Culture

More than a dozen acts, all age 25 or younger, will take the stage Thursday night in Roanoke to play gospel, bluegrass and jazz.

Legislation has been reintroduced that would protect a large patch of rugged western Virginia mountains from timber harvesting or development.

The Blue Ridge Folklife Festival launched at Ferrum College in 1973. Fifty years later, it draws thousands of attendees from across the region and beyond.

The largest of the Tazewell County family’s pumpkins weighed in at 1,048 pounds.

The theater, which opened in 1917, received $500,000 in state funding that will be used to upgrade the sound system, the stage lighting and the bathrooms, among other projects.

The celebration of bluegrass music features a number of big-name bands and runs Wednesday through Saturday.

The Roanoke native is considered the “mother of modern medicine” because cells harvested from her body after her death in 1951 have been essential to major medical breakthroughs.

Thanks to the support they got at the Madison House of the Arts, three local bands opened for Everclear during a recent show in Lynchburg.

Health officials have put out a call for Martinsville-Henry County residents to get involved in finding solutions to the region’s health challenges.

Cities and college campuses across the region have been certified as “bee-friendly.” Their efforts include reducing the use of pesticides, allowing native species to thrive, and educating residents and students about how best to help pollinators.