Ed Walker, far right, stands with his team at the newest CityWorks site - the Ice House, along the Roanoke River in Wasena. From left: Nathan Vaught, Cooper Youell, Scott Boswell, George Stanley (kneeling), and Danny George.

He just looks too young to be the leading developer in downtown Roanoke. That big-haired, boyish-looking guy in shirtsleeves is the man behind some 17 projects resulting in 575,000 square feet of refurbished space?

Yes, Ed Walker is that guy. The wave of his real estate redevelopments has transformed blight, disrepair and shabbiness from Jefferson Street to the West End, from Campbell Avenue to the heart of Grandin Village.

He’s an ex-lawyer who successfully combines the gift of gab, a nose for marketable nostalgia and a knack for turning neglected structures into profit centers. He has won a following of bankers and goverment lenders at the Virginia Housing Development Authority to the tune of about $85 million in financing since 2002. Those first 17 projects, including apartments and condominiums, now house about 350 residents, and have scored profits boasting double-digit margins.

And for perspective on that total of 575,000 square feet of re-done residential and commercial space: That’s an area more than twice as big as the interior of Roanoke’s tallest building, the 21-floor Wells Fargo Tower.

What’s more, Walker’s real estate makeover momentum has continued during a time of sustained economic downturn nationally and while commercial property vacancies in downtown Roanoke have increased. Does all this mean Walker is some sort of magic-fingered E.T. figure? Consider:

• The 108 units of his Cotton Mill apartments, crafted out of the long-deserted Virginia Mills Building at the heretofore lonesome western end of downtown, are all filled, at rental rates that are typically more than $900 a month.
• The moribund Patrick Henry Hotel has been reborn under his hand, with a base of 50 guaranteed-rented apartments from the Jefferson College of Health Sciences providing a strong launch toward filling all 134 units.
• The 15 luxury condominiums on the upper floors of the Colonial American National Bank Building, which Walker purchased for $1.4 million in 2004, have sold for prices such as the $999,887 that retired banker Warner Dalhouse paid for his.

Those and other commercial successes are only part of the high-profile Roanoke presence for the 44-year-old Walker. Along with his commercial career, Walker has established an endearing altruistic track record. For example, he played a leadership role in salvaging the Grandin Theatre as general counsel and president of the foundation that raised funds to reopen the movie house in 2002.

Further, he founded the nonprofit Downtown Music Lab in 1999, which provides an after-school haven for teens to play and record music. And Walker bought a small lot on Memorial Avenue near Grandin Village that he turned into a public playground, called Tarpley Park. He has recently purchased another plot across the street that may become a second park.

Ed Walker chats with Patrick Henry Hotel GM Michelle Rose, who characterizes him as “a gentleman who doesn’t have to take credit for everything.”

What’s his secret? No, he didn’t arrive in a spaceship with abilities to heal. Yet one of his major attributes is a bit E.T.-like: personal warmth. It’s on display at the renovated 1925 vintage Patrick Henry, a downtown landmark which Walker reopened as an upscale apartment complex earlier this year, after it had endured eyesore status and been closed since 2007. He installed a large wall plaque in the lobby that cites the inspiration, energies and support of everyone from Valley Bank to plumbers to his wife, Katherine.

The monument speaks volumes about who Ed Walker is:

“This project is dedicated to those who built the Patrick Henry, who cared for it across the decades, who loved and used it through good times and bad; and to the hundreds of diverse professionals who labored on site and in their offices to bring the Patrick Henry back to life in 2011.”

Danny George, a supervisor on Walker’s construction contracting crew, says of the recognition, “That’s Ed. He didn’t have to do that.”

Michelle Rose, the Patrick Henry’s operations manager, who screens tenant applications there and at other Walker properties, puts it this way: “One reason I like working for Ed is that he’s a gentleman who doesn’t have to take credit for everything.”

That strong loyalty to Walker seems common among his employees and associates. They speak of him warmly and in almost reverential tones, treating him as a kind of treasure who’s special in his field. And Walker is inarguably unusual for a real estate developer – a label sometimes associated more with profits than with principles. But Walker’s brand of development isn’t of the strip shopping center or suburban-sprawl housing varieties.

He longs to fix up memorable buildings that have a story in which he gets to spin the latest scene. The Walker brain trust – his inner circle of confidants – is also in essence a heart trust, sharing values and views of the world as they yearn for it to be.

Yet while Walker is community-minded and idealistic, he makes no pretense in an interview about the realities of his business: He needs a solid return on his investments to survive and he’s well aware of competition from developers and landlords with less romantic standards.

On a walk-about interview in a decrepit apartment building he’s renovating on Day Avenue in the Old Southwest area, Walker explains his strategy there: “We’re asking whether community-minded stewardship capital can stand in the shoes of slumlords to replace them and the negative consequences of their ways of doing commerce with something that’s more positive and provides clean, safe, affordable housing for a reasonable rate of return.”

Translation: Even nice guys can’t run in the red. His profit margin target is at least 10 percent, he says without equivocation.

To be sure, Walker has had to weave his way through the economic thorns that pierced the pockets of many developers in recent years. His timing has been fortunate and smart. For example, he focused on preparing pricey condominiums before the recession eroded that once-booming market. But by the time the housing resale market collapsed in 2008, he was focusing on rehabs that offer rental apartments, which are in demand.

Meanwhile, Walker has given a rejuvenating momentum to downtown Roanoke. Other developers such as Walker protégé Lucas Thornton have landed on the historic rehab front to open new apartments this past summer. And Meridium Inc. unveiled its $5 million redo of the former Mostly Sofas store earlier this year as the burgeoning software company’s new international headquarters. Lisa Soltis, an economic development specialist for the City of Roanoke says, “There’s a lot going on in downtown and Ed Walker’s impact is everywhere.”

Walker’s $10 million rehab of the old Grand Piano Building resulted in 58 apartments.

Walker is an unpretentious man who shuns neckties and formalities. His thick hair and Kennedyesque face make him mistakable for a man in his late twenties. On summer evenings, he can sometimes be seen downtown accompanying his sons on bicycle rides. Informality is a Walker trademark: He doesn’t employ a publicist, although he’s wary of the media and resistant to interviews that focus on him.

Educated as an attorney at the Washington & Lee University School of Law, Walker acknowledges that his abilities might be marketed with less risk in that profession. But he has long had an entrepreneurial itch, and a yearning for career independence, both of which he thought might be satisfied in redeveloping forlorn structures in areas of Roanoke with which he felt both familiarity and a kindred spirit.

Besides, no other area of business beckoned, although he considered several, but eliminated most because of their day-to-day operational demands. Yet as an aspiring real estate entrepreneur, he started at square one. “I didn’t know anything about it. I bought several books to read, including a dictionary of real estate terms.”

If he could master the learning curve, he thought, redeveloping property in his hometown could offer a mission, and maybe, good money.

“This is just what I want to do,” he says. “I’m very lucky to have been able to craft a work life and a way of life that I can’t separate from me as a person.”

Thus he switched from practicing civil law, which he did for five years, to real estate revitalization in part because he simply finds the work more interesting than writing legal briefs. Moreover, he can pick his own battles, instead of having to carry the banner for clients. “It’s really about calendar control, being able to do more of what challenges me personally.”

The chance to be an agent of change for community good has become, he says, “the core of my life’s work. It turns out that real estate development is a really efficient and effective way to create change with the least amount of resistance. I could start a neighborhood group focused only on advocacy and work like crazy and get absolutely nowhere.”

Walker’s touch with property may yet play a role in the future of the disastrous Ukrop’s chapter on Franklin Road. The short-lived supermarket closed amid the recession in 2009 and the project’s lender, Valley Bank, reluctantly bought the property at auction in 2010.

Valley Bank is now trying to sell the empty Ukrop’s or come up with a new idea for the structure’s use. Among those quietly consulted is Walker, an occasional borrower of short-term construction financing from the bank who was named a paid outside director of the institution in 2007. As a director he receives $15,750 a year for a part-time job that consists of attending periodic board meetings and offering his opinions on such subjects as loan candidates; he didn’t start in time to consider the Painter transaction.

The former Colonial American National Bank Building at 204 S. Jefferson is now home to 15 upscale condos.

Walker, for his part, is a big fan of Valley Bank.

“Valley Bank is as significant a part of my story as any individual colleagues,” he says. “Local capital access is a critical part of Roanoke’s path forward. They are the only bank I’ve ever worked with and I am very grateful to them.”

He adds that Valley Bank has provided his various projects with financing that totals more than $75 million.

Thus far, says Ellis Gutshall, Valley Bank’s president and chief executive officer, Walker hasn’t solved the empty Ukrop’s problem, and shopping centers aren’t in his professional orbit. Still, Walker might well be the right person to noodle concepts for a transformation of the abandoned location.

Indeed, readers of The Roanoker magazine were seemingly on target when they voted Walker “The Biggest Brain In Town” in the May/June issue’s “Best of Roanoke” reader poll.

Walker is uncomfortable with the recognition, calling it “off base.” He adds, “Am I curious? Yes. Willing to examine many different kinds of ideas? Yes. Willing to risk funds on investments that have a social dividend, as well as a financial return? Definitely. The smartest guy in town? Not by a long shot.”

Nevertheless, Walker’s celebrity elevates him to a place “in the tradition of the enlightened middle class” hereabout, says George Kegley, editor of publications of the Historical Society of Western Virginia. Kegley says Walker follows a cultural path previously taken by the likes of the late George B. Cartledge Sr., founder of Grand Home Furnishings, whose legendary business acumen was more than matched in the public eye by his benevolence. Cartledge’s legacy includes the Grand Happiness Foundation, which in 2011 provided tens of thousands of dollars to community groups in Roanoke and as far away as Beckley, W.Va.

The families of Walker and his wife, Katherine, have high profiles in civic activity. For example, Walker’s grandfather, John, rose to national prominence in the million-member Benevolent and Protective Order of the Elks as volunteer grand exalted ruler of the group that subsidizes a range of causes from student scholarships to assistance for impoverished veterans. Katherine’s father, Heywood Fralin, a nursing home chain executive, donated more than $15 million to help start Roanoke’s Taubman Museum of Art.

Ed Walker’s projects in the Grandin Village area include the Valley Bank/former-Garland’s Drug/Surf’n’Turf block on Grandin Road.

To be sure, Walker has drawn criticism as a politicker for personal gain, once in 2005 for procuring an $880,000 interest-free loan from Roanoke City Council to help convert the Grand Piano and Furniture Co. store into 58 high-end apartments now called the Hancock Building. But Walker makes no apologies for pursuing government cooperation on projects that ultimately should have the impact of boosting surrounding property values and the city’s tax base while providing jobs in a struggling economy and showing the way for other development beneficial to the overall community.

Walker is trying to generate more public discussion and wider participation in ideas that benefit the general populace in Roanoke and small cities elsewhere. In October, he was scheduled to host a series of conferences called CityWorks XPo in the City Market Building’s Charter Hall. With admission fees ranging from $175 to $550, the XPo offered seminars and discussions with an eclectic group of noted authorities in community improvement invited from around the nation – not to mention Walker himself.

The name CityWorks turns up in several of Walker’s ventures, though not in his high-profile rehabbing projects. Cooper Youell, a Roanoke attorney who handles much of Walker’s legal work, and is one of his closest advisors, says that none of the CityWorks “entities are formally not-for-profit; however, none have made money and I do not imagine many, if any, will do so in the near future. These entities are part of his community entrepreneurship efforts designed to improve the overall quality of life in Roanoke both socially and commercially.”

Thus making a good living and creating a better Roanoke are deliberately entwined in Walker’s world. You might think of some of his companies, such as Commonwealth Capital Partners LLC and Regeneration Partners LLC, as his briefcase, crammed with contracts and leases. Separately, CityWorks is his backpack, stuffed with pursuits that, while they might eventually make money, aren’t intended to throw off cash the way some of his pure business undertakings do.

For example, a Walker company called CityWorks Community Broadcasting LLC purchased struggling FM radio station 101.5, “The Music Place,” for $500,000, last February.

Walker, a fan of the station’s Americana-album alternative format, with few commercials, bought the facility after brief negotiations on the telephone with previous owner Centennial Broadcasting in North Carolina. Under Centennial, the musical makeup of 101.5 was apparently destined to change. But Walker is playing the White Knight.

“Like the Patrick Henry, 101.5 is a community asset that needed local stewardship and needed to be preserved, because it plays an important role in making Roanoke a great small city,” Walker says.

Tom Kennedy, the radio station’s manager under Centennial, has been retained by Walker and says his new boss is working on a business plan that will maintain 101.5’s character and perhaps improve its income.

“Some months we’re in the black,” he says, and revenue is rising. Walker has already sanctioned the hiring of two employees, raising the station’s total to seven.

Walker’s management style is patient listening that allows his development team room for debate. For example, during the Patrick Henry rehab, Rose requested wall paint in the 134 apartments priced at about twice the type originally planned.

The team argued back and forth as Walker sat quietly. He never referred to a calculator or scribbled numbers on paper as the discussion went on. “Ed doesn’t need a calculator,” says Rose. “Seriously, he is that good.”

Walker protegé Lucas Thornton: “I would call him a mentor.”

Walker says he couldn’t be so assured if his employees and contractors weren’t so competent. “They’re a microcosm of the personal qualities and trust needed in any company or organization to make things work. There’s a reason this development team finished the Patrick Henry seven weeks early and on budget,” he says of the $20 million job.

The enthusiasm that Walker inspires is apparent in his work crews at three apartment buildings he’s rehabbing on the 600 block of Day Avenue. Cyrus Pace, director of the Jefferson Center, who lives a few houses away, says, “He’s got workers on those apartments who are there at seven in the morning and busy all day.”

Walker credits his contracting supervisors, rather than his personal direction. He is pouring money into the three buildings and he’s proud of the change taking place.

“This was a really super unattractive structure,” he says, escorting a reporter through carpenters and painters as they labor. “But there’s the potential to turn a weakness into a profound strength.”

He plans to charge rents that are “15 percent to 20 percent less than the market to low income people” who pass thorough background checks and possess what he calls “person quality.”

That sounds great to Pace, who says his neighborhood has long been plagued by crime that he attributes to renters who aren’t screened by landlords.

Can Walker make money on his Day Avenue apartments?

“We won’t know for several months,” he says, “but it looks pretty good on paper. I think we’re going to make our goal of a 10 percent return.”

Cooper Youell, right, is one of Walker’s closest advisors.

Up to now, Walker is used to drawing a more affluent clientele with rehabs such as his luxury condos in the former Colonial American National Bank building and at the Cotton Mill. True, the Cotton Mill isn’t aimed at the wealthy – it attracts working-class tenants that include teachers, police officers and bartenders.

Beyond the acclaim generated by his major rehab projects, they all have solid potential to accomplish his double-digit profit-margin goal.

When someone moves out of a Cotton Mill apartment, it usually doesn’t stay empty for long. And while that success would be easy to take for granted now that the long-deserted former Virginia Mills Building is booming, Walker’s strategy was pioneer-like.

And Walker lives where he invests, in one of the Jefferson Street condo units, valued on city tax rolls at $1.2 million, with Katherine and their two young sons.

Walker’s triumphs are inspiring a new generation of developers interested in remodeling tired parts of downtown. Lucas Thornton, a former Walker assistant, finished a $3.5 million overhaul of what’s now called Big Lick Junction, across Williamson Road from the Taubman.

“I would call him a mentor,” says Thornton, 28, of Walker. The Lucas conversion is now the home of Community High School on the ground floor and 15 apartments on two upper levels.

Thornton emulated Walker’s financing approach of obtaining federal and state tax credits to sell to investors who use them to reduce their government obligations. And Lucas plans more downtown building rehabs in the Walker spirit: “It’s not all about money.”

But he also expresses Walker’s practical side: “Of course if you go broke, you can’t do anything.”

Walker Timeline

1967: Born, Roanoke, Va.
1985: Graduates from Episcopal High School, Alexandria
1990: Bachelor of Arts, Major in U.S. History, University of North Carolina
1990-1993: Art dealer in Europe and Southeastern U.S.
1995: Marries Katherine Fralin
1996: Juris Doctor, Washington & Lee University School of Law
1996-2002: Civil attorney at Mundy, Rogers & Frith
1999: Founds Downtown Music Lab.
2000: Son born; Jackson
2002: Son born; Finn
2002: Donates Tarpley Park, small Grandin area public park (Purchased land for $78,000.)
2002: Leaves law practice for full-time work in real estate redevelopment
2002: Village Grill transformation of abandoned gas station. (Purchased for $90,000.)
2003: 204 Jefferson Street Building; 15 condos in former Colonial American National Bank Building. ($10 million project.)
2004: Hancock Building; 58 apartments that rent from $650 to $1,500 monthly in former Grand Piano & Furniture Building. ($10 million project.)
2005: The Cotton Mill; 108 apartments that rent from $500 to $1,325 monthly in former Virginia Mills Building. ($13 million project.)
2007: Appointed to board of directors, Valley Bank
2011: Patrick Henry Apartments completed; 134 apartments that rent from $500 to $1,200 monthly in former Patrick Henry Hotel. ($20 million project.)
2013: (Planned.) The River House Apartments; 100 rental apartments and unspecified commercial space in Wasena area’s former Ice House building. (Purchased for $441,000.)
Sources: Ed Walker and public records.

Early Ed Walker: The Dumpster Misstep

Knowing that Ed Walker is a third-generation attorney and married to the daughter of one of Roaonoke’s wealthiest businessmen, it might be natural to think he started in real estate development with a silver spoon in his mouth.

Actually, he had a nail in his foot.

The injury came in 2002 after Walker made his first investment, with a $90,000 bank loan, in a defunct service station at the edge of Grandin Village that’s now known as the Village Grill.

The wound happened because he had to personally do some of the initial cleanup of the building. “There were hundreds and hundreds of old tires and other trash,” says Walker, and his budget didn’t include help to remove the refuse.

“There was no money. Zero money. I think I made $32,000 a year,” as a then 33-year-old civil attorney, he recalls.
That’s not to say that he hasn’t had the support of “parents and family” over the years that, among other things, provided him with a first-rate education, name recognition and prospective business contacts, all of which he readily acknowledges: “I’m grateful every single day and I can’t separate the work that we do from the support they’ve lent in every imaginable way.”

But the startup of his development career was, he says, “very humble.” Indeed, Walker got his hands dirty and a foot bloodied. “I was just over there” at the ex-gas station “doing what I could. I filled up the construction dumpsters.”
That’s when he stepped on a nail and had to get a tetanus shot.

Since then, his road to fame and fortune as downtown Roanoke’s highest profile developer hasn’t had a major misstep. –RJ

2012 Greater Roanoke Home & Garden Show, Jan. 13-15. Vendors offer improvement ideas for indoors and out. Roanoke Civic Center. 853-5483, roanokeciviccenter.com.

Lee-Jackson Day, Jan. 14. A wreath-laying ceremony at Stonewall Jackson Memorial Cemetery, a parade through town and a service at Lee Chapel commemorate the town’s most notable citizens. Downtown Lexington. 461-0389.

Salem Gun & Knife Traders Show, Jan. 21-22. Salem Civic Center. 375-3004, salemciviccenter.com.

Kid’s Winter Carnival, Jan. 26-29. Salem Civic Center. 375-3004, salemciviccenter.com.

Winterfest Beach Blast, Feb. 3. Salem Civic Center. 375-3004, salemciviccenter.com.

American Association of University Women Roanoke Valley Branch 2nd Annual Used Book Sale, Feb 4-5.  One hundred percent of sales go to college scholarships for local women and the AAUW Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Seminar for 9th grade girls. Sat 10 a.m.-9 p.m, Sun 1 p.m.-6 p.m. Tanglewood Mall in the AAUW space across from Belk. 343-6844, www.aauwofva.org/branches/roanoke.htm.

Bridal Gala and Tea, Feb. 5. Vendors showcase wedding trends and ideas. Free for brides and $7 per guest of the bride. 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Hotel Roanoke & Conference Center. 985-5900, hotelroanoke.com.

Happy Valentine’s Day at Peaks of Otter Winery, Feb. 11-14. Sit by the fire and taste wine. Peaks of Otter Winery, Bedford. 586-3707.

5th Annual Radford Roosting Festival/Vulture Fest, Feb. 17-18. Follow the true story of several bird species as they migrate hundreds of miles to survive the changing seasons in the film “Winged Migration.” Other activities include a bird walk, crafts for kids, photo contest, live animal appearances and more. Radford. 267-3153.

Roanoke Valley Bridal Show, Feb. 19. Salem Civic Center. 375-3004, salemciviccenter.com.

MystiCon 2012, Feb. 24-26. A weekend-long Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Horror and Pop Culture Convention. This year MystiCon will host NYT best-selling author Sherrilyn Kenyon, Battlestar Galactica actress Nicki Clyne, Dragonbreath artist Ursula Vernon, special musical guests Bella Morte, an independent film festival and over 100 other distinguished guests! Holiday Inn Tanglewood, Roanoke. mysticon-va.com.

Drama/Comedy/Dance

Broadway in Roanoke: “Rock of Ages,” Jan. 8. A small town girl meets a big city rocker and they fall in love to the greatest songs of the 80s. 7 p.m. Roanoke Performing Arts Theatre. 853-5483, roanokeciviccenter.com.

American Shakespeare Center: “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” Jan. 21. A complex farce of the adventures of four young lovers, actors and forest fairies. 7:30 p.m. Ticket prices vary. Academy of Fine Arts, Lynchburg. 434-528-3256, academyfinearts.com.

“The Winter’s Tale,” Jan. 25. Presented by the Staunton-based American Shakespeare Center. 7:30 p.m. Olin Theater, Roanoke College, Salem. 375-2333, roanoke.edu.

United Nations of Comedy Tour, Feb. 3. Featuring comedians David Foster, Bridget McManus, Gina Brillon and Skiba. 8 p.m. Jefferson Center, Roanoke. 345-2550, jeffcenter.org.

“The Revue,” Feb. 3-5, 9-11, 16-18. Presented by TheatreWorks Community Players. Tickets: $15. Martinsville. 276-632-3221.

2011 Virginia Step Show, Feb. 4. Performances by the best local and regional, Greek and non-Greek Step teams. 8 p.m. Jefferson Center, Roanoke. 345-2550, jeffcenter.org.

“The Ugly Duckling” and “The Tortoise and The Hare,” Feb. 10. Classics presented by CORBiAN/Light Wire Theater using electroluminescent wire puppets and props. 7 p.m. Ticket prices vary. The Lyric Theatre, Blacksburg. 951-4771, thelyric.com.

Valentine’s Day Blacklight Dance Party, Feb 11. Dance to the romantic sounds of DJ DEB. 8:30- 12:30. Tickets must be purchased by Feb 8. Glow-A-Rama, 19812 Main Street, Buchanan. 254-3183, glowarama.com/valentines.html

Bellocq’s “Ophelia,” Feb. 15-19. Poet Natasha Tretheway’s poems come to life on stage through image, movement, music and the spoken word. Hollins University, Roanoke. 362-6517, hollins.edu.

Disney Live! “Phineas and Ferb – The Best Live Tour Ever, Feb. 25. Two creative stepbrothers who build elaborate projects with their friends during summer vacation. 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. Roanoke Performing Arts Theatre. 853-5483, roanokeciviccenter.com.

Exhibits of Art and Artifact

“The Roanoke Times History in Photographs,” through Jan. 15. Exploration of the relationship between photography and the documentation of significant events. Taubman Museum of Art, Roanoke. 342-5760, taubmanmuseum.org.

“Nineteenth-Century Brick Architecture in the Roanoke Valley and Beyond: Discovering the True Legacies of the Deyerle Builders,” through Feb. 6. Highlighting the various builders of the Deyerle Family and their respective achievements. O. Winston Link Museum, Roanoke. 982-5465, linkmuseum.org.

“Bayous and Ghosts,” Jan. 12-Feb. 18. Exhibit inspired by romantic aesthetics in Louisiana’s state history. Eleanor D. Wilson Museum, Hollins University, Roanoke. 362-6081, hollins.edu.

“Treasures from the Vault,” Jan. 12-Feb. 18. Works by internationally recognized artists such as Jack Beal and Hunt Slonem. Eleanor D. Wilson Museum, Hollins University, Roanoke. 362-6081, hollins.edu.

“Goya, Dali, Warhol: Masterpieces of World Art from the Virginia Museum of Fine Art,” Jan. 19-March 2. Showcasing dozens of timeless pieces from the museum’s permanent collection. Radford University Art Museum. 831-5754, radford.edu.

“Requiem for Steam: Photography of David Plowden,” Feb. 16-through mid-May. Thirty prints featuring the ethereal and poignant beauty of a long-gone era. O. Winston Link Museum, Roanoke. 982-5465, linkmuseum.org.

Informative Talks/Fine Films

Why Should University Museums Collect?, Jan. 12. Lecture by Museum Director Amy Moorefield. Hollins University, Roanoke. 362-6081, hollins.edu.

Lunchbox Lecture: The Rochambelles – Women on the War Front in WWII, Jan. 18. Focusing on the only women’s group assigned to a combat unit on the European front during WWII. Bedford Welcome Center. 587-3619.

Lunchbox Lecture: The Medicine of War – Combat Medics in WWII, Jan. 25. Slide presentation and discussion by historian Hugh Scrogham. Bedford Welcome Center. 587-3619.

Roanoke Regional Writers Conference, Jan. 27-28. Classes, round-table discussion, guest speakers and more. Registration required. Hollins University, Roanoke. 556-8510, hollins.edu.

Readings by Hollins Faculty, Feb. 2. Amanda Cockrell and Cathryn Hankla read from their new fiction works. 8:15 p.m. Hollins University, Roanoke. 362-6021, hollins.edu.

Hunt Slonem and Margaret Evangeline Artist Lecture and Reception, Feb. 16. The artists discuss their collaborative exhibition “Bayous and Ghosts.” 6 p.m. Hollins University, Roanoke. 362-6081, hollins.edu.

Music to the Ear

Jazz Club with Gretchen Parlato, February 18. 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. Jefferson Center, Roanoke. 345-2550, jeffcenter.org.

Rascal Flatts, Jan. 13. Country music trio with special guests Sara Evans and Hunter Hayes. 7:30 p.m. Roanoke Civic Center. 853-5483, roanokeciviccenter.com.

The Life and Music of Don Pullen, Jan. 14. Celebrating the Roanoke native, an innovative jazz pianist and composer. 8 p.m. Jefferson Center, Roanoke. 345-2550, jeffcenter.org.

Garrick Ohlsson, Jan. 20. Chopin International Piano Competition winner. 8 p.m. Ticket prices vary. The Lyric Theatre, Blacksburg. 951-4771, thelyric.com.

Star City Piano Competition, Jan. 20-21. Young pianists play for a prize; the winner will perform with Roanoke Symphony Orchestra in April. Jefferson Center, Roanoke. 345-2550, jeffcenter.org.

Kroger Cabin Fever Series, Craig Woolard Band, Jan. 20. The Embers, Feb. 17. 6-10 p.m. Roanoke Civic Center Exhibit Hall. 853-5483, roanokeciviccenter.com.

Rodney Carrington, Jan. 27. Singer, comedian and actor performs. 7 p.m. Salem Civic Center. 375-3004, salemciviccenter.com.

Kandinsky Trio Concert, Jan. 28. Trio performs with clarinetist David Niethamer. 7:30 p.m. Olin Theater, Roanoke College, Salem. 375-2333, roanoke.edu.

Pancho Sanchez and Terence Blanchard, Jan. 28. The Conga legend and trumpet star perform. 8 p.m. Jefferson Center, Roanoke. 345-2550, jeffcenter.org.

Carnivale – A Musical Masked Ball, Feb. 11. Exclusive black-tie event with the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra for dancing and listening pleasure. Hotel Roanoke. 343-9127.

Romantic Showcase, Feb. 12-13. Selections by Bernstein, Hanson, J. Strauss and Mahler performed by the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra. Jefferson Center, Roanoke. 343-9127, rso.com.

Bettye LaVette, Feb. 17. Soul singer. 8 p.m. Jefferson Center, Roanoke. 345-2550, jeffcenter.org.

Mark O’Connor, Feb. 17. Acclaimed violinist in a solo recital. 8 p.m. Ticket prices vary. The Lyric Theatre, Blacksburg. 951-4771, thelyric.com.

Blake Shelton, Feb. 18. The reigning male vocalist of the year in country music. 7:30 p.m. Roanoke Civic Center. 853-5483, roanokeciviccenter.com.

Jazz Club with Gretchen Parlato, Feb. 18. Inventive modern jazz siner. 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. Jefferson Center, Roanoke. 345-2550, jeffcenter.org.

Punch Brothers featuring Chris Thile, Feb. 19. Contemporary music. 7:30 p.m. Jefferson Center, Roanoke. 345-2550, jeffcenter.org.

Blues Brothers Revue, Feb. 25. Full throttle rhythm and blues review. 7:30 p.m. Ticket prices vary. Academy of Fine Arts, Lynchburg. 434-528-3256, academyfinearts.com.

The Best in Sports

Stampede Championship Rodeo, Jan. 6-8. Salem Civic Center. 375-3004, salemciviccenter.com.

Virginia Tech Hockey Homes Games, Jan. 14, 15, 20, 21. Game times vary. Roanoke Civic Center. 853-5483, roanokeciviccenter.com.

Advance Auto Parts Monster Jam, Jan. 27-28. Monster truck show. Roanoke Civic Center. 853-5483, roanokeciviccenter.com.

Meals on Wheels volunteer Richard Troxel delivers a meal to Joyce Gay.

Last year a volunteer for Meals on Wheels discovered her meal recipient in a bed that was on fire at Melrose Towers. The wiring on the medical bed was faulty. The volunteer was able to get the bedridden senior into a chair and out of the room as the drapes caught fire. Had the volunteer not walked in at just that moment to deliver the daily lunch, the result could’ve been dire.

According to Michele Daley, the director of nutrition programs for the Local Office on Aging (LOA), the meal is only half of it. The other half is to make sure the recipient is OK. The case involving the bed on fire was an extreme example, but there are many less severe situations that make the Meals on Wheels program so valuable.

“If no one answers and they’ve not said that they won’t be there, we call all emergency numbers, we’ll call the hospitals, we will go back by the house and call until we can figure out where the person is,” says Daley. “We’ve occasionally had the police go in and find out if they’re stuck on the floor.”

The criteria to receive assistance from meals on wheels is based on age – 60 and older – and the inability to prepare food.
“One of the biggest criteria is that they’re homebound and unable to drive to get food themselves or that they’re unable to stand and prepare a nutritious meal,” says Daley.

Having a midday meal is key, allowing many to stay in their homes longer. Often, even those seniors who have adult children that live nearby are still alone all day while their family members work.

The need for the Meals on Wheels program has increased significantly. There are 650 meals delivered daily, which is a big uptick from when Daley began her job 14 years ago.

“When I first started we were in the 400 range, and we’ve been as high as 700,” says Daley. “There’s been a huge increase as more and more people are making the choice to stay in their homes.”

As the number of recipients of Meals on Wheels program increases, so does the need for volunteers.

“We have 43 routes that have to be covered each day, and because a lot of volunteers work for us once a week, we usually utilize 200 volunteers in a week’s time,” says Daley.

Since volunteers not only give their time but their gas, as the prices for fuel have increased, it becomes harder and harder to recruit for Meals on Wheels.

And getting each and every meal delivered isn’t just a matter of going hungry or not.

“In Covington, we had a couple of volunteers that couldn’t get a lady to answer the door,” says Daley. “They took bricks to the storm door, got in, found she’d had a stroke and got her to the hospital.”

From the extremes of saving a bedridden senior from a fire to simply being a smiling face checking in daily, the volunteers for Meals on Wheels are heroes. There just need to be a few more of them.

“I truly believe we have saved some lives,” says Daley.

How You Can Help

Give to Meals on Wheels. While the program receives funds from state and federal governments, United Way and Foundation for the Roanoke Valley, the needs for Meals grows each year. Often donations and funds do not match that need. To donate, please make checks payable to LOA Meals on Wheels and send to P.O. Box 14205, Roanoke, VA 24038 or go to loaa.org.

Donate your time. A total of 43 routes are run every day with 650 meals being distributed. More volunteers are needed all the time. To volunteer, contact Michele Daley, Director of Nutritional Services, at 345-0454 ext 3027.

Welch holds the game ball from a 1913 win at New York’s Polo Grounds.

Perhaps the deep discrimination against Indians in the U.S. in the early 1900s was part of what tempered the steely resolve that fueled Gus Welch’s protest when the Virginia highway department in 1939 came after some of the land of his ridge-line Bedford County summer camp.

Maybe it shouldn’t have surprised anyone that Gus Welch promptly sued the State Highway Commission of Virginia in 1939 when they came to take away more than 125 acres of his Bedford County boys camp for a new roadway.

After all, 27 years earlier, he had been the fierce-as-fire quarterback on a college football team that had played, according to The New York Times, “the most perfect brand of football ever seen in America,” as Welch, the legendary Jim Thorpe and their Carlisle Indian School teammates feinted and foxed their way to a 27-6 win over a highly favored, would-be-number-one Army team that featured a backfield of not just Dwight D. Eisenhower but also three other future World War II generals.

Playing with what Coach Pop Warner called “the sweep of a prairie fire,” the Carlisle boys that day in 1912 re-invented football before the eyes of America, as Welch orchestrated a series of stunning fakes and reverses, pitches and passes that advanced the game from its plodding, pounding “three yards and a cloud of dust” past into the future we witness today.

Gus Welch was 19 years old on the day the Indian boys were inspired not only by the innovations of their coach, but also by the memory of an earlier clash between the U.S. Army and American Indians – the fateful battle at Wounded Knee 22 years earlier. With Indian outbreaks still occurring in the West in 1912, this game was only the second allowed between the army men and the tribesmen.

Welch’s path from the Carlisle School in Pennsylvania to a life in Bedford County was emblematic of the rest of his life of determination, accomplishment, discipline and standing up for his rights and heritage. He’d made the U.S. Olympic track team earlier in 1912, but had been unable to compete in Stockholm because of illness. After serving as captain of the Carlisle team in 1913, the 5’9”, 152-pound Welch went on to play professional football with the Canton Bulldogs from 1915 to 1917. He studied law and then served as a Captain under General John J. Pershing during World War I, and after the war began what would become a long and fruitful career as a coach, first at Washington State, where his football teams went 16-10-1 during 1919-1922.

In 1923, he came to Virginia to become the athletic director as well as the coach of the football, baseball, basketball, track, lacrosse and boxing squads at Randolph-Macon College.

In addition to hosting about 50 boys and girls each summer at Camp Kewanzee, Gus Welch kept horses, cows and dogs.

And in 1926, he and his bride of three years – Julia Carter Welch – bought about 500 acres of former apple orchard land near the northern end of the Bedford-Botetourt county line and founded Camp Kewanzee, a summer camp for boys and later opened to girls as well.

Meanwhile, Welch’s coaching career continued to advance, including a 1930-’34 stint as lacrosse coach at the University of Virginia.

During these years, the summer camp became more and more popular, a fact that added to Welch’s “gall and dumb amazement” when, in early 1939, the State Highway Commisssion, operating on behalf of the U.S. Department of the Interior, came to claim those 128.27 acres of the Welches’ land, to use them for a planned ridge-line roadway called The Blue Ridge Parkway.

Gus and Julia Welch said hell no, and took the state to court.

Gus and Julia Welch lost, and were paid $3,825.40, which was applied to their original $11,000 debt to R. H. Patterson for the total Camp Kewanzee acreage.

The judge asked Mr. Welch if he had any comment on the final decree.

And Mr. Welch was ready: “The white man has been taking land from the Indian for so long that it has become a habit with him.”

In fact, those Welch traits of dogged adherence to principle and determination in the face of adversity, which had showed up both against Army and against the Commonwealth, had displayed themselves  at least several other times over the first 40 years of his life:

• I Within a span of five years during his boyhood and having already lost his father, he lost his mother, three brothers and two sisters to tuberculosis. His reaction, even as a young teen: To dedicate himself to the outdoors and to physical activity. “Now that we’re no longer people of the chase,” he told his football coach at Carlisle, “poor physical condition is the curse of the Indian. A game of some kind is our one chance against tuberculosis.”

Gus Welch became a bit of a celebrity in later life; here he hams it up with cowboy star Roy Rogers.

• A year after the triumph over Army, Gus Welch led an insurrection against Coach Pop Warner and other school officials. The Carlisle School, established in 1879 as a patriarchal, well-intentioned if steeped-in-racism “answer to the Indian problem,” had long shortcutted its students in its attempt to “civilize” them. By 1913, the combination of poor conditions, food and management as well as allegations of embezzlement saw 276 students, led by student body president Gus Welch, sign a petition that went to the Secretary of the Interior. It both brought significant reform and signaled the beginning of the end for Carlisle, which played its last football game in 1915 and closed in 1918, as it began to occur to people that Indian children should go to school with all the other children.

• In a sad denouement for the Carlisle football program, Warner coaxed Welch back for one last game – in 1914 against vaunted Notre Dame. In a vain attempt to uphold the honor of the Indians, Welch, on defense, attempted to put his 152-pound body in the way of on-charging fullback Ray Eichenlaub, 6’2”, 210. Eichenlaub’s knee met Welch’s face square-on as Welch attemtped the tackle. Despite fractures of the cheek and skull and uncertainty about his life for four days, Welch left the hospital against doctor’s orders and ignoring information that only a period of rest could prevent “a future of invalidism . . . such as paralysis, deafness or loss of sight.”

• Headaches and poverty slowed his path over the ensuing two years, but Welch had nonetheless made his way into law school and played professional football. All before, in April 1917, he enlisted in officer training school. He was commissioned a captain in 1918, but to his dismay, was assigned to Camp Meade, Md. and put in charge of recreation. But Welch, wanting to go to France and fight the war, found a way: He took over the 250-man, all-black 808th Pioneers and went overseas with his raw troops, to carry out the duties no one else wanted.

The 1939-’40 carving away of 128 acres did not end Camp Kewanzee, as its buildings and primary recreation lands lay to the east of the roadway and its right of way. The camp continued to operate, serving up to 50 five-to 14-year-olds each summer through the decade, as Gus Welch continued his athletic mentoring career in the non-summer months, during World War II serving as head of physical fitness at Georgetown University, and then teaching phys-ed at Lyndon Hill Junior High in Prince George County.

But as the decade of the ‘40s wore on, difficulties arose over the care of the camp during the winters. Caretakers came and went, and the Welches – then spending their winters in the Washington, D.C. area – worried increasingly over the stock at the camp. One winter Gus Welch had to leave Washington at 2 a.m. in a snowstorm to take care of the animals, prompting talk of selling the camp.

Instead, the Welches moved to Bedford, into a house along Va. 43 not far down the mountain from the parkway and the camp, and all went well for a year. Then Welch suffered, in quick succession, a detached retina and a subsequent injury to the same eye, and the combination of hospital bills and repairs to the home and the camp left the couple broke, and the camp struggled to meet its obligations. It closed in 1950, but was apparently operated for some years thereafter as a church camp.

Mahlon Nichols of the Bedford area owns a treasure trove of Gus Welch memorabilia.

Meanwhile, Welch was hired as a coach and teacher at Montvale High School, along U.S. 460 about 16 miles east of Roanoke, in the area of the huge white petroleum tanks on the other side of the road. Sources cite Welch saying those years were his “most rewarding” as a coach.

Among his charges on the diamond was pitcher/third baseman and Covington-native Bob Humphreys, who would go on to have a nine-year career in major league baseball as a pitcher. Humphreys, who lives in Bedford, characterizes Coach Welch as a “laid back kind of guy who let you play.”

Gus and Julia Welch were by this time among the Bedford area’s leading citizens. They lived in that big white house on Va. 43, just down the mountainside from the Blue Ridge Parkway. They were covered from time to time in the Bedford newspaper and in the Roanoke paper.

But the combination of aging and the responsibilities of looking after a troublesome adopted daughter – Serena, a niece of Gus Welch – began to wear on Welch. He continued to act as a sort of American Indian elder statesman, being one of the speakers at the 1962 opening of the National Professional Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, and near the end of his life serving as honorary chairman of the effort to establish an American Indian Athletic Hall of Fame, to which he was posthumously elected in 1973.

Gus Welch died in 1970 at age 79 in Bedford County Memorial Hospital. His ashes were scattered at Camp Kewanzee.
Julia Carter Welch continued to live in an apartment in Bedford for several years after her husband’s death, and then spent her waning days at Richfield Retirement Home in Salem before she passed away in 1987, when her ashes too were spread at the camp she and Gus had founded, nurtured, fought for and run for a quarter century.

At Randolph Macon, teams under Gus Welch became among the first to travel to games by bus.

Friends: Welch and Thorpe

The 1912 team that beat Army: Gus Welch is top row, second from left; Jim Thorpe is next to left, then Coach Pop Warner.

The star quarterback and the star halfback at Carlisle Indian School in the heroic 1912 college football season were also best friends and roommates.

Jim Thorpe, viewed by many as the greatest athlete who ever lived, had some other traits as well: shy, withdrawn, arrogant, stubborn; a young man who felt comfortable on the playing field and nowhere else. His difficult personality may have had much to do with a difficult childhood, during which he was beaten by his father, lost his twin brother at age 12, began running away from home at an even earlier age than that, and was orphaned during his teens. Add to that the overall status of Indians at that time in the U.S. and you have one mean sonovagun.

Gus Welch, four years younger than Thorpe, lost his parents at an even younger age than Thorpe, saw three brothers and two sisters as well as his mother die of tuberculosis, and also experienced the harsh discrimination of the time. But for whatever reason or trait of personality, he came out of his traumatic childhood with a generally opposite reaction.

Where Thorpe ran away several times from Carlisle, Welch longed to attend and cherished his acceptance. And when they were both students, Welch served as a calming influence on Thorpe. In fact, for the rest of Thorpe’s life, Gus Welch was a friend and a source of occasional financial help.

One highlight of the friendship is Jim Thorpe’s first wedding day, in 1913. The happy, dressed-up wedding party photograph is highlighted by the two men at the center: the muscular Thorpe, standing behind his bride; and to his right, the slight and smiling best-man Welch.

The two men went in different directions after that October day in 1912 when they beat Army and changed football forever. Jim Thorpe headed off on a round-the-world tour with the New York baseball Giants as an initial chapter in an adult life that would see him seek to earn a living through his one-of-a-kind athleticism, not only in baseball, but also football, basketball, exhibitions and – especially later in life – stunt work. Gus Welch played one more year at Carlisle, then briefly for the professional Canton Bulldogs before studying law at Dickenson College in 1917 and then enlisting in the army as World War I began.

The trajectories of the two lives might have been predicted by their Carlisle years: the steady quarterback who went on to a lifetime of coaching and mentoring, and the uncontainable halfback whose three marriages and overall pattern of tumultuous instability reflected, in some sad way, his reckless abandon on the football field. –KR

Camp Kewanzee: What’s There Today?

A small, unnamed stream today flows into and through the remains of the old pool walls.

Stop at pretty Sunset Fields overlook at Blue Ridge Parkway milepost 78.4 (a little more than 5 miles north of the Peaks of Otter), and across the parkway, on the east side, there’s a gated, returned-to-forest-floor road sloping down north-north-eastward. The road, on a March, 1940 National Park Service map titled “Sketch of General Layout: Camp Kewanzee and Blue Ridge Parkway,”  is labeled as “G.A Welch Access.” It is wide enough, clear and maintained enough that Gus Welch could still make access today, these 70-plus years later.

Zeph Cunningham, NPS park ranger, says the old road is maintained for three reasons.

“The main thing is access in case of fire,” he says. “And part of the Glenwood Horse Trail is back in there. And third, there’s sometimes illegal hunting back in there because of proximity to national forest lands.”

Cunningham, the rare ranger who grew up near the area he serves, says nearly all of the Camp Kewanzee buildings were burned after the camp closed.

Still, a half mile walk in on the good road, you start to see pieces of the past – a ruined cinder block structure here, the fallen remains of a wooden building there. Their locations are in concert with the map, which shows not only roads, but also the trails and buildings of Camp Kewanzee, which Welch and his wife Julia operated from 1926 until 1950.

And downslope a ways along what the map labels as “Abandoned Road,” and that today is a branch-strewn trail, should be “Swimming Pool,” at a point along the unnamed stream that parallels the abandoned road. And sure enough, here are the remains of three rock walls that long ago were sturdy and sound enough to pause the flow of the stream to fill the pool-sized enclosure, so campers staying up on the mountain during the summers of the ‘30s, ‘40s could walk down from the camp buildings for a cool stream-water swim. –KR

Bob Humphreys on Gus Welch

What kind of coach was Gus Welch, who spent most of his adult life mentoring young athletes?

“An easy-going, laid back guy,” says Bob Humphreys, nine-year major league baseball pitcher in the 1960s and a player on the Montvale High baseball teams that Gus Welch coached in the 1950s.

Humphreys, a Covington native who lives in Bedford, says Welch had “more of a phys-ed approach” to coaching.

“He was a football guy, of course,” says Humphreys, a member of the Hampden-Sydney athletic hall of fame for his baseball exploits. “He emphasized conditioning and sportsmanship, and then he pretty much let you play the game. He was a good guy.”  –KR

West End Community Market, through Dec. 31. Tuesdays from 3-6 p.m., the market offers fresh meats, rainbow trout, organic produce, cut flowers and more. West End Center for Youth, Roanoke. leapforlocalfood.org.

Roanoke Valley Reads, Event Kickoff, Nov. 1, Spectacular Saturday at the Taubman, Nov. 5, Talk by Coach Luma Mufleh and the Refugee Cup Soccer Tournament Finals, Nov. 13. Events related to themes in the book “Outcasts United: An American Town, a Refugee Team, and One Woman’s Quest to Make a Difference.” Other events also planned throughout the month. Roanoke. roanokevalleyreads.com.

Holiday Arts, Crafts & More Extravaganza, Nov. 5. Area artisans, crafters, authors and musical artists offer their wares and talents. $2 per person. Bedford Elementary School. 586-4712.

Smith Mountain Lake Fall Chili and Craft Festival, Nov. 5. Music, crafts and a chili cook-off. Bridgewater Plaza, Smith Mountain Lake. 721-1203.

Peak Foliage Open House, Nov. 5-6, 12-13. Samples of apples, fresh cider and Fruit of the Farm wines. Peaks of Otter Winery, Bedford. 586-3707, peaksofotterwinery.com.

Veteran’s Day Observance, Nov. 11. Special music, guest speakers and recognition of all veterans. 10 a.m.-noon. National D-Day Memorial, Bedford. 586-3329, dday.org.

Junior League of Roanoke Valley’s 23rd Annual Stocked Market, Nov. 11-13. Merchants from around the country sell their wares and unique gift items. Roanoke Civic Center. 853-5483, roanokeciviccenter.com.

The Sedalia Center’s Art & Architecture Show, Nov. 12. Handcrafted architectural elements, architects and designers, alternative building techniques and materials. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sedalia Center, Bedford County. 434-299-5080.

Grandin Village Holiday Children’s Parade, Nov. 20. A neighborhood favorite with Santa on a fire engine. Grandin Village, Roanoke. 11 a.m. grandinvillage.org.

Nutcracker Ball, Nov. 19. Auction of handcrafted nutcrackers, performance by Southwest Virginia Ballet dancers and music by Johnny Hott’s Piedmont Souprizes. $90 per person. Hotel Roanoke. 387-3978, svballet.org.

St. Jude Give Thanks Walk, Nov. 19. A 5K walk that raises funds to support the children of St. Jude. Valley View Mall, Roanoke. givethankswalk.org.

Thomas Jefferson Wine Festival, Nov. 19. Virginia wineries offer samples, musical entertainers perform and local food purveyors and artisans share their treats and wares. Poplar Forest, Bedford. 434-534-8120.

Harvest Soup & Wine, Nov. 19-20. Samples of five gourmet soups paired with five AmRhein wines. $10, adults; $7, under age 21. AmRhein’s Wine Cellars, Roanoke. 929-4632, amrheins.com.

Thanksgiving for the Bounty of the Harvest, Nov. 19-20. Cider, apples, wine and jars of preserves, jams and jellies to share. Peaks of Otter Winery, Bedford. 586-3707, peaksofotterwinery.com.

6th Annual Drumstick Dash, Nov. 24. A 5K that raises funds for the Rescue Mission. Downtown Roanoke. 343-7227.

Candlelight Processional and Lighting of the Community Christmas Tree, Nov. 25. 5:30 p.m. Downtown Lexington. 463-5375.

Gem and Mineral Show, Nov. 25-27. Salem Civic Center. 375-3004, salemciviccenter.com.

Virginia Dare Flotilla for Toys Boat Parade of Lights, Nov. 26. The Virginia Dare decorated with thousands of lights will lead other Christmas-decorated boats on a parade to collect toys for “A Child’s Christmas” program. Smith Mountain Lake. 297-7100.

Christmas Time’s A’ Coming Open House, Nov. 26-27, Dec. 3-4, 10-11, 17-18. Samples of warm apple cinnamon wine and cider. Peaks of Otter Winery, Bedford. 586-3707, peaksofotterwinery.com.

Holiday Lights and Christmas Parade, Dec. 1. Glen Maury Park, Buena Vista. 261-7321.

Vinton Christmas Parade, Dec. 1. Entertainment, spaghetti supper and parade. Vinton. 343-1364.

Lexington Christmas Parade, Dec. 2. 6:30 p.m. Downtown Lexington. 463-5375.

Salem Christmas Parade, Dec. 2. Marching bands, floats and Santa. Main Street, Salem. 387-0267.

Dickens of a Christmas, Dec. 2, 9, 16. Holiday-related activities include a parade, carriage rides and Fantasy Land and Fashions for Evergreens. Roanoke. 342-6025.

Night of Miracles Living Nativity, Dec. 2-4, 9-11. 6-9 p.m. Lexington. 261-6596.

2011 Gingerbread Festival, Dec. 3. Gingerbread house competition, holiday entertainment, arts and crafts, and food. Longwood Park, Salem. 387-0267.

Ye Olde Salem Christmas, Dec. 3. Pictures with Santa, carriage rides, merchant vendors, children’s activities and more. Various locations in Salem. 375-3057.

32nd Annual Old Southwest Holiday Parlor Tour, Dec. 3-4. $15. Historic Old Southwest, Roanoke. 343-8794.

Holiday Open House, Dec. 3-11. Complimentary hors d’oeuvres, mulled wine, sparkling cider and winery tours. Chateau Morrisette, Meadows of Dan. 593-2865, thedogs.com.

Jingle Bell Run/Walk, Dec. 10. A 5K and one-mile walk to raise funds for the Arthritis Foundation. Roanoke. 804-665-9950.

Holly Days, Dec. 10-11. Wine tastings, mulled wine, tours and a tasting of the 2011 harvest. AmRhein’s Wine Cellars, Roanoke. 929-4632, amrheins.com.

Salem Gun & Knife Traders Show, Dec. 17-18. Salem Civic Center. 375-3004, salemciviccenter.com.

New Year’s Eve Blast, Dec. 31. Roanoke Civic Center. 853-5483, roanokeciviccenter.com.

Vinton’s New Year’s Eve, Dec. 31. Hors d’oeuvres, campagne toast, music and more. Vinton War Memorial. 343-1364.

Drama/Comedy/Dance

Fall Dance Gathering, Nov. 3-5. Performance featuring students, alumnae and guest artists. $10, general; $7, senior citizens and students with ID. 8 p.m. Hollins University, Roanoke. 362-6230, hollins.edu.

Tales of Suspense, Nov. 4, 5, 12. A three-course dinner, dessert and a dramatic tale of chills and thrills by the NoneSuch Playmakers. $65 per person; reservations required. Chateau Morrisette, Meadows of Dan. 593-2865, thedogs.com.

“A Christmas Story,” Nov. 11-13, 18-20. Ticket prices vary. Little Town Players, Bedford. 586-5881, littletownplayers.com.

Shangri-La Chinese Acrobats, Nov. 13. Acrobatic displays, brilliant costumes and a touch of Chinese comedy. 2 p.m. Jefferson Center, Roanoke. 345-2550, jeffcenter.org.

“A Woman of Independent Means,” Nov. 15-18. A one-woman show about Bess as she endures life’s trials and triumphs. 7:30 p.m. Hollins University, Roanoke. 362-6517, hollins.edu.

Theatre Roanoke College: “The Haunted House,” Nov. 16-19. A rollicking Roman comedy. 7:30 p.m. Olin Theater, Roanoke College, Salem. 375-2282, roanoke.edu.

Dances of Universal Peace, Nov. 18, Dec. 16. Simple circle dances using sacred names, movements and music from spiritual traditions. 7:30 p.m. Unity of Roanoke. 556-2233.

Big Lick Conspiracy, Nov. 19, Dec. 3. Comedic performances by Roanoke’s only improvisational group. Mill Mountain Theatre, Roanoke. 342-5749, millmountain.org.

Broadway in Roanoke: “My Fair Lady,” Nov. 20. Professor Henry Higgins takes a bet that he can transform unrefined Eliza Doolittle into a lady. Ticket prices vary. 7 p.m. Roanoke Performing Arts Theatre. 853-5483, roanokeciviccenter.com.

“A Christmas Carol,” Nov. 30-Dec. 11. Scrooge must learn to change his ways before Christmas. $12, adults; $5, children under 18. Showtimers Community Theatre, Roanoke. 774-2660, showtimers.org.

“The Crimes & Confessions of Kip Knutzen: A Hockey Way of Knowledge,” Nov. 30-Dec. 11. A funny, dark quest for soul, truth and love in a small Minnesota town. $15 in advance, $20 at the door, $12 for seniors, students and active military. Studio Roanoke. 343-3054, studioroanoke.org.

“A Christmas Cactus,” Dec. 1-3, 8-10. Christmas Eve digs up long-buried mysteries, looks for a few small miracles and takes a second chance on love. D. Geraldine Lawson Performing Arts Center. 473-1001, atticproductions.info.

Sesame Street Live: “Elmo Makes Music,” Dec. 1-4. Times and ticket prices vary. Salem Civic Center. 375-3004, salemciviccenter.com.

Sinbad, Dec. 3. Actor and comedian performs. 8 p.m. Jefferson Center, Roanoke. 345-2550, jeffcenter.org.

“Christmas Cookies,” Dec. 8-23. With the help of a homeless woman, Emy and Jilly are confident they can keep the family cookie business afloat when their mother’s National Guard unit is activated for a tour in Afghanistan. Show times and ticket prices vary. Roanoke Children’s Theatre, Taubman Museum of Art, Roanoke. 309-6802, roanokechildrenstheatre.org.

“The Nutcracker,” Dec. 10-11. A classic presented by Southwest Virginia Ballet. Ticket prices vary. Roanoke Performing Arts Theatre. 853-5483, roanokeciviccenter.com.

Jeff Dunham, Dec. 11. Comedian/ventriloquist will perform and introduce two new characters. 5 p.m. Roanoke Civic Center. 853-5483, roanokeciviccenter.com.

Dancing with Strings and Christmas Things, Dec. 17-18. Exquisite dancers, fine musicians and angelic voices. $22, adults; $19, seniors; $13, students. The Academy of Fine Arts, Lynchburg. 434-846-8499, academyfinearts.com.

Exhibits of Art and Artifact

“Mark Fox: Outbreed,” through Dec. 4. Multimedia installations that incorporate the artists’ own distinct lexis of images and test, as well as religious and mythological decrees. Olin Gallery, Roanoke College, Salem. 375-2333, roanoke.edu.

“Scott Hazard: Departures,” through Dec. 4. Photographic and text based constructs that serve as devices for poetic awareness. Smoyer Gallery, Roanoke College, Salem. 375-2333, roanoke.edu.

“Bill White: Empathy and Engagement,” through Dec. 10. An exploration of interior and exterior landscapes. Eleanor D. Wilson Museum, Hollins University, Roanoke. 362-6532, hollins.edu.

“Jan Knipe,” through Dec. 10. Drawings that investigate boundaries of the medium. Eleanor D. Wilson Museum, Hollins University, Roanoke. 362-6532, hollins.edu.

“Nick Cave: Meet Me at the Center of the Earth,” through Jan. 1, 2012. Hand-sewn collection of Soundsuits. Taubman Museum of Art, Roanoke. 342-5760, taubmanmuseum.org.

“The Roanoke Times History in Photographs,” through Jan. 15, 2012. Exploration of the relationship between photography and the documentation of significant events. Taubman Museum of Art, Roanoke. 342-5760, taubmanmuseum.org.

Open House at Betty Branch Sculpture Studio & Gallery, Dec. 2-16. Five artists exhibit watercolor, oils, acrylics, bronze and stone. 2-6 p.m. Roanoke. 344-4994.

Informative Talks/Fine Films

“Lincoln and Race,” Nov. 2. Lecture by Lucas Morel, acting chair of the Washington & Lee University politics department. 7:30 p.m. Colket Center, Roanoke College, Salem. 375-2282, roanoke.edu.

Fall Movie Series, “Hanna,” Nov. 4. “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides,” Dec. 2. Richard Wetherill Visual Arts Center, Hollins University, Roanoke. 362-6021, hollins.edu.

Green Living and Energy Expo, Nov. 4-5. Exhibits, demos, and seminars about energy conservation, green building, and sustainable living. Roanoke Civic Center. 853-5483, roanokeciviccenter.com.

Community United: Discussion for Roanoke Valley Reads, Nov. 5. A panel discussion of the themes in Warren St. John’s “Outcasts United.” 2:30 p.m. Richard Wetherill Visual Arts Center, Hollins University, Roanoke. 362-6021, hollins.edu.

Ultimate Guitar Strummit, Nov. 5. Workshop with Tony Rice, Wyatt Rice, Josh Williams and leader John Miller. Hollins University, Roanoke. 866-883-9466, hollins.edu.

Documentary Film Series, “What’s On Your Plate,” Nov. 6. “The Sweetest Sound,” Dec. 4. Wyndham Robertson Library, Hollins University, Roanoke. 362-6021, hollins.edu.

“Speciman Days: Walt Whitman, Virginia and the Civil War,” Nov. 9. Artist Binh Danh and author Robert Schultz will discuss Whitman’s trip to Virginia to look for his wounded brother. 7:30 p.m. Colket Center, Roanoke College, Salem. 375-2282, roanoke.edu.

“The Promise and Peril of Bio-technological Advance,” Nov. 10. Discussion led by professors/authors James Peterson and Fritz Oehlschlaeger. 5 p.m. Antrim Chapel, Roanoke College, Salem. 375-2282, roanoke.edu.

“The Role of Roanoke College during the Civil War Era,” Nov. 16. Lectures by Dr. Mark Miller and Dr. Tom Mays. 7:30 p.m. Colket Center, Roanoke College, Salem. 375-2282, roanoke.edu.

Writers’ Harvest Reading, Nov. 17. Hollins faculty writers read from their work to raise money for Feeding America Southwest Virginia. Hollins University, Roanoke. 362-6317, hollins.edu.

Margaret Wise Brown Festival’s Saturday Morning Story Hour with Santa, Dec. 3. Santa Claus will read Brown’s wintertime books around the Christmas tree. 10 am. Hollins University, Roanoke. 362-6021, hollins.edu.

Music to the Ear

Puccini – Missa di Gloria, Nov. 4. All Saints Program featuring the St. John’s Choir. 6 p.m. St. John’s Episcopal Church, Roanoke. 343-9341.

World Showcase of Music, Nov. 5. Promoting International Goodwill through live music and dance spanning many continents and cultures. 6:30 p.m. Green Ridge Recreation Center, Roanoke. 387-6078, ext. 0.

Sir James Galway & Lady Jeanne, Nov. 6. These ambassadors of music and the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra present masterworks for flute and orchestra. 3 p.m. Roanoke Performing Arts Theatre. 343-9127, rso.com.

René Marie, Nov. 11. Singer and Roanoke native whose style incorporates elements of jazz, soul, blues and gospel. 8 p.m. Jefferson Center, Roanoke. 345-2550, jeffcenter.org.

Broadway in Roanoke: Straight No Chaser, Nov. 12. Performance by this male a capella group. Ticket prices vary. 8 p.m. Roanoke Performing Arts Theatre. 853-5483, roanokeciviccenter.com.

From Sea to Shining Sea: The Music of America, Nov. 12. Concert by The Chorus of the Blue Ridge. Jefferson Center, Roanoke. 345-2550, jeffcenter.org.

Rita Hoskings, Nov. 12. Country-folk music. 7:30 p.m. Bedford Central Library. 586-8911, friendsofbedfordlibrary.org.

Dar Williams, Nov. 13. Williams’ style has been compared to Joni Mitchell and Joan Baez. 8 p.m. The Lyric Theatre, Blacksburg. 951-4771, thelyric.com.

Art and Music Events at WVTF Public Radio, Nov. 18: TBA, Dec. 16: Winter Piano. WVTF Art Gallery and Studio, Roanoke. 989-8900.

Eco-Arts featuring Kathy Mattea, Nov. 18. Multi-Grammy-winning singer. 8 p.m. Jefferson Center, Roanoke. 345-2550, jeffcenter.org.

Miss Lucy: A Folk Opera, The Premiere, Nov. 17-18. Folk opera based on the life of African-American educator Lucy Addison. June M. McBroom Theater, Roanoke. 345-1688.

The Wonders of a Virtuoso Flutist and Pianist, Nov. 18. Performances by pianist Dr. James Matthews and Roanoky Symphony Orchestra flutist Julee Hickcox. 6 p.m. St. John’s Episcopal Church, Roanoke. 343-9341, stjohnsroanoke.org.

Buddy Guy, Nov. 19. Blues legend regarded as an innovator of the blues and a virtuoso guitar player. 8 p.m. Jefferson Center, Roanoke. 345-2550, jeffcenter.org.

Roanoke Youth Symphony Orchestra Fall Concert, Nov. 20. 3 p.m. $5 per person. Shaftman Performance Hall, Jefferson Center, Roanoke. 343-9127, rso.com.

Spanish Virtuosos – Duo Musart, Nov. 20. Teresa Sierra Martinez on piano and Raul Prieto Ramirez on organ. 4 p.m. Greene Memorial United Methodist Church, Roanoke. 344-6225, gmumc.org.

Mannheim Steamroller, Nov. 25. The #1-selling Christmas artist of all time. 8 p.m. Roanoke Civic Center. 853-5483, roanokeciviccenter.com.

A Christmas Spectacular, Dec. 2. Featuring the choirs of Virginia Tech. 8 p.m. Greene Memorial United Methodist Church, Roanoke. 344-6225, gmumc.org.

Kandinsky Trio Series Concert: Outstanding Works, Known and Unknown, Dec. 3. 7:30 p.m. Olin Hall Theater, Roanoke College, Salem. 375-2333, roanoke.edu.

The Steel Wheels, Dec. 3. Acoustic Americana music. 7:30 p.m. Bedford Central Library. 586-8911, friendsofbedfordlibrary.com.

Handel’s Messiah, Dec. 4. Presented by Roanoke Symphony Chorus and Virtuosi. 3 p.m. Jefferson Center, Roanoke. 343-9127, rso.com.

Roanoke College Choir: Lessons & Carols XXVII, Dec. 4. Performance directed by Dr. Jeff Sandborg. St. Andrew’s Catholic Church, Roanoke. 375-2333, roanoke.edu.

Roanoke College Jazz & Wind Ensemble Joint Concert, Dec. 8. Performance under the direction of Dr. Joseph Blaha. 7:30 p.m. Olin Theater, Roanoke College, Salem. 375-2333, roanoke.edu.

Holiday Pops Spectacular, Dec. 9. New holiday arrangements and performances by a womens chorus, children’s choir and soprano Adelaide Muir Trombetta. 7 p.m. Salem Civic Center. 343-9127, rso.com.

The Roanoke Chamber Brass Quintet in Concert, Dec. 9. 8 p.m. Bower Center for the Arts, Bedford. 586-4235, bowercenter.org.

A FACination Christmas, Dec. 10-11. Songs of the holidays. $15, adults; $10, seniors; $5, students. The Academy of Fine Arts, Lynchburg. 434-846-8499, academyfinearts.com.

Vince Gill and Amy Grant, Dec. 12. Grammy-winning husband and wife perform. 7:30 p.m. Roanoke Performing Arts Theatre. 853-5483, roanokeciviccenter.com.

2nd Annual Messiah Sing, Dec. 13. Performance including conductor Ric McClure, organist Judy Clark and pianist Cara Modisett. Soloists TBA. St. Elizabeth’s Episcopal Church, Roanoke. 774-5183.

Jim Brickman’s A Christmas Celebration, Dec. 16. Solo pianist with special guests. 7:30 p.m. Roanoke Civic Center. 853-5483, roanokeciviccenter.com.

Lady Antebellum: Own The Night 2011 Tour, Dec. 17. Grammy-winning group with special guests Josh Kelley and Edens Edge. Roanoke Civic Center. 853-5483, roanokeciviccenter.com.

The Best in Sports

14th Annual Apple Valley 5K, Nov. 5. 8:30 a.m. Gross’ Orchard, Bedford. 297-2709.

Big Lick Vet Tails and Trails 5K and 1-Mile Walk, Nov. 5. Benefits Virginia Canine Recovery Team. North Cross School, Roanoke. 776-0700.

TriAdventure 5K Race for the Kids, Nov. 5. Benefits Fitness in Action. Blacksburg. triadventure.com.

Monster Trucks & Arena Cross Bikes, Nov. 11-12. Salem Civic Center. 375-3004, salemciviccenter.com.

Virginia Tech Home Hockey Games, Nov. 11, 12. 7:30 p.m. Roanoke Civic Center. 853-5483, roanokeciviccenter.com.

Virginia Tech Football Home Games, Nov. 17. Lane Stadium, Blacksburg. hokiesports.com.

Star City Half Marathon, Nov. 19. 9 a.m. Roanoke. starcitystriders.com.

Crooked Road 24 Hour Ultra, Dec. 3-4. Waid Park, Rocky Mount. crookedroadrunning.com.

Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl, Dec. 17. Division III national title football game. Salem Civic Center. 375-3004, salemciviccenter.com.

A $5 million renovation transformed the former Mostly Sofas store into Meridium’s new global headquarters in downtown Roanoke.

Lured to buffet tables laden with crab cakes and oven-roasted corn dip, as bartenders poured Dewars scotch and Ty Ku sake, a Who’s Who of Roanoke leadership gathered on a sunny afternoon to salute the opening of an economic developer’s dream-come-true.

Yet the gleaming new Meridium Inc. office building in downtown Roanoke, a $5 million makeover of the former Mostly Sofas store, is in some ways a contradiction of the conventional strategy for locating a worldwide corporate headquarters.

Meridium’s center of the universe features big picture windows with views of the mountains and modest skyline that scream “You’re not in a metropolis.” Just the opposite.

In fact, Roanoke could have dropped easily off Bonz Hart’s roadmap for the future if he had yielded to the popular wisdom about where to put the braintrust of his burgeoning global software company.

After all, the established thinking went, such a business needs to be near its customers in big cities, minutes away from an airport with direct flights to other continents, and basking in the prestige of a major technology center like Silicon Valley or Boston. Moreover, small markets face challenges in recruiting talented young employees who crave the bright lights and career mobility.

To be sure, Meridium’s founder and president didn’t ignore such reasoning.

“All businesses are interested in their survival,” Hart says. “And if I thought it was a threat to our survival to be in Roanoke, we’d certainly remedy that.”

But Hart has learned the essentials of Global Headquarters 101 over the years from an invaluable group of sources: His young recruits. Meridium grew to its current Roanoke payroll of 130 largely by hiring people fresh out of college or for their starter jobs. Many of them are computer programmers and information technology specialists who provided the evidence and reasoning Hart needed to keep the flag of his international headquarters planted firmly in the Star City.

The value of such workers to Roanoke’s economy is measured in their earning and spending power. Meridium typically pays newly minted college graduates about $60,000 annually, or 50 percent more than the average Roanoke family. That translates into purchases of homes, goods and services that make “young professionals” a rallying cry for economic developers across the nation.

Nikhil Agrawal, a computer engineer born in India and educated at Ohio State, says he had job offers in three larger markets before accepting a bid from Meridium in Roanoke. Lifestyle is key in his being here.

“I’m a skier and Wintergreen resort is just two hours away. It’s nice and usually not crowded,” he says. And the 29-year-old Agrawal probably doesn’t fit the nightlife stereotype of his demographic group: he’s also an enthusiastic member of Roanoke’s Toastmasters Club.

Michael Bulla, a native of Ghana and computer engineer, left his former job in Raleigh for Meridium Roanoke partly so a shorter commute would let him spend more time with his growing young family. The 37-year-old now has three children.

Computer engineer Nikhil Agrawal chose Meridium over offers from companies in larger markets because of Roanoke’s lifestyle and close proximity to ski resorts.

Anthony Riebsomer, a 29-year-old technical consultant who lived most of his life in the Indianapolis area before coming to Meridium in 2010, says, “I really like this area. I’m used to a bigger city but there are plenty of good restaurants and lots of things to do.”

For all three of these young Meridium recruits, the company’s track record of job stability, steady growth and quality products helped offset the lure of bigger corporate names and markets. Says Agrawal: “I’m working with really good technologies here.”

Indeed, the company has been broadening its customer base lately. For most of its history, Meridium has focused on software that essentially detects mechanical and other problems at the production and storage facilities of oil and chemical companies. But recently Hart began broadening his product mix into computer programs that also patrol potential concerns for railroads – both passenger and freight – in Europe. Another new client that indicates diversification: the air force of a South American nation that Hart declines to identify.

Still, what Riebsomer calls “The Job Thing” gave him pause before committing to Roanoke. That’s because there’s no critical mass here in the software industry, meaning few alternative employment opportunities if his Meridium position ended. One way Hart is combating that concern is by creating a track record of job security at Meridium, where the company recently celebrated the work of 45 employees who have been there for at least 10 years.

Hart acknowledges that lack of employment opportunities for spouses and significant others can be a recruiting problem too. In Riebsomer’s case, his girlfriend is an apartment complex manager for a national company that owns property here and elsewhere. Still, the lack of job growth in other fields – with the exception of health care led by local payroll giants Carilion Clinic and LewisGale – is an occasional hiring hurdle that Meridium can’t do much about.

But Hart says the only employees or job candidates who are candid enough to tell him they have a problem with Roanoke are usually young singles. “I can’t do much about that other than set up a dating service,” he jokes.

That drawback is offset in part by Roanoke’s other quality-of-life assets, with which Hart seeks to position the city in contrast to larger markets. “It’s a great place to raise a family,” he says.

Of course that argument can be made in some form for major population centers too, because they have more amenities to offer.
“We certainly lost people to big cities,” he says, “but we drew them away too because they get tired of the cost of living and they also get tired of when they have an idea to go for a hike or to a park, a thousand others have the same idea too.”

He estimates “rural Virginia being an issue” occurs about 20 percent of the time in employee recruiting.

Being in a relatively obscure location has proven even less a problem for Hart in landing and retaining big-name customers in the oil and chemical industries whose businesses are centered in the likes of Houston, Dallas and Dubai. True, they don’t know Roanoke, but he has discovered they don’t have to in this Virtual New World.

Besides, Hart has found, Roanoke is a relatively efficient travel destination for his clients, 175 of whom visited for the opening of Meridium’s new headquarters in May. Among them: PetroChina, Kuwait National Petroleum Co. and Sasol Petroleum from New Zealand. Hart says he lined up rooms and meeting space at Hotel Roanoke and Conference Center at a cost far below what he would have paid in a major market.

True, the paucity of direct flights from major markets to Roanoke Regional Airport hampers some dealings, but Hart minimizes that negative by opening regional offices near clients and potential customers. Meridium has nearly as many employees elsewhere as it does in Roanoke, including 30 in Houston, 30 in Dubai and 40 located in various parts of Europe and Asia.

“I always thought we were going to be worldwide,” says Hart.

That expansion is accompanying considerable growth by Meridium in Roanoke, where Hart added 40 employees in the first five months of 2011.
Thus Meridium is becoming something of a model for Roanoke as a desirable corporate location at a time when its only Fortune 500 company, Advance Auto Parts, has been moving some headquarters workers to Minneapolis, a center of the retail industry.

But Hart, 56, who grew up in Altavista and graduated from Messiah College in Grantham, Pa., (and whose first name, Bonz, is actually a nickname for his given moniker, Bonsall, a Scotch-Irish surname that’s part of his family history), has found personal and corporate comfort in the Roanoke area. He started Meridum in a home office above his garage in Goodview in 1993. By 1994, he had landed such customers as Mobile Oil and opened his first office in downtown Roanoke in a rented suite at the Liberty Trust Building. Two years later he moved to larger space at the Wachovia Tower.

Meridium’s first overseas office opened in Dubai, U.A.E., in 2004, followed by operations in Australia, Brazil, India, South Africa, Germany and Malta.

But all roads for Hart’s troops and business allies lead to Roanoke. He punctuates Meridium’s corporate personality with the new headquarters and its picture-window views of small-town Americana. In doing so he has turned on its head the argument that a global company must be based in a big city.

“I think the question is, ‘What’s the purpose of a headquarters building?’” says Hart. “You have people coming here from all over the world and why to Roanoke? To answer that question, you need a building that shows off the answers: the mountains, the beautiful downtown and the lifestyle.”

Bonz Hart Timeline

• 1955 Born in New York City.
• 1973 Graduated from Altavista High School.
• 1977 Graduated from Messiah College, Grantham, Pa.
• 1993 Started Meridium Inc. a software company, in an office above his garage at home in Goodview.
• 1993 Started working with first customers: Mobil Oil and Alcoa.
• 1994 Opened first downtown Roanoke
• office in rented suite of Liberty Trust Building.
• 1996 Moved headquarters to 11th floor of the Wachovia Tower.
• 1996 Opened second office in Houston.
• 2004 Opened first international office in Dubai, U.A.E followed by offices in Australia, Brazil, China, India, South Africa, Germany and Malta.
• 2011 Opened new global headquarters in Roanoke after $5 million in acquisition and renovation costs.

Olde Salem Days, Sept. 10. Main Street, Salem. 772-8871, oldesalemdays.org.

Haley Toyota’s City Market Saturdays, Sept. 3, 10, 17, Oct. 1. Live entertainment, cooking demonstrations, how-to workshops, street performers and more. Downtown Roanoke. 342-2028.

An Apple a Day Open House, Sept. 3-4, 10-11, 17-18, 24-25. Samples of a variety of apples and Fruit of the Farm wine. Peaks of Otter Winery, Bedford. 586-3707, peaksofotterwinery.com.

Movies in the Park, Sept. 9: “How to Train Your Dragon.” Oct. 14: “Rango.” Elmwood Park, Roanoke. 342-2028.

Rockbridge Mountain Music and Dance Festival, Sept. 9-11. Glen Maury Park, Buena Vista. 261-7321, rockbridgefestival.org.

Movies at Longwood, Sept 10: TBA. Concessions available. Longwood Park, Salem. 375-3057.

Olde Salem Days, Sept. 10. Music, crafters, food vendors, antique car show and more. Main Street, Salem. 772-8871, oldesalemdays.org.

Rockbridge Wine Festival, Sept. 10. Food vendors, live entertainment and samples of wine from around the region, Noon. Theater at Lime Kiln, Lexington. 463-5375.

Pet Adoption Day, Sept. 11. Floyd Animal Rescue and other groups will present pets looking for a home. 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Chateau Morrisette, Meadows of Dan. 593-2865, thedogs.com.

21st Annual Smith Mountain Lake Antique and Classic Boat Show, Sept. 16-17. Boat displays, on-water boat demonstrations, music, food and a variety of vendors. Mariners Landing, Huddleston. 297-9202, woodenboats.net.

Roanoke Greek Festival, Sept. 16-18. Greek cuisine, live band, traditional Greek dancing, Greek artisans and children’s activities. Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church, Roanoke. 362-3601, roanokegreekfestival.com.

34th Annual Boones Mill Apple Festival, Sept. 17. Vendors, entertainment, Miss Apple Queen contest and more. Boones Mill. 483-9293, boonesmillapplefestival.com.

Art Market, Sept. 17. Original art, including paitings, photography, jewelry and cards, by local artists. Vinton Farmers Market. 983-0613,
vintonva.gov.

Henry Street Heritage Festival, Sept. 17. Food vendors, exhibitors, entertainment and more. Presented by the Harrison Museum of African-American Culture. Elmwood Park, Roanoke. 857-4395, harrisonmuseum.com.

Wine & Cheese Pairing, Sept. 17. A pairing expert explains how to match wines with cheeses of all kinds. $18 per person. Reservations and pre-payment required. Chateau Morrisette, Meadows of Dan. 593-2865, thedogs.com.

11th Annual Nothin’ Fancy Bluegrass Festival, Sept. 22-24. Local and national bands, food, dancing and more. Camping available. Glen Maury Park, Buena Vista. 261-7321.

Star City Latin Dance Festival, Sept. 23-24. Dance workshops, performances and more. Jefferson Center, Roanoke. 345-2550, jeffcenter.org.

Bedford Centerfest, Sept. 24. Artisans, craftspeople, live music, children’s activities and more. Centertown Bedford. 586-2148.

Blacksburg Brew Do, Sept. 24. Beer tastings, food from local restaurants and entertainment. Blacksburg. 443-2008, blacksburgbrewdo.com.

Harvest Festival, Sept. 24. Music and other entertainment. Historic Farmers Market, Roanoke. 342-2028, downtownroanoke.org.

Downtown Living Tour, Sept. 24-25. Residents open their homes for tours. Downtown Roanoke. 342-5790, theartscouncil.org.

Fall Home Show, Sept. 24-25. Dozens of exhibitors provide ideas for home building, home improvement and remodeling. Salem Civic Center. 375-3004, salemciviccenter.com.

Green Mill Medieval Faire & Highland Games, Sept. 24-25. Performers, music, merchants, games, masquerade ball and more. Green Hill Park, Roanoke. 337-6324.

Smith Mountain Lake Wine Festival, Sept. 24-25. More than 25 wineries offer tastings of their product amid concerts and juried craft and food vendors. LakeWatch Plantation, Moneta. 721-1203.

Radford Highlanders Festival, Oct. 1. Celtic games, clans and music. Radford. radford.edu/festival.

Peaks Foliage Open House, Oct. 1-2, 8-9, 15-16, 22-23, 29-30. Samples of apples, fresh cider and Fruit of the Farm wines. Peaks of Otter Winery, Bedford. 586-3707, peaksofotterwinery.com.

Smith Mountain Lake Charity Home Tour, Oct. 7-9. Tours of six homes in Franklin County and two in Bedford County that can be reached by car or boat. $20 in advance, $25 day of event. Proceeds divided among eight charitable organizations. Smith Mountain Lake. 297-8687, smlcharityhometour.com.

29th Annual Craig County Fall Festival, Oct. 8. Homemade food, crafts, community raffles, music, horse rides and more. New Castle. 580-3745.

Annual Mountain Day Festival, Oct. 8. Live skill demonstrations, informational displays, arts and crafts, food vendors, live music, car show and more. Downtown Buena Vista. 261-1514.

Black Dog Wine and Rock Festival, Oct. 8. Featuring music by Ponderosa and JJ Grey & Mofro, arts and crafts, food, wine and more. Chateau Morrisette, Meadows of Dan. 593-2865, thedogs.com.

Vinton Fall Festival, Oct. 8. Entertainment includes a 5K run/walk race, ugly truck contest, doggy dress-up contest, children’s activities, crafters, food vendors and more. 343-1364. More Vinton Events.

Cheeses of Italy and Virginia, Oct. 8-9. Samples of a variety of cheeses paired with wines. $20; reservations required. Noon-4 p.m. Villa Appalaccia Winery, Floyd. 593-3100, villaappalaccia.com.

Blue Ridge Potters Guild 12th Show and Sale, Oct. 14-16. Featuring functional and decorative works created by more than 60 area potters and demonstrations of pottery techniques. Patrick Henry High School, Roanoke. 343-1836.

Craftsmen’s Fall Classic Arts and Crafts Festival, Oct. 14-16. Original designs and work from hundreds of talented artists and craftspeople from across America. Roanoke Civic Center. 853-5483, roanokeciviccenter.com.

Apple Harvest Festival, Oct. 15. Crafts, games, entertainment, food and more. Gross’ Orchards, Bedford. 586-2436, grossorchards.com.

Positively Pink Parade, Oct. 15. Education, fundraiser and awareness for Every Woman’s Life Breast Cancer, a non-profit organization.

The Roanoke Outdoor Circus, Oct 21-23. An inaugural outdoor sports festival combining the things outdoor enthusiasts love – camping, music, gear, adventure films, races, gear giveaways, demonstrations and a beautiful outdoor setting. This is a celebration of everything outdoors, and most of its events are free. theoutdoorcircus.com; pete@roanoke.org, 343-1550 ext. 104.

38th Annual Blue Ridge Folklife Festival, Oct. 22. A celebration of traditional music, crafts, foodways and rural life. Ferrum College. 365-4416.

Craft Show, Oct. 22. Show and sale of handmade crafts and gifts by local crafters. Vinton Farmers Market. 983-0613, vintonva.gov.

Roanoke Valley Gun Show, Oct. 22-23. Firearms, ammo, knives and related merchandise. Roanoke Civic Center. 853-5483, roanokeciviccenter.com.

Wine & Unwind Wine Festival, Oct. 23. Samples from Virginia wineries, arts and crafts, food and more. Noon-5 p.m. Salem Civic Center. 387-0267.

FriendshipFest, Oct. 29. A day-long event for visitors, employees and residents featuring numerous activities to celebrate the opening of Friendship’s Wandering Garden and facility renovations. 10 a.m.- 3 p.m. Friendship Retirement Community, 397 Hershberger Road, Roanoke, Va. 580-5953.

Pumpkinfest, Oct. 29. Pumpkin give-away, children’s activities, carnival games, costume contest, hay rides, a pumpkin auction and trick or treating with the merchants. Salem Farmers Market. 375-3057.

Downtown Trick-or-Treat, Oct. 31. Carnival, café, carriage rides and trick-or-treating for children 12 and under. Downtown Lexington. 463-5375.

Drama/Comedy/Dance

No Shame Theatre, Sept. 2, 9, 16, 23, 30. Oct. 7, 14, 21, 28. A venue for the creation and performance of original theater by anyone, about anything Community High School. 342-5740.

Dances of Universal Peace, Sept. 16, Oct. 21. Simple circle dances using sacred names, movements and music from the world’s spiritual traditions. 7:30 p.m. Unity of Roanoke. 556-2233.

Big Lick Conspiracy, Sept. 17. Professional comedy improv troupe. Community High School, Roanoke. 345-2550.

“Zombie Boyfriend!,” Sept. 21-Oct. 2. A college girl makes a deal with the devil to bring her boyfriend back from the dead. $15, advance seats; $20 at the door; $12 for seniors, students and active military. Studio Roanoke. 343-3054, studioroanoke.org.

“A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” Sept. 24. Presented by the American Shakespeare Center on Tour. 7:30 p.m. $25, adults; $23, seniors; $12.50, children. Theater at Lime Kiln, Lexington. 463-7088, theateratlimekiln.com.

Yo Gabba Gabba Live! It’s Time to Dance!, Sept. 28. Shows at 3 p.m. and 6 p.m.. Roanoke Performing Arts Theatre. 853-5483, roanokeciviccenter.com.

“The Haunting of Hill House,” Oct. 5-16. A house is said to be evil, and past residents have died in unusual ways. $12, adults; $5, children under 18. Showtimers Community Theatre, Roanoke. 774-2660, showtimers.org.

“Dearly Beloved,” Oct. 6-8, 13-15. “Gone With the Wind” meets “Hee Haw” as the Futrelle sisters throw an antebellum-themed family wedding.Ticket prices vary. D. Geraldine Lawson Performing Arts Center, Fincastle. 473-1001, atticproductions.info.

“Nick Cave: Meet Me at the Center of the Earth,” Sept. 16-Jan. 1, 2012. Taubman Museum of Art, Roanoke. 342-5760, taubmanmuseum.org.

Exhibits of Art and Artifact

“Goodnight, Hush: Classic Children’s Book Illustrations,” through Sept. 10. Original illustrations by artists Clement Hurd, Thacher Hurd, Ashley Wolff and Ruth Sanderson. Eleanor D. Wilson Museum, Hollins University, Roanoke. 362-6496, hollins.edu.

“This Great Nation Will Endure,” through Oct. 31. A look at photographic works generated by the Roosevelt’s New Deal. O. Winston Link Museum, Roanoke. 982-5465, linkmuseum.org.

“Simone Paterson: Nest,” Sept. 16- Oct. 31. A new media installation that plays with the notions of home, technology and the natural world. Taubman Museum of Art, Roanoke. 342-5760, taubmanmuseum.org.

“Civil War Drawings from the Becker Collection,” Sept. 16-Oct. 30. Drawings that document in lively and specific ways key developments in the history of America as it struggled to establish its national identity. Taubman Museum of Art, Roanoke. 342-5760, taubmanmuseum.org.

“The Roanoke Times History in Photographs,” Sept. 16-Jan. 15, 2012. Highlight of the Times role in the community and exploration of the relationship between photography and the documentation of significant events. Taubman Museum of Art, Roanoke. 342-5760, taubmanmuseum.org.

“Nick Cave: Meet Me at the Center of the Earth,” Sept. 16-Jan. 1, 2012. Hand-sewn collection of Soundsuits. Taubman Museum of Art, Roanoke. 342-5760, taubmanmuseum.org.

Informative Talks/Fine Films

Silver Screen Classic on the Lawn, Sept. 3. Showing of the Hitchcock classic “Dial M for Murder.” 8:30 p.m. $5; wine and food sold separately. Chateau Morrisette, Meadows of Dan. 593-2865, thedogs.com.

Constitution Day Lecture, Sept. 21. Doris Kearns Goodwin will speak on “Presidential Power after Lincoln.” 7:30 p.m. Bast Center, Roanoke College, Salem. 375-2500, roanoke.edu.

Women in Leadership Conference, Sept. 26-27. Theme is “Engaging Ethics” with keynote speaker Dr. Wangari Maathai and a series of panels and workshops. 362-6021, hollins.edu.

Music to the Ear

BB&T’s Party in the Park, Sept. 1: The Kings, Sept. 8: Band of Oz, Sept. 15: Atlantic Groove. Elmwood Park, Roanoke. 342-2640, eventzone.org.

Friday Night Live – Music in the Courtyard, Sept. 2. Classic rock music performed by Southern Remedy. Beer, wine and food will be available for purchase. 6-9 p.m. $8. Chateau Morrisette, Meadows of Dan. 593-2865, thedogs.com.

Fridays on Franklin, Sept. 2: The Worx. SunTrust Plaza, Roanoke. 342-0400 or 776-5356, firstfridaysroanoke.com.

John Hiatt and The Combo and Big Head Todd and the Monsters, Sept. 9. Jefferson Center, Roanoke. 345-2550, jeffcenter.org.

Band Night, Sept. 9, 23. Oct. 14, 28. Valhalla Vineyards, Roanoke. 725-WINE, valhallawines.com.

Music After Midnight, Sept. 9, Oct. 7. Audience joins performers onstage following No Shame Theatre for classical and new music performances. Community High School, Roanoke. 819-3953.

Music and Art at WVTF, Sept. 9, Oct. 14. Live music and food from Center Stage Catering. Roanoke. 989-8900. wvtf.org.

Handel and Poulenc with the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra, Sept. 23. Maestro David Stewart Wiley conducts a program of concertos for organ and orchestra. 6 p.m. St. John’s Episcopal Church, Roanoke. 343-9341, stjohnsroanoke.org.

Vignettes: Ellis Island, Judith Cline, soprano and Cara Modisett, piano, Sept. 26. Sixty percent of proceeds will benefit Roanoke Refugee and Immigration Services. St. Elizabeth’s Episcopal Church, Roanoke. 774-5183.

Jason Aldean: My Kinda Party Tour 2011, Sept. 30. With special guests Chris Young and Thompson Square. Roanoke Civic Center. 853-5483, roanokeciviccenter.com.

SunTrust Big Lick Blues Festival, Oct. 1. Featuring music by Delbert McClinton, The Fat Daddy Band and more. $24 in advance; $28 at the gate. Elmwood Park, Roanoke. 342-2640, biglickblues.org.

Masterworks Series: From The New World, Oct. 3. Roanoke Symphony Orchestra. 8 p.m. Roanoke Performing Arts Theatre. 343-9127, rso.com.

The Temptations & Four Tops, Oct. 9. Salem Civic Center. 375-3004, salemciviccenter.com.

Jazz Club with Lionel Loueke, Oct. 15. Jefferson Center, Roanoke. 345-2550, jeffcenter.org.

The Blind Boys of Alabama, Oct. 20. Jefferson Center, Roanoke. 345-2550, jeffcenter.org.

Picnic at the Pops: Billy Ocean & The RSO, Oct. 21. Salem Civic Center. 343-9127, rso.com.

George Jones, Oct. 23. Salem Civic Center. 375-3004, salemciviccenter.com.

Delloween, Oct. 29. Featuring Del McCoury Band. Jefferson Center, Roanoke. 345-2550, jeffcenter.org.

The Best in Sports

Virginia Tech Football Home Games, Sept. 3, 17. Oct. 1, 8, 22. Lane Stadium, Blacksburg. hokiesports.com.

7th Annual Knights Crossing, Sept. 10. Green Hill Park, Roanoke. starcitystriders.com.

Johnny Casa 5 Mile Run & Walk, Sept. 10. Proceeds support Southern Virginia Child Advocacy Center. LakeWatch Plantation, Smith Mountain Lake. johnnycasa5miler-5kwalk.com.

16th Annual Marine 5K Mud Run, Sept. 17. Proceeds benefit Toys for Tots and Camp Roanoke. Greenhill Park, Roanoke. mudrun.com.

Virginia Tech Hockey Home Games, Sept. 23, 24. Oct. 2, 7, 28, 29. Roanoke Civic Center. 853-5483, roanokeciviccenter.com.

Fired Up for a Cure, Sept. 24. Breast cancer awareness 5K/10K race. Roanoke Civic Center. 853-5483, roanokeciviccenter.com.

5th Annual Into the Darkness Night Trail Race, Oct. 22. 7-10 p.m. Virginia’s Explore Park, Roanoke. 525-9452, mountainjunkies.net.

Ron Blum is painstakingly drawing the innards of his new emPower electronic spectacles on a white dry-erase board. He insists that a visiting journalist try on a pair and discover that with the touch of a finger the lenses adjust instantly to focus in on objects near or far away.

“I’ve been working on this for 12 years. It hasn’t been a walk in the park,” says Blum, a soft-spoken, slightly built man of science who wears neither a white smock on his person nor ego on his sleeve.

Yet Blum is an American success story in the spirit of Thomas Edison or George Washington Carver, if on a smaller scale. But he’s of that same from-the-ground-up genre of infinitely curious innovators who continually confront mysteries you might think only a giant corporation or government agency could solve.

To understand and appreciate Blum and the meaning of his four decades as a Roanoke-based researcher, inventor and entrepreneur requires a closer look than he usually stands still for. Although he applies his intellect in almost perpetual motion, Blum’s life and times are known to the public mainly as a series of snapshots that seem barely connected: From working in an everyday optometry practice quizzing patients on tiny lines of letters and numbers, to inventing Tie-Tites – a now-defunct device that keeps shoelaces snug – to helping develop a surgically implanted electronic lens which might become an ophthalmic game changer in the league with LASIK surgery.

This summer has marked the retail launch of emPower, the $1,000-a-pair glasses introduced by PixelOptics Inc., a 60-employee company located in a brick-faced office park just off Peters Creek Road in North Roanoke County, in the same building where his Egg Factory has been spawning ideas and business since 1999.

Blum is chairman and chief executive officer of PixelOptics, although the company is majority-owned by several investors as far away as Japan.
Blum’s career is a now-and-then series of inspirational events linked by his genius, the hundreds of millions of dollars in investment capital he has gradually coaxed and the iconic names on a long and diverse list of partners and patrons he has attracted. Eclectic in the extreme, they include shoe giant Converse, the Pentagon, Japan’s Panasonic and New Jersey-based health-care biggie Johnson & Johnson.

Still, since arriving in Roanoke in 1972 to accept his first job as an optometrist, Blum hasn’t achieved the recognition locally that he enjoys in some major research and development laboratories around the world. One reason is that when his inventions have come to market, they’ve been manufactured elsewhere. Blum’s associates and investors in various companies estimate that while he has probably helped create about 300 jobs locally, his products have supported a workforce spread across the U.S. and some overseas locales totaling about 5,800.

Most of those jobs exist today, including dozens at the Southwest Virginia optometry chain he founded in 1977 that operates today as Newman, Blackstock and Associates. He exited that business in 1991 to concentrate on forming other companies and do research.

If all the business entities that Blum has spawned were in Roanoke, Blum might today be the area’s second largest private employer, collectively, behind only Carilion.

Jack Loeb, a retired Roanoke home builder who has invested in Blum’s ideas since the ‘70s and provided basement tinkering space, calls Blum “The Mad Scientist.”

The emPower lenses use transparent electrodes to react to the eye's immediate visual need.

For example, in 1991, Blum rented space in a tanning salon to conduct a lens experiment. The research effort stunned long-time Blum associate Amitava Gupta, who holds a PhD in chemical physics from CalTech.

“He had these little glass bowls with resin in them and he would leave them outside to see if the sun cured the material to form lenses,” says Gupta. “But clouds and rain interfered. So he took the bowls to a tanning salon, rented a bed and spread them out. Turns out that it worked, and the tanning place was a great laboratory.”

Blum inspires enduring affection and faith in such followers, beginning with the first invention brought to market. It was not for the eyes, but for kids’ feet – their shoes to be exact. In 1982, Blum noticed that his then-small children’s shoelaces tended to become untied, so he developed fasteners he called Tie-Tites.

Blum, whose formal education was capped at Southern College of Optometry in Memphis, had no formal classroom preparation in engineering to prime him for such an invention. Nor does he possess a higher academic background in chemistry or physics to ready him for making breakthrough discoveries in vision care.

Nevertheless, Tie-Tites proved to be a cure for loose shoelaces. “We sold perhaps a hundred thousand of them. They worked like a charm. We did a transaction with a manufacturer and a major promotion with Converse shoes across the U.S,” recalls Blum.

But as so often happens with progress, a better mousetrap came along. “Within a year after launching Tie-Tites, Velcro came out,” says Blum. “Bottom line we sold many Tie-Tites but never really made any money before Velcro took the luster off our market.”

Loeb says he invested $10,000 or so in Tie-Tites, which failed to produced a return. But Blum points out that Loeb surely made money on some of the products developed from the inventor’s later research. What’s more, Loeb says he profited from being hired to build Blum’s house in Hunting Hills. Loeb is still invested in The Egg Factory, and is a director of the company.

He expresses a conviction common among Blum associates: “I believe in Ron.”

So do many professional investors, such as Gary Kurtzman, managing director of Safeguard Scientifics, a venture capital firm near Philadelphia. He advanced $45 million to PixelOptics this year toward the introduction of emPower. He says Blum appeared at a meeting to request Safeguard’s investment without an entourage.

“Ron doesn’t need a PhD or financial advisor to explain his ideas,” says Kurtzman. “He’s an inventor of things that solve practical problems and he understands the eyeglasses industry.”

To be sure, there have been some significant paydays for Blum and his investors. In 1995, he took, Innotech, a maker of eyeglasses, public in a $30 million stock offering on the Nasdaq exchange. In 1996, Johnson & Johnson swooped in to acquire Innotech, which still hadn’t become profitable, for $124 million.

Those transactions made Blum and some of his believers wealthy. He remained a Johnson & Johnson employee until 1999, and helped develop a now-successful line of progressive addition lenses.

They’re now produced under the brand name Definity, made by Essilor International, which acquired the technology from Johnson & Johnson in 2005. But Definity didn’t yield a major benefit that Blum hoped for: jobs in Roanoke. Essilor didn’t follow through on plans made public by Johnson & Johnson to build a 600-worker plant in Roanoke. Instead, Essilor built in Dallas.

Blum expresses keen disappointment: “Definity was invented, developed and patented in Roanoke. Those lenses could have been made in Roanoke instead of Dallas.”

Yet Blum understands the realities of corporate ownership’s quest for manufacturing’s lowest cost locations in areas where a sizable and trained workforces already exist. Thus he accepts the insistence of Shikoku Electronics, a unit of Panasonic, that PixelOptics’ emPower glasses will be made in Japan.

A technician prepares a lens for grinding at PixelOptics.

How many manufacturing jobs emPower will lead to in Japan is unclear, depending on consumer demand. Meanwhile, Blum says, Roanoke gets a consolation prize. He expects PixelOptics employment here to about double to 110 or so by the end of 2011 as the company adds jobs in research and development, marketing, sales and shipping.

Plans are to sell emPower through Mid-Atlantic region optometry shops, expanding gradually as retailers can be trained to show consumers how to use them. The complexity of the emPower, let alone their $1,000 pricetag, makes acceptance by the mass market uncertain.

“This isn’t just ‘slam them on your face and go,’” says Mike Packard, a PixelOptics board member who formerly worked in technology development at the giant optometry chain LensCrafters. For one thing, optometrists’ buy-in is dicey. He says they’ll be required to pony up a fee – he declined to disclose the amount – to acquire emPower sales rights and then undergo a day-and-a-half of training on the auto-focus glasses.

The emPower is designed to allow wearers to alter their prescriptions to focus on objects near or distant. Two transparent electrodes are built into the lenses with a thin layer of liquid crystal between them. There are no moving parts, and the glasses don’t look any different than conventional models.

A New York Times article last February gushed about emPower: “To call up reading power in the new glasses, users touch the side of the frame,. “Turn it off to hit a golf ball; turn it on to read the scorecard.”

Yet Blum is already looking beyond emPower to new frontiers in vision improvement.

Another company started by The Egg Factory, Elenza Inc., located in the same office park, is off and running to produce a tiny electronic package that can be surgically implanted in the eye to adjust sight with technology similar to the emPower lenses. One of Blum’s protégés, Amitava Gupta, is Elenza’s chief technical officer.

The company recently received a $24 million infusion of venture capital funding. Gupta says Elenza’s product, patented as the Electro-active AutoFocal Intraocular Lens, is expected to complete testing and receive regulatory approvals in Europe in about three years, much faster than U.S. authorities normally permit.

Thus it initially will be sold overseas only and likely manufactured in India. Again, a major innovation from Blum and colleagues won’t mean more jobs here.

“It’s not Roanoke’s fault,” says Gupta, who spends much of his time traveling internationally on behalf of Elenza. “Ron and his team, we would like nothing better than to manufacture in Roanoke. It’s where we live.”

And Blum seems to live mostly for work, which he says requires the understanding of his wife, Kay. Married in 1970, they have two children and four grandchildren.

“She has allowed me to pursue my passion of inventing and growing young companies,” he says. “This has taken a tremendous amount of time away from my family. However I balance this by not playing golf or spending time with the guys. I’m 100 percent at work or 100 percent at home and nothing in between.”

Now 64, Blum doesn’t see himself retiring. Instead, he’s honed on 11 products in the works that are more years away from production than Elenza’s implants, including some eyedrops he’s excited about but won’t discuss. Any one of those, he says, could lead to the breakthrough that finally puts Roanoke on the global economy’s map as more than a speck with dotted lines that lead far and wide.

Inside a sterile cleanroom, workers at Roanoke County's PixelOptics help design and build cutting-edge eyeglasses.

An Invention Blum Didn’t Pull Off

Long-time Ron Blum buddy and investor Jack Loeb likes to tell the story of the invention he suggested to the fertile and imaginative mind of Blum.
It was, Loeb admits, a product he personally yearned for: hard liquor in powdered form.

“So you could mix up a cocktail while camping, hiking or anywhere,” says Loeb, a retired Roanoke developer.

Blum considered his friend’s request carefully, but ultimately decided that creating powdered liquor wouldn’t live up to the serious ideals he’d set for a company established to incubate early-stage research concepts.

The Egg Factory, according to Blum, “is set up to work on global needs that benefit society and are of a certain large scale and scope.
“And we could not figure out how powdered liquor was going to benefit society.”

Blum says Loeb took the rejection well: “Jack handled our turning down his idea with professionalism.”

Loeb, for his part, maintains he “was just being practical.” –RJ

Ron Blum Timeline

1946 Born in Kingsport, Tenn.
1965 Graduated from Dobyn’s Bennett High School in Kingsport.
1970 Married “my secret weapon, best friend, and life-long partner” (Kay).
1972 Graduated from Southern College of Optometry in Memphis, Tenn.
1972 Moved to Roanoke and joined in optometry practice with Jack Rapoport O.D.
1977 Started his own independent practice of optometry in Roanoke.
1980 Miles Newman joined and Drs. Blum and Newman, Optometrists was formed; additional offices opened.
1983 Joe Blackstock, O.D. joined and Drs. Blum, Newman, Blackstock and Associates was formed and more offices opened.
1982 Invented Tie-Tites (A device for keeping shoe laces from coming untied).
1991 Started Innotech, Inc. and left Drs. Blum, Newman, Blackstock and Associates.
1995 Took Innotech public on the Nasdaq
1996 Sold Innotech to Johnson & Johnson (and became employed by J &J).
1997 Lead team that invented Definity no-line bifocals.
1999 Left Johnson & Johnson and Founded The Egg Factory.
1999 Invented electronic focusing lenses having no moving parts.
2005 Established PixelOptics, Inc.
2006 Received first significant funding to pursue final development of electronic eyeglasses.
2011 Expects to commercially launch electronic eyeglasses named emPower!

A vibrant athlete who endured a tragic disease, Rayna DuBose has used that same competitive spirit she had on a basketball court to become a top motivational speaker.

The first thing you notice about Rayna DuBose when she walks into a room is what you don’t notice if you know her story.

DuBose doesn’t limp, and from a distance, you have no idea that her arms have been amputated just below the elbow and that her legs are missing under her knees because of her 2002 battle with meningococcal meningitis when she was at Virginia Tech. Her prosthetics have gotten better – at least they’re the right color now to match her smooth, dark skin – since they first became a regular part of her wardrobe.

And even if you could just focus on what Rayna DuBose is missing, you wouldn’t because what she does have is so very special.

“Her smile just lights up a room,” says former Virginia Tech basketball teammate Fran Recchia. “She makes friends instantly. She always has.”

Since DuBose loves basketball, that contagious smile is often compared to that of Earvin “Magic” Johnson as one of the most matchless mugs in the sport. Her dark, dancing eyes are part of the picture, too, engaging and friendly with just a hint of mischief that makes it look like she’s up to something.

And she usually is up to something.

“Oh, my God, that smile and those eyes,” says her college coach, Bonnie Henrickson. “Rayna could talk herself in or out of anything, and I was victim of that for a while until I was able to say, ‘Okay, you’re not getting me on this one.’ She could sell ice to Eskimos.”

Today, nine years after she lost her limbs and after what many would consider losing everything, DuBose is still selling something: her most valuable commodity, herself.

DuBose is carving out a career as one of the top motivational speakers in the country with a story that most wouldn’t believe if they weren’t hearing it right from Rayna DuBose herself.

She may have lost her arms and legs, but her reach has never been greater.

That thought, like most of her thoughts these days, makes DuBose smile. She lives on her own in Owings Mills, near Baltimore, and close to her Columbia, Md., home where her parents, Willie and Andrea, still reside.

She speaks at least three times a month, around the country, from basketball camps to business groups and all manner of meetings and gatherings. According to Andrea Adams, the Michigan-based publicist who works for DuBose, her fees range from $3,000-$5,000.

“She’s very independent,” Adams says. “The only time we assist her is at very large functions.”

Adams, who has been working with DuBose for three years, was with her for an appearance in Texas, and noticed that DuBose’s arm prosthetics weren’t working. One “hand” wasn’t designed to move, and the batteries in her other hand that allowed movement were dead.

Rayna DuBose is in demand across the country for her message of hope and perseverance, and also serves as a spokesperson for Novartis and the pharmaceutical company’s meningococcal vaccine.

“I asked her if she needed me to help put her stud earring in, and she (said), ‘Andrea, I can do this on my own,’” Adams laughs at the memory. “And she did. I’m just not used to seeing someone able to be that independent. Even with no movement in her hands, she was still able to function and do everything on her own.”

DuBose’s competitiveness as an athlete has channeled into a motivation to keep improving as a speaker and making her own way in her daily life. In her initial physical therapy sessions she became frustrated when her therapists weren’t challenging her enough.

“My thing was I didn’t want to feel handicapped,” she says. “I have to live handicapped, but I didn’t want to feel that way myself.”

DuBose doesn’t feel handicapped or challenged any more. In fact, in her speaking appearances, she’s the one who does the challenging.

“I get to motivate people with what I’ve learned through life,” she says simply.

DuBose has empowered herself, beginning with her return to Virginia Tech and earning her undergraduate degree in consumer studies in 2007.

She often wears high heels when she goes out. She has also coached basketball, volunteered at Marriotts Ridge High School in 2009, and worked at several summer camps the last few years.

She fishes for items in her oversized purse just like any other young woman, coming up with her cell phone and deftly texting friends and business contacts. She drives herself around in her own Saturn VUE (“a regular car just like yours”), with no special accommodations, save a handicapped parking decal.

Being athletic and active is a huge part of who she is, and vital to her wellbeing. DuBose says on a typical day, she wakes up at 9 a.m., and goes straight to the gym, where she runs on a treadmill, rides a stationary bike or engages in some type of cardiovascular exercise.

After lunch, she spends a couple of hours on the computer, answering emails, doing paperwork and working on her schedule. She has just returned home from a speaking engagement in Pittsburgh, and is readying for a speech to high school athletes, sponsored by The Baltimore Sun. She’s trying to fit in more motivational appearances around her work as a spokesperson for the pharmaceutical company Novartis’ game-changing meningococcal vaccine.

In the summer, she loves to go to basketball camps to spread her message to young players and be around their energy and enthusiasm, the same traits that once drove her on the hardwoods.

“I always tell them I don’t have my real game of basketball anymore, but this is my new game,” she says, that smile giving way to a determination. “And I want to be the best. I’d like people to know my name and be excited if they find out, ‘Oh, Rayna DuBose is the speaker!’ I’m competing the same way I always did, just in a different way now.”

Virginia Tech Associate Athletic Director Sharon McCloskey was one of the first people who pushed DuBose toward the podium.

Rayna DuBose’s bright smile is still ever present, especially when she visits Blacksburg and Cassell Coliseum. Among her favorite speaking engagements are summer camps where she can connect with young basketball players.

“I talked with her more than once about this,” McCloskey recalls. “I said, ‘You have the perfect message for college students, and that’s get your degree because you never know what’s going to happen.’”

DuBose, like many athletes, harbored dreams of pro basketball. She left home in the summer of 2001, heading south to play at Virginia Tech and to make a name for herself as a burgeoning, barely-below-blue-chip big girl for Henrickson’s hurrying Hokies.

“When we were recruiting her, we saw a gifted, long, athletic player that had the skills to play facing up or back to the basket,” recalls Henrickson, now the head coach at the University of Kansas. “We felt she would really grow as a player but she was behind some gifted players when she got (there).”

The 6-foot, 3-inch DuBose played sparingly as a freshman, appearing in just 13 games and averaging only 4.8 points and 2.4 rebounds. She tallied 10 points and five rebounds against both Radford and Northwestern State, while playing behind All-Big East Conference Ieva Kublina, and close friend Erin Gibson of Galax.

“Rayna came in like most kids, had some challenges and had to buckle down and find the consistency you have to play with day in and day out,” says Henrickson. “I thought she had really turned the corner and had a bright future.”

The Hokies were 21-11 and had just wrapped up play in the Women’s National Invitational Tournament when that future changed entirely.

DuBose became sick soon after the season, and doctors treated her for flu-like symptoms. The morning of April 2, the team was to reshoot a team photo and DuBose felt so “horrible” she didn’t want to get out of bed.

Gibson and Recchia carried DuBose from their dorm room in Cochrane Hall across the street to Cassell Coliseum. “I was so weak that Erin actually held me up the whole time we were taking the picture,” says DuBose.

And that’s about all DuBose remembers about that day. Her blood pressure fell and she lapsed into a three-week coma. Doctors at Montgomery Regional Hospital had DuBose, now in critical condition, airlifted to the University of Virginia’s Medical Center.

DuBose doesn’t remember that her lungs collapsed, and her heart, kidneys and liver all failed. The rare bacterial infection also caused her blood to stop circulating.

“When I finally got to see her in ICU, I held her hand and it was cold,” says Henrickson. “I put my hand on her shoulder and it was warm. I moved my hands to where one hand was hot and the other was cold, and it was almost exactly where they amputated.”

DuBose accepted her fate with remarkable grace.

“One day they were all around the foot of my bed and they just kind of told me that they were going to have to amputate all of my limbs,” she says. “There wasn’t anything they could do because everything was dead. There wasn’t anything I could do but cry for a second and say, ‘Let’s go.’”

They took her arms four inches below the elbow, and her legs were amputated six inches below her knees.

“There were so many nightmares that I don’t really remember what’s true and what’s not,” DuBose says. “I was waking out of a coma and saying, ‘When am I going to take my finals?’”

Much tougher tests awaited the then-18-year-old, hospitalized in Charlottesville for 97 days before she was ambulanced to Good Samaritan Hospital in Baltimore. DuBose was in Good Samaritan for a month-and-a-half, and was then allowed to go home and continue rehabilitation as an outpatient. Gibson and Recchia both visited her in the Medical Center ICU, and again several times when she got home.

“It was really hard in the beginning because Rayna didn’t want to talk to anyone, didn’t want to go out to the mall or to see a movie,” says Recchia. “And that’s just not Rayna. She’s such a positive person, such a social person.”

DuBose was self-conscious, a feeling that didn’t dissipate when her first new arms weren’t the right color. They were white and new to her, and she was already unsure of herself in the social settings in which she had once thrived.

“I had to learn everything over again – waking up, brushing my teeth, combing my hair, taking a bath, using a computer, whatever,” she says. “It took time, and I’ve never had patience. You have to have patience as an amputee because you’re not going to get things on the first, second, third or fourth try. It takes 10, 11, 12, 13 tries.”

Beyond relearning how to care for herself, DuBose had to overcome how others viewed her. “I was always used to people looking at me and saying, ’Oh, she’s pretty. She has a pretty smile,’ or ‘She’s great at what she does.’ Now people were looking at me like, ‘Oh, my God, what happened to her?’ So it took me awhile to get over that and speaking definitely helped.”

Her friends are amazed at the effort DuBose expends making those around her comfortable. DuBose’s positive personality shines through, and now she has an outlet that puts her back in control of her life.

DuBose likes “the spotlight” that comes with speaking. It reminds her of when thousands watched her play basketball in Cassell. And, she’s good at it.

In Lawrence, Kan. three years ago, Henrickson tried to comfort DuBose before she spoke at the Jayhawks’ summer camp, telling her it would be an informal setting and not to worry. It was the coach who didn’t need to worry.

“From the first minutes, I was just, ‘wow,’” says Henrickson. “The inflection, the humor, the self deprecation, the stuff that’s most difficult and you either have it or you don’t, she had it. I remember sitting there, crying, and I already knew the story.”

The 2002 HBO “Real Sports” segment on DuBose is often a precursor to her speaking, and then she can just focus in on her message, which is personal yet universal.

“It’s about perseverance, overcoming tragedy and adversities that are thrown at us every single day,” DuBose says. “I always say you have two options: We can lay down and be down or we can get up and make the most out of it. For me, it was just finally realizing that God had a different plan for me and basketball wasn’t where I was supposed to go.

“I’m helping people become aware of what we all can endure.”

For a video of Rayna Dubose and more, visit raynadubose.net

2011

Ongoing Events:

The petting zoo exhibit at Vinton's Fall Festival is a big hit with local children.

Vinton Farmers Market Events
Throughout its season, the Vinton Farmers Market hosts Art Markets, Vintage Markets, Mingle at the Market and Craft Shows, which also include performances by local musicians, food tastings, children’s art or craft activities and more. Remaining dates for 2011 include Art Market on Sept. 17 and Craft Show on Oct. 22. 13. 983-0613.

Mountain Music at VFW
Every Friday, families are entertained by bluegrass and old-time dance music at the VFW Post 4522. Also: door prizes and an array of refreshments, such as homemade cakes and chili hot dogs. Children are admitted free. 344-9169.

October 8th:
Vinton Fall Festival
Held the second Saturday in October, the event kicks off with a 5K run and a pancake breakfast at the VFW. Downtown activities include music, a doggy pageant, children’s activities, carriage/hay rides, craft and food vendors. Downtown businesses also open for the day. 343-1364. vintonchamber.com/fallfestival.htm

Ugly Pickup Truck Contest
Part of the Fall Festival. 1st Prize: $50 ~ 2nd prize: $25 ~ 3rd prize: free car wash. Must be driven to event – no towing. Registration 8 – 10 a.m., Judging at 11 a.m. Look for registration table at corner of Jackson Ave. and S. Maple St.

Mingle at the Market
$5 admission, 21 & older event, ID Required, Adult Beverage Garden, No Pets. October 8th: Cimmaron (following the Fall Festival 5:30-8:30pm)

October 31st
Halloween Trick or Treating in Downtown Vinton
Children 12 and younger are invited to trick-or-treat in downtown Vinton. Businesses post a pumpkin sign on their storefront window or door so children know where to come for goodies. 983-0613.

December 1st
Vinton Christmas Parade, 7 p.m.
More than 10,000 people gather for the Christmas Parade, held the first Thursday after Thanksgiving in downtown Vinton. The Vinton Breakfast Lions present a spaghetti supper on parade day. 343-1364.

December 31
New Year’s Eve Gala – Vinton War Memorial 8 p.m. – 1 a.m.
21 & older event

2012

January
Big Orange Classic Wrestling Tournament.
Hosted by William Byrd High School each January, the two-day tournament for high school wrestlers has been a popular event for more than 30 years. Teams from across the region vie for team and individual championships. 890-3090.

April
Vinton Relay For Life
Held every April on the week before the Dogwood Festival at William Byrd High School, Relay for Life is our Cure Cancer Walk, because cancer never sleeps. 343-1364.

Wine lovers taste samples at the annual Vinton Wine & Food Festival.

Vinton Dogwood Festival
Held in late April for more than 50 years, this community family event features live music, a parade, contests, arts and crafts, food, a carnival, the 5K Dogwood Run, a kids’ zone and the crowning of the Dogwood Queen. 983-0614; vintondogwoodfestival.org.

May
The Vinton Wine & Food Festival
In May, the War Memorial’s lawn fills with fine Virginia wines, food from local chefs and music by regional artists. Also: wine seminars, food demos and vendors. 343-1364, vintonwinefestival.com.

July
Vinton Fourth of July Celebration
Before the evening fireworks display, there’s entertainment with inflatables, stilt walkers, balloon animals, juggling and more on the Vinton War Memorial grounds. Food is also available to all attending. 983-0613.

Downtown Vinton Community Car Show & Fund Raiser
This July event features classic cars, fun and games, live music, food raffles and more. Proceeds benefit Manna Ministries. 857-0030.

For more information, visit the Vinton Area Chamber of Commerce website

Events, Expos & For a Good Cause

Salem Fair, through July 10. Carnival rides, food, musical entertainment and more. Salem Civic Center. 375-3004, salemciviccenter.com.

Buchanan Volunteer Fire Department Fourth of July Carnival, July 1. Carnival, games, food and music. 254-1212, townofbuchanan.com.

Haley Toyota’s City Market Saturdays, July 2, 9, 16, 23, 30. Aug. 6, 13, 20, 27. A different form of entertainment each Saturday, including cooking demonstrations, street performers, music and more. 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m. City Market, Roanoke. 342-2028.

Independence Day Celebration, July 2. Entertainment and a grand fireworks display. Parkway Marina, Huddleston. 297-4412.

Floyd Fandango Beer and Wine Festival, July 2-3. Wine tasting, beer sampling, music and mountain camping. Blue Cow Pavilion, Floyd. 888-VA-FESTS, floydfandango.com.

15th BB&T July Fourth Hot-Air Balloon Rally, July 2-4. Piloted balloon ride, tethered balloon rides, balloon glow, live music, food, craft vendors and fireworks. Virginia Military Institute, Lexington. 461-0402.

Red, White and You, July 2-4. Samples of apple-pepper wine. Peaks of Otter Winery, Bedford. 586-3707, peaksofotterwinery.com.

4th of July Children’s Bike Parade, July 4. Kids decorate their bikes, scooters and strollers before heading down Main Street. 11 a.m. Lexington. 463-5375.

Independence Day Celebration at Poplar Forest, July 4. Musical performances, dancing, historical entertainment, games, storytelling and the reading of the Declaration of Independence. Forest. 434-525-1806.

Independence Monday, July 4. Celebrate with a wine tasting, tour and lunch. Chateau Morrisette, Meadows of Dan. 593-2865, thedogs.com.

Vinton 4th of July Celebration, July 4. Before the evening fireworks show, patrons are entertained with inflatables, stilt walkers, balloon animals, juggling and more. Vinton War Memorial. 983-0613.

Movies in the Park, July 8, Aug. 12. A movie shown on a giant screen under the stars. Begins at dark. Elmwood Park, Roanoke. 342-2028.

7th Annual Horse and Hound Wine Festival, July 9. Wine from eight Virginia wineries, Parade of Horses, agility dogs and muskrat racing, music and art, craft and food vendors. 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Johnson’s Orchards, Bedford. 586-3707.

VMV Summer Celebration, July 9, Aug. 6. Live music, wine and food. 6-9 p.m. $10; $8 with own VMV glass. Virginia Mountain Vineyards, Fincastle. 473-2979, vmvines.com.

Bake, Shake and Sprout: Children’s Series, July 16, Aug. 13. Free educational and fun events for children and families, such as cooking and container gardening. 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Vinton Farmers Market. 983-0613.

Family Day, July 16. Interactive programs, tours and projects focusing on World War II, book signings, living history and more. 10 a.m. National D-Day Memorial, Bedford. 586-3329, dday.org.

Salem Gun & Knife Traders Show, July 16-17. Salem Civic Center. 375-3004, salemciviccenter.com.

A Peachy Open House, July 23-24, 30-31, Aug. 6-7, 13-14, 20-21. Samples of peaches, apples and nectarines used to make wine. Peaks of Otter Winery, Bedford. 586-3707, peaksofotterwinery.com.

Art Market, July 30. Paintings, photography, jewelry, cards and more. Plus a free art activity for children and live music. 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Vinton Farmers Market. 983-0613.

Downtown Vinton Community Car Show & Fund Raiser, July 30. Classic cars, games for kids, live music by Trouser Billy, food, raffles for prizes and merchandise, bounce houses and more. Proceeds benefit Manna Ministries. 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Vinton. 857-0030.

Touch a Truck, July 30. Vehicles of all types, including garbage trucks, fire engines and motorcycles on dispplay and open to explore. Green Hill Park, Roanoke. 387-6078.

Mountain Valley Cluster Dog Show, Aug. 3-7. Salem Civic Center. 375-3004, salemciviccenter.com.

Winemakers’ Dinner, Aug. 5. Five-course dinner enhanced by five award-winning wines. $75 per person. Chateau Morrisette, Meadows of Dan. 593-2865, thedogs.com.

An Evening in Buchanan, Aug. 12. Carriage rides, tethered balloon rides, music, a strolling barbershop quartet and more. Buchanan. 254-1212, townofbuchanan.com.

Microfestivus, Aug. 13. Samples of beers from micro and craft breweries, music, food and more. Noon-6 p.m. Elmwood Park, Roanoke. microfestivus.com.

Beach Bash Sip-n-Shag, Aug. 20. Wine, beer, music, dancing, food and fun. Smith Mountain Lake. 586-9401, bedfordareachamber.com.

Craft Show, Aug. 20. Show and sale featuring a variety of handmade crafts and gifts. Free craft activity for children and live music. 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Vinton Farmers Market. 983-0613.

Movies at Longwood, Aug. 20. A popular movie to watch under the stars. Concessions will be available. Longwood Park, Salem. 375-3057.

An Apple a Day Open House, Aug. 27-28. Sampling of many varieties of apples and tastes of Fruit of the Farm wine. Peaks of Otter Winery, Bedford. 586-3707, peaksofotterwinery.com.

Rockbridge Community Festival, Aug. 27. An arts and crafts event featuring food and live music. Downtown Lexington. 797-2069.

“Camelot,” July 21-Aug. 7. A return to a time of knights and fair maidens. $12, adults; $5, students. Showtimers Community Theatre, Roanoke. 774-2660, showtimers.org.

“Stonewall Country: Stonewall Lives!,” July 28-31, Aug. 5-7. Musical about the life and death of Civil War General Stonewall Jackson. Ticket prices vary. Theater at Lime Kiln, Lexington. 463-7088, theateratlimekiln.com.

“Romeo and Juliet,” Aug. 2-3. Shakespeare classic presented by the Traveling Players Ensemble. Ticket prices vary. Theater at Lime Kiln, Lexington. 463-7088, theateratlimekiln.com.

“Dominion Derby Girls: Portraits by Glen McClure,” through July 29. Bright and brash, the cotton-rag digital portraits of the Hampton Roads-based, all-female, flat-track league showcase the determination, spunk, and drive that it takes to be a derby girl. O. Winston Link Museum, Roanoke. 982-5465, linkmuseum.org.

“Tim Tate: The Walking Dreams of Magdalena Moliere,” through Aug. 14. Unique works by this skilled glass artist.  Taubman Museum of Art, Roanoke. 342-5760, taubmanmuseum.org.

“Kiel Johnson: One Thing Leads to Another,” through Aug. 28. Meticulous homages to near-obsolete machines. Taubman Museum of Art, Roanoke. 342-5760, taubmanmuseum.org.

“Kay Rosen: On the Off Ramp,” through Aug. 28. Artist’s exhibit is a presentation of information visually, through painting, drawing or the visual page. Taubman Museum of Art, Roanoke. 342-5760, taubmanmuseum.org.

Hollinsummer, July 10-15 (rising 7th-8th graders), July 10-22 (rising 9th-12th graders). Students take two noncredit classes, live on campus and enjoy extracurricular activities. Hollins University, Roanoke. 362-6401, hollins.edu.

Summer Kid’s Camp in Archaeology, History and Restoration, July 11-15. 8 a.m.-noon. Day camp for rising fourth and fifth graders. Poplar Forest. 434-525-1806, poplarforest.org.

Roanoke Children’s Theatre Summer Camps, July 5-10: All Stars-High School Musical (By Audition or Invitation) Say Love! July 11-16: Jack and The Wonder Beans! (Grades 3-5). July 18-22: Summer Splashes! (3-5 year-olds). July 25-30: Kids Take Disney! (Completed K-2). Costs vary. 309-6802, roanokechildrenstheatre.org.

16th Annual Francelia Butler Student Conference on Children’s Literature, July 23. Keynote addresses by visiting scholar Gretchen Holbrook Gerzina, author of “Black London: Life Before Emancipation.” Hollins University, Roanoke. 362-6021, hollins.edu.

APBP Professional Development Webinar Series: Crosswalk Policies, Designs and Signals, July 20; Designing and Retrofitting Bridges for Active Transportation, Aug. 17. Roanoke Valley Alleghany Regional Commission, Roanoke. 343-4417.

Growing Up in World War II: Day Camp, July 27-29. Children in grades 4-6 learn what life was like on the homefront during World War II. National D-Day Memorial, Bedford. 586-3329, dday.org.

Friday Night Live!, July 1. Performance by Southern Remedy. Outdoor grill, beer and wine available. 6-9 p.m. $8. Chateau Morrisette, Meadows of Dan. 593-2865, thedogs.com.

Fridays on Franklin July 1 : Southern Culture on the Skids. July 15: Lloyd Dobler Effect. Aug. 5: Project 4 & The Kings. Aug. 19: Frontiers. 5:30-8:30 p.m. SunTrust Plaza, Roanoke. 342-0400, firstfridaysroanoke.com.

BB&T’s Party in the Park, July 7: Part-Time Party-Time Band, July 14: The Tams, July 21: The Attractions, July 28: The Fantastic Shakers, Aug. 4: The Holiday Band, Aug. 11: The Embers, Aug. 18: Hip Pocket, Aug. 25: Danny Woods & The Board of Directors. 5:30-8:30 p.m. $6. Elmwood Park, Roanoke.  342-2640, pitp.org.

Jay Ungar and Molly Mason, July 8. American roots music. Theater at Lime Kiln, Lexington. 463-7088, theateratlimekiln.com.

Music After Midnight, July 8, Aug. 12. Audience joins performers onstage following No Shame Theatre for performances of classical and new music. Goodwill offering; proceeds benefit Center in the Square. Cold drinks and free chili from the Texas Tavern. Mill Mountain Theatre Roanoke. 819-3953.

Black Dog Wine & Blues Festival, July 9. Music by David Mayfield Parade and Paul Thorn, vendors, food and more. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. $20, in advance; $25 at gate. Chateau Morrisette, Meadows of Dan. 593-2865, thedogs.com.

Mingle at the Market, July 9: Side Show. Aug. 13: TBA. Vinton Farmers Market. 343-1364.

Remembering the 90’s Tour, July 9. Featuring Adina Howard, H. Town, Case, and Christopher Williams & Sunshine Anderson. 7 p.m. Roanoke Performing Arts Theatre. 853-5483, roanokeciviccenter.com.

Downtown Live!, July 13: Half Moon and Bad Casper. July 27: Triscale and The Fat Daddy Band. Aug. 10: Savannah Shoulders and Mafia Track Suit. Aug. 24: Barefoot West and Shorefire.6-8:30 p.m. Market Square, Roanoke. 342-2640, downtownliveroanoke.org.

Music at St. Elizabeth’s Episcopal, July 13. Scottish Voices performs. Goodwill offering; sixty percent of the proceeds from each concert go to a charity. Wine and cheese reception follows each performance. Roanoke. 774-5183, stelizabethsroanoke.org.

6th Annual Blue Ridge Blues and BBQ Festival, July 16. Music by the Tommy Castro Band, Albert Castglia and more, plus barbecue, beer and wine. Starts at noon. $25. Elmwood Park, Roanoke. 529-8502, blueridgeblues.org.

Jazz in July, July 16. Bands TBA. Longwood Park, Salem. 375-3057.

Alison Krauss & Union Station featuring Jerry Douglas, July 21. 7:30 p.m. Roanoke Performing Arts Theatre. 853-5483, roanokeciviccenter.com.

Salem After Five, July 22: The Kings. Aug. 19: The Craig Woolard Band. $5, adults; free, children 12 and under. Food court and children’s play area available. Salem Farmers Market. 375-3057.

Upriver, July 24. Celtic, bluegrass, folk and Appalachian mountain music. Theater at Lime Kiln, Lexington. 463-7088, theateratlimekiln.com.

10th Annual FloydFest, July 28-31. Music and arts festival with music spanning a variety of genres. Performers include Del McCoury Band, David Grisman Quintet, My Dear Disco, New Monsoon and more. Milepost 170.5, Floyd. 888-VA-FESTS, floydfest.com.

FiddleFest 2011, July 29-30. Top-quality entertainment with concerts, workshops, roundtable discussion groups and jam sessions. Hollins University, Roanoke. 866-883-9466, roanokefiddlefest.org.

Beach Music Festival and Classic Car Show, July 30. Food vendors, car shows and live music. Glen Maury Park, Buena Vista. 800-555-8845, glenmaurypark.com.

Cork and Blues Festival, Aug. 5-6. Featuring blues bands, wineries, food vendors and more. Glen Maury Park, Buena Vista. 261-7321, glenmaurupark.com.

Sentimental Journey, Aug. 20. The Smith Mountain Lake Harmeneers perform patriotic tunes and old-time favorites from the 1940s. 7 p.m. National D-Day Memorial, Bedford. 586-3329, dday.org.

The Fat Daddy Band, Aug. 20. 5-9 p.m. $15, couple; $8, single. Blue Ridge Vineyard, Botetourt Co. 798-7642, blueridgevineyard.com.

Races at Motor Mile Speedway, July 2, 16, 23, 30. Aug. 6, 13, 20. Pulaski County. 639-1700, motormilespeedway.com.

Salem Red Sox Home Games, July 6-11, 17-23. Aug. 2-4, 11-17, 22-28. Game times vary. Lewis-Gale Field, Salem. 389-3333.

Races at Motor Mile Dragway, July 9-10, 23, 30. Aug. 13, 20-21, 27. Pulaski County. 639-1700,
motormiledragway.com.

Coventry Commonwealth Games of Virginia, July 15-17. Athletes compete in more than 60 individual and team sports. Various locations, Roanoke. commonwealthgames.org.

TNA Wrestling, July 21. 7:30 p.m. Salem Civic Center. 375-3004, salemciviccenter.com.

37th Annual Salem Distance Run, Aug. 13. A 5K, 10K and three-mile poker walk sponsored by Salem Parks & Recreation and Health Focus of Southwest Virginia. 8 a.m. Longwood Park, Salem. 444-2925.

15th Annual Fab 5K, Aug. 20. Green Hill Park, Roanoke. 525-9452, mountainjunkies.net.

Town of Floyd 5K, Aug. 27. 8:30-11:30 a.m. Floyd. townoffloyd.org.

No, you can’t really present a Best Corporate Giver award to a Roanoke Valley company. Combine understandable United Way reluctance to provide precise dollar numbers with matters of company size versus per capita giving, and things get sticky quickly.

But there’s certainly a strong contender for the top spot. The investment firm of Dixon, Hubard, Feinour & Brown not only got 100 percent participation from its 10 employees in the most recent United Way campaign, it was also among just 16 companies valley-wide where employees averaged a Platinum Award level $1 per day ($365) in contributions. And DHF&B was one of just four of the $1-per-day firms to get employee participation of at least 75 percent.

Is Dixon, Hubard, Feinour & Brown the Roanoke Valley's best Is Dixon Hubard, Feinour & Brown the Roanoke Valley's best corporate-giving company? The generous staff: Seated, from left: Stebbins Hubard, Jonathan Grace. Standing, from left: Becky Fritts, Jean ReMine, Walter ("Watt") Dixon III, Whitney Brown, Tracy Snyder, Angie Carroll, Ted Feinour. Not in the photo: Walter Dixon, Jr.-giving company? The generous staff: Steaf, from left:

At the top for raw dollars? Roanoke’s only Fortune 500 company, Advance Auto Parts, at $727,503 in United Way giving for 2010.

Also among larger firms: SunTrust Bank was the only United Way participant giving at least $100,000 in 2010 and among the 16 whose employees reached that Platinum Award standard of $1 a day, or $365 annually.

Then there’s the unique case of Carilion Clinic, a $417,806 contributor to UWRV and also provider of a mammoth $154 million in community benefit when you factor in charity medical care.

As is clear from the contribution levels of Dixon, Hubard, Feinour & Brown and other smaller firms, the biggest aren’t always the most benevolent when it comes to corporate giving to charity.

The Roanoke area certainly depends on its highest-profile payrolls for donations to hundreds of causes, but the companies with smaller pockets are often the ones where workers dig deepest.

The other leaders in total giving to UWRV in 2010 are a familiar lineup – and as indicated with the list that accompanies this story – either based here or have large local presences. Behind Advance Auto Parts’ $727,503, the next hightest donors were: Carilion Clinic, $417,806; Norfolk Southern Corp., $350,000 and Kroger Mid-Atlantic, $250,000.

But the United Way declines to disclose the exact amount of other major donations, citing privacy on behalf of contributors. The organization expresses concern about embarrassing some employers whose names have disappeared from the list in recent years. Instead, UWRV limits disclosure about top overall donors to ranges that identified the top 13 givers in 2010. (See the list on page 47.)

Indeed, even those ranges of giving reveal some volatility among the donor ranks since the economic downturn began in 2007. For example, the Allstate Insurance National Support Center was among UWRV’s $100,000-$249,999 contributors in 2007. But Allstate disappeared from the list in 2008, returned in 2009 and was missing again in 2010.

The list of donors whose employees each give $1 per day has been through changes too: four of the 15 companies that were on it in 2009 didn’t make the list in 2010.

Being among the top per-capita contributors isn’t guaranteed even when the boss is the volunteer head of United Way’s campaign drive. Consider that Debbie Meade, publisher of The Roanoke Times, was UWRV’s campaign vice chair in 2010, and the newspaper is consistently among the $100,000-plus aggregate givers. But on a per-capita basis, Times employees didn’t come close to the $1-a-day bar in 2010; UWRV records them in a lower category: 25 to 49 cents a day.

Of course it may be easier for smaller companies to make the personal appeal that can persuade employees to open their wallets. Consider that the 16 $1-per-day contributors to United Way last year featured many locally owned concerns such as Dixon, Hubard, Feinour & Brown’s 10-person payroll.

The sacrifice by individuals at the firm came despite the nature of their industry, which puts DHF&B on the front line of the recession – heavily dependent on a segment of the economy that has been hard hit by the roller coaster of Wall Street stocks.

Still, in its 2010 fundraising campaign for United Way, there was no balking by employees, says Watt Dixon, portfolio manager.

“Things went pretty smooth,” he says. “I think everyone takes a little pride that we all participate. I think everyone in the office has participated since I’ve been here – 2000.”

Of the 16 organizations reaching the $1-per-day per capita level, only four others reported an employee participation level of at least 75 percent. (The United Way doesn’t disclose the exact percentage.) Three of those are Roanoke-headquartered companies: the accounting firm of Anderson & Reed, HomeTown Bank and Thomas Rutherfoord Inc. The other $1-per-day organization is – perhaps not surprisingly – the United Way of Roanoke Valley itself, which has 15 paid staffers.

Working out of modest downtown offices on Campbell Avenue near the Roanoke city jail, the United Way is arguably the area’s highest profile charitable organization. But its fundraising efforts have been challenged in recent years. In fact, the UWRV, dependent on about 400 corporate donors and about 20,000 individuals, saw its annual contributions peak a decade ago in 2001, at $6.6 million.

In recent years, since the nation’s economy dipped in 2007, the organization’s giving totals have stagnated at $6.1 million, or 7.5 percent below the peak in 2001.

That year marked a record for donations to United Way of Roanoke Valley, says Frank Rogan, president and chief executive officer, partly in response to the national effort to help victims of the September 11 terrorist attacks: “When we added it all up there was more than we’ve ever had before. For me it reinforces that people here are very generous.”

The Roanoke area’s generosity has held up much better than the rest of the nation. According to the Chronicle of Philanthropy, a for-profit research firm and publication based in Washington, D.C., donations to the country’s 400 biggest charities plunged in 2010 by 11 percent, the worst decline in two decades. The Chronicle said six of the 10 largest charities, including United Way Worldwide, reported declines.

Maybe Roanoke’s philanthropic psyche is a logical local personality trait, says Dana Ackley, a business psychologist who is president of the EQ Leader Inc. consulting firm and volunteers as a UWRV board member: “Roanoke doesn’t have the economic ‘flash’ that some larger, faster-growing communities have. Paradoxically, Roanoke appears to be a more generous community than those that are more economically dynamic (and volatile). Why? Maybe we stay better connected to human principles, better able to recognize and value the fabric of community.”

Roanoke’s steadfast giving to charities has found a bastion among employers. Large ones such as SunTrust typically organize dozens of their workers for internal United Way fundraising campaigns that include meetings in which their co-workers’ giving is wooed. Such efforts highlight the trenches of corporate charity – the cubicles and reception desks, the store aisles and bank lobbies, the hospital rooms and car dealership parking lots – where the message is gentle but persistent: Someone needs your financial help.

To be sure, the United Way is far from the only charity to which many workers give, either through work or on their own. But the umbrella group’s donation effort is the community’s widest, and so is the list of organizations to which it distributes funds: to hundreds of causes from the Adult Care Center of Roanoke Valley to the YMCA.

And while some other charities are huge fund raisers on their own, such as the Roanoke Rescue Mission, with an annual budget of about $4 million, and the Foundation for Roanoke Valley, a nonprofit that relies heavily on endowments from individuals that have ranged from $2 million to nearly $14 million in recent years, the United Way is the most active group at seeking donations in the workplace.

Further, because neither the Foundation nor the Rescue Mission discloses information about its donors, the United Way – which permits considerable though not complete transparency about its sources – provides the best available measure of Who’s Who in corporate giving. And 92 percent of United Way’s contributions come through the workplace, with the rest from individuals.

But while the United Way’s public records represent a leading indicator on trends in corporate giving, some organizations do much more. Consider Carilion Clinic, a hardy perennial in UWRV’s annual workplace campaign. In addition, the 12,000-employee nonprofit medical system, with Roanoke’s largest payroll, says it provided a whopping $154 million in overall community benefits in 2009, including $41.7 million in charity medical care.

Still, relatively small businesses such as HomeTown Bank, Davidsons clothiers and Dixon, Hubard dominate the list of 16 employers whose workers topped United Way givers locally in per capita donations.

Meet Ann Custer, whose passion is regaining control of rooms-gone-wild.

“I enjoy teaching my clients organizing techniques and leaving a cluttered room completely transformed,” she says. “In a few hours, it’s a fresh new look! But most of all, I love how the client no longer feels overwhelmed; they feel in control of their house again.”

Her business, WOW Organizing Service, handles the things the rest of us hate: packing personal belongings before selling a home, straightening up a messy guest room, or making space for the car in a cluttered garage. “If you’re late for an appointment and you can’t find your car keys, it ruins your whole day,” she says. “My goal for every client is to create space and organize so they can find the items they need quickly.”

Custer founded WOW in 2006, and she’s been helping customers organize the trouble areas in their homes ever since.

“The first thing I always tell my clients is that I am so proud of them, because I know the courage it took just to call me,” she says. “Often people are embarrassed, but I tell them I am not there to judge them in any way. I’m there to help them create the room they desire.”

Custer says the inspiration for her business came from years of experience moving from one home to the next.

“I’ve moved 12 times in 20 years,” she says. “At first it was so overwhelming, but it had to be done, and each time I learned more.”

woworganizing.com 540-420-8225.

Sharon Rapoport: "Will ad agencies exist in 10 years?"

She has worked her way up and down the ladder of ad agency power and prestige, from nowhere land in 1980 as a fresh-faced University of Georgia graduate with big dreams to landing the classic major-market starting job five years later as a copywriter at Young and Rubicam in New York. On Madison Avenue, where annual revenues are counted in the hundreds of millions of dollars, she authored such memorable appeals as Pepsi’s “I’m Leaving You” campaign, in which that signature punch line was recited on national television by celebrities including Mick Jagger.

But in 2003, after a bout with breast cancer, Rapoport abandoned the high-octane world of Manhattan conference rooms where clever phrase-turning was long hailed as magic. She returned to her hometown of Roanoke, and set up a mom-and-pop ad agency called The Farm with her husband, John Anderson, in a modest one-room office above what is now The Cup coffee shop on Grandin Road.

From this obscure nook, she perseveres with such high-profile clients as Carilion Clinic, creating its recent campaign about recognizing the signs of stroke and heart attack: “Know the Five to Stay Alive.”

The Farm may seem hayseed by Madison Avenue standards; there’s no Don Draper, the fictional powerhouse of the hit TV series “Mad Men,” bringing clients to tears with the emotional appeal of his latest marketing slogan. “The old model – come in, we have the ideas and the answers – is passé,” Rapaport says.

Her appraisal of the industry sums up the shifting ground of media technology that has rocked not only ad agencies, but also the news and music industries. The ad agency mystique is weakening.

Big agencies and even boutiques such as Rapoport’s are finding that clients no longer take their creative wisdom for granted. “Clients are questioning everything,” she says. One reason is that the internet and social media allow clients to craft their ads for individual customers and change them quickly if the responses, which can be measured instantaneously as clicks on a Web site, aren’t positive. Today, Don Draper – hero of ‘60s brainstorming sessions – would find that some clients are forsaking traditional campaigns to write messages tailored to Facebook accounts rather than hiring an ad agency to buy television time or newspaper space.

Geotargeting of consumers is in some ways a dream-come-true for sellers of goods and services, but it’s a challenge for ad agencies because their manicured personal messages can sound hollow. Customers can delete them from iPads and mobile phones just as quickly as they fast-forward through the commercials in recorded television shows.

That leaves some ad pros wondering what their long-term role in social media will be. “Sometimes I wonder if ad agencies in their present form will even exist in 10 years,” Rapoport says.

Tony Mikes, a veteran consultant to ad agencies around the country, including some in Roanoke, is uncertain about how agencies will fit in with changing communications technology. Social media “needs to be natural,” he says, adding, “The question is, should agencies be content managers? I guess so but, by and large, it’s so viral that companies should really manage their own social communications because that’s where true honesty begins.”

His candor has an ominous ring of truth in a field that long thrived on the public’s acceptance of a certain amount of insincerity in advertising that was OK when it sponsored entertainment, sports events and news media. And Mikes’ dubious assessment of the ad industry’s role isn’t lost on Rapoport.

Of the 33 area agencies interviewed for this article, nearly half have downsized during the last decade and the employee level in most of the others is flat. The typical agency size is two or three people, but some have gradually shrunk from twice that many. Almost no one is hiring. There are more local agencies here than at the start of this century, but some have been opened by laid-off employees of established firms.

Their revenues have fallen since 2007 amid the recession, typically by about 20 percent, they say. And clients are routinely asking for discounts.

Agencies around the nation, including major markets, have reported similar troubles. Some say there’s little wrong with the advertising industry that wouldn’t be fixed by an overall economic recovery.

John Anstey: Mission changed by technology.

Says John Anstey, co-founder of the Anstey Hodge agency in Roanoke: “One thing I haven’t heard in the last two years is, ‘We have a large pot of money for advertising.’”

That means belt-tightening for most Roanoke ad agencies, which generally decline to disclose earnings but say privately they need in the range of $75,000 to $100,000 in revenue per employee to turn a profit. Although few local agencies disclose financial data, some say hushedly that their normal margins of 20 percent in the black have given way to barely break-even.

According to figures supplied to The Roanoker by ad agencies in this metro area, including Blacksburg, their employee total would have declined by 20 percent to about 120 since 2006, (supported by about the same number of freelance photographers, videographers, Web designers, graphics artists and other specialists), if not for the emergence of an upstart firm whose success underscores what some say is the prototype in its field.

That would be Modea, based in Blacksburg. Founded in 2006 by two Virginia Tech grads with online marketing backgrounds, the firm has largely ignored print and broadcast media to focus on digital advertising platforms including social media. Modea has exploded in size to 73 employees – about five times larger than any other agency in Southwest Virginia – and revenue of about $6.7 million in 2010.

David Catalano, president of Modea, says his client list includes some familiar local names such as Advance Auto Parts, and distant giants including T Mobile and Lennox Tools.

David Catalano, persident of Modea.

But in a microcosm of the ad industry nationally, Modea is among the vast majority of agencies in this area that rely on dozens or even hundreds of clients for occasional projects as part of overall marketing campaigns. Such relatively tenuous relationships have largely replaced the archetype in which a client company hired a single ad agency to handle everything from drawing logos to penning jingles and choosing which television programs to sponsor in campaigns that might last for years.

Catalano’s approach to advertising contrasts with his industry’s historic method – now passing into history. No longer “can I just blare my message on one of the TV channels where I have a high percentage of market penetration and hope it will eventually stick. What we spend more time on now is helping brands figure out how to craft personalized messages – even the tone of voice they should take.”

Rather than persuade clients they’ll always need Modea to be their interpreter, Catalano’s company prepares them to go their own way: “We’ll tell them about the manpower they’ll need to properly run a Facebook or Twitter account, because you can’t have one of these and not update it.”

Further, Modea’s client list, which includes dozens of companies in other states, illustrates a plus for local agencies resulting from the internet: Finding and hiring them is easier for far-flung clients who are shopping for fresh approaches and lower agency fees than they may find in larger markets.

Yet Roanoke area agencies are well aware that internet access and approachability works both ways: Local clients can contact ad pros in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles without getting on a plane. The celebrity reputation of big-city agencies rankles Todd Marcum, co-founder of Access, a 14-person agency located in a refurbished auto showroom on downtown Roanoke’s West End.

Todd Marcum: "Lots of hacks in New York too."

“People say there’s more talent in New York than anywhere else,” he says. “That’s true, but there are also more hacks in New York than anywhere else.”

The pluses and minuses of advancing technology make Catalano’s full embrance of it uncommon among area ad agencies. He unabashedly describes Modea as a “digital agency,” a label which much of the Roanoke area advertising establishment refers to somewhat dismissively as a niche business.

Meanwhile, conventional players such as The Becher Agency in downtown Roanoke, with nine employees, insist on remaining what Thomas Becher, its president, calls “full service.” That means that Becher, whose clients include the Hotel Roanoke and Conference Center and a share of the Roanoke Regional Partnership’s promotions, is structured in much the same way as agencies were in the roaring ‘60s of “Mad Men.”

His staff includes such formal titles as creative director, an art director and an accounts supervisor, and they work in assembly-line fashion to produce ads for everything from newspapers and brochures to billboards. To be sure, Becher is gradually adjusting to the popularity of online media, giving one staffer responsibility as “interactive designer” and forming a stable of freelancers who specialize in social media and other internet avenues.

Yet like some other agencies in Roanoke – and typical of many big-city counterparts – Becher clings to a romantic model of the ad agency he sees as “coming up with neat ideas that the clients haven’t thought of.”

But the hyper-personal world of interactive messaging is encroaching on Becher’s favorite part of the advertising game – the brainstorming and creativity that let his staffers show “we are the experts” who can work what he affectionately refers to as “magic.”

That cultivated alchemy is threatened throughout the ad universe by the advance of digital shortcuts such as an increasingly popular process called “crowd sourcing.” It dethrones ad pros who long enjoyed an image of inspired creative nobility.

Crowd sourcing starts with clients who already have the idea for an ad campaign. Rather than sitting down at a conference table to kick around their plan in the presence of ad agency genius, they simply test it by sending out thousands of personal messages on the likes of Facebook. Thus they don’t pay ad agencies to form focus groups or do formal market research.

But crowd sourcing stabs at the heart of the traditional agency culture that Becher enjoys: the cultivating of personal relationships between clients and agencies that can translate into long-lasting business bonds.

“I try to fill appointments over meals with clients about three times a week,” Becher says. “Meals provide an opportunity to get to know a person and the business.”

Paradoxically, ad agency socializing with clients is becoming less important at a time when those patrons are striving for more personal contact with consumers.

The days of three-martini lunches depicted on “Mad Men,” if they ever really existed, are long gone. “I wish it was more like ‘Mad Men,’ more fun,” says Catalano. He says the show’s characters “never seem to do any work.”

Still, the Roanoke area ad agency scene projects a laid-back atmosphere. There’s little intrigue involving raids by agencies on competitors’ client lists. Agencies typically say they can’t recall a major client abruptly switching to a competitor.

Katie Wallace: her niche is design.

Of course that peaceful existence owes in part to the fragmentation of clients’ ad budgets. Most big advertisers parcel out work to several agencies. Some “partner” with others on projects. One reason is the niche specialties on which some agencies focus. For example, Katie Wallace, owner of The Wallace Agency in Southwest Roanoke, is best known for her skills and background as a graphic designer with a penchant for originating company logos. She sometimes works on a campaign in which the internet-related work is done elsewhere.

Not that clients don’t occasionally change horses, but usually not without plenty of advance warning. Wallace says, “If something is going wrong between you and a client, they’re going to turn up the heat on you long before firing the agency.”

Yet sometimes, in a media era that’s evolving at such high speed, a client’s request can leap ahead of an agency’s skill set. John Anstey, whose five-person firm operates in a converted Sunoco gas station near Hotel Roanoke, recalls a watershed moment in 2007 when a retirement home asked him to “develop an app.”

“It was a wake-up call,” says Anstey, who knew generally what applications for mobile phones are – add ons or extra bits of data unrelated to making a call that essentially make cellphones more like computers. But he didn’t have anyone on staff who could create the app desired by the prospective client, which wanted to enable retirement home residents’ loved ones to keep in touch by downloading personal news.

Anstey didn’t pursue that project, even though he could have hired a freelance specialist to do it. And while Anstey’s company still doesn’t do apps, he says the request “drove home how important changing technology is becoming to agency missions. We have moved much further into web design and other digital forms of advertising.”

He says personalized messages on Facebook and other social media now represent about 25 percent of his company’s revenue, up from 5 percent when it was founded in 2003.

While online communiqués are all the rage, old fashioned publicity is still requested on occasion. Access recently drew what might seem at first glance to be an antiquated assignment: organize a bus tour. Marcum, Access president, says insurance giant American General Life and Accident, based in Nashville, Tenn., hired his agency to plan a 20-city employee-recruiting trip for the insurer’s human resources staffers and generate attention from – surprise – common media outlets such as newspapers, television and radio. He says the bus tour drew hundreds of job applicants, many of whom were hired by the insurer on the spot.

Mikes, the consultant to several Roanoke ad agencies over the years, agrees there’s still plenty of use for offline media. “Let’s say you have a sale coming up on Saturday, you might want to prepare customers with Facebook. But to move those carpets, (or other products) you better get that message out on TV and radio.”

Old ways die hard, even among ad pros who recognize there’s little choice but to change. For example, even though Rapoport acknowledges a new era of advertising, and communicates with clients mainly via email and phone, rather than in person, she can’t quite give up one vestige of the past.

Her agency maintains not only its Grandin Road cubby hole of an office, but also an address in Manhattan that she admits is partly for “prestige.”

But that office is largely a pose for letterheads and business cards. It isn’t staffed, and it’s also a mail drop for several other small businesses. Rapoport’s tactic captures the essence of the strategy many ad clients demand: Skyline imagery on a down-to-earth budget.