher Power”, and also uses the 8 Principles, which are based on the Beatitudes in Chapter 5 of the book of Matthew.
CR is a nationally recognized program for those who are looking for help with problems like substance abuse and co-dependency, but its focus is ministering to those of us who struggle with any of life’s hurts, hangups and habits. The program was founded in 1991 by John Baker and Pastor Rick Warren at Saddleback Church in California. More information about CR is available at www.celebraterecovery.com. For further information about CHS’s CR program, please call Deb at 529-0970, or David at 521-5323.
Nathan King was one of 4 winners of the Virginia Screenwriting Competition for 2009. The winners were announced Nov. 7 at the VA film Festival in Charlottesville. The annual competition is open to all Virginia residents and presented by the Virginia Film Office, awards a cash prize to each winner. Over 100 screenplays were entered. Nathan won with his script “Best”. It is 1973, the world is at a turning point, and 18 year old Mason experiences his last summer of boyhood. Every screenplay receives a written critique from a 1st panel of judges and the screenplays selected as finalists are judged by industry professionals actively producing feature films.
Nathan King is a cinema Junior attending Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. He has had other scripts chosen for production within the school and had a slide selected in “SlideSlam” at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. Nathan is the son of Cindy and Gordon King of Southwest Roanoke County.
Freshman guard Monica Boatwright of the University of Alabama in Huntsville was named Gulf South Conference East Division Player of the Week on Nov. 24.
In two games last week, the Cave Spring High graduate averaged 19.5 points and four assists per contest. She scored a season-high 24 points and had six assist in the Lady Chargers’ 88-66 win over West Division rival Henderson State.
Everyone’s in for a special treat this holiday season, courtesy of Showtimers Community Theatre. Their newest production is Miracle on 34th Street, just in time for Christmas. Production times began on Dec. 2 and will continue through Dec. 14.
This play is by Will Severin, Patricia Di Benedetto Snyder and John Vreeke, and is much life the movie versions where Kris Kringle serves as Santa Claus and enchants those around him so much he is considered dangerous by his employees.
Allen Thompson is directing Miracle on 34th Street at Showtimers and has directed about five or six other plays at Showtimers and Little town Players in Bedford.
His experience acting and stage management has led him to many successful plays as director.
Thompson said he originally became interested in Showtimers because of a friend of his.
“It just went from there. I enjoy working with all the people. The people are a lot of fun and all of my friends are in theater,” he said. “My favorite part about it is starting with rehearsal and seeing how it comes out at the end and having people are enjoying it.”
“To me, Miracle on 34th Street, is one of the Christmas classic stories.”
Miracle on 34th Street will include 28 actors and about 7 back stage workers. And sifting through all the auditions wasn’t exactly easy, Thompson said. About 60 people showed up to audition for a part in the play back in October.
“We actually did two days of auditions,” Thompson said. “I was able to cast a lot of people who hadn’t done many shows. The biggest challeneges with this show is the set. The show is very scene intensive.”
Some of the main actors included, Cathleen Turner who plays Susan (the little girl), Heather Sexton, who plays Susan’s mother, Doris, Scott Blankenship, who palsy Fred, Doris’ boyfriend, and Adrian Cronauer who plays Kris Kringle (Santa).
“I am really excited about it. For me it’s just that Christmas classic story and watching people go from not believing in something and then believing in something- that is the great part.”
Miracle on 34th Street will be in production Dec. 2 through the 14 every Wednesday through Saturday nights at 8 and Sunday afternoons at 2. Showtimers has also added a Saturday Matinee on Dec. 5 at 2 p.m.
To order tickets, call our box office at (540) 774-2660 or (877) 336-9294, toll-free. You may also email your requests to boxoffice@showtimers.org.
Tickets are also available online. Click the link below, type in ‘Showtimers’ as the search word, and select the show and date. Please note that there is a $1.50 charge added to each ticket when ordered online. This fee does not apply to tickets purchased directly through our box office, whether by cash, check or credit card.
How do you get a teenager to learn the joy of sharing? For two Hidden Valley teens and their friends it has been the personal act of looking into the face of need and meeting it. For the fourth year in a row, Hidden Valley High School juniors Kaitlyn Noe and Delaney McGuirt, friends and classmates since kindergarten, will co-host their “Season to Share” Christmas party in one of their Southwest County homes in December. This holiday tradition began when two moms sought a way to teach their children the Christmas less that it is far better to give than to receive.
For years they had stuffed shoeboxes, put dollars in littler red pots outside grocery stores and sung Christmas carols at nursing homes. Wonderful holiday things that every child, especially those blessed with a good life, should learn to do for others. We just felt that as our girls became teenagers they could leran to do more. Always the giving had been to a faceless person whose need was a remote thing, foreign to their way of life. We needed some way for them to actually see the children they would help. As their mothers, we had only a small inkling of the change we were about to inspire.
Kaitlyn and Delaney’s first “Season to Share” project was to go shopping for young Somalian refugees housed in the Roanoke Valley. They gathered fourteen of their friends to join in the same task. Then on a Sunday afternoon in December they came together in the spirit of the season to share in friendship as they wrapped their purchases. Sixteen young girls were then transported to the housing project where these need children lived. As each girl knocked on a door and delivered a wrapped Christmas present, along with candy canes and needed items such as toothbrushes and school supplies, we watched the change begin to happen. The surprised joy on a young child’s face became mirrored in their own. As they looked around they also go a profound sens of the reality of need. By the time the last gift had been presented we knew something special had occurred. They were hooked! Yes Virginia, teenagers do have a heart, we watched it grown in size that day!
“Seeing the children’s faces and how excited they were made me feel rejuvenated and like a kid again myself. And giving to those less fortunate should be what Christmas is about anyway,” Kaitlyn said.
Since that first experience our daughters have looked forward to this event each year, planning it and gathering even more of their friends in an effort to try and blanket a small portion of the need here at home in the Valley. This year over twenty Hidden Valley students will participate in “A Season to Share”. They will shop not only for toys but clothing and other needed items. Because hunger is on the rise, Delaney and Kaitlyn have also decided to seek out donations of food to provide a Christmas dinner for the families of these children.
“God blesses us with so much, it’s all that we can do to share His gifts with others. That’s what Christmsa is turly about and it is the goal of ‘A Season to Share’. Instead of friends coming together to exchange gifts, we are giving to those less fortunate. It leaves me with an intense feeling of satisfaction to know that I made another child’s Christmas,” Delaney McGuirt said.
So have they learned about the joy of sharing? The answer is a resounding yes! With eagerness and a sense of purpsose, these girls and their friends will make that Chrimsta journey onece agian. By seeing this as a figt that we as aprents can give to them, we have found a personal way to teach that lesson. In a world of cell phones, intenet connections and byusy teenage lives, they now understand that in the act of sharing with others, tru joy can be found!
Elizabeth Jones is the community journalist for SWoCo and can be reached at 981-3191. You can share your news and photos through the “Share” button below or at news@swo-co.com.
