Missing your favorite shops, restaurants and performance venues? Us too! In this stay-at-home series, we ask local entrepreneurs and creatives about the Star City spots they can't wait to rediscover once they're out and about. Here, we talk to full-time Airbnb Superhost and urban microfarmer Kristin Dunker.
Courtesy of Kristin Dunker
Kristin Dunker never imagined her home could feel quite so empty.
The Airbnb Superhost – whose “inn” and microfarm, Ingleside in the City, perched on Memorial Avenue in Grandin Village – is accustomed to a full house, with guests from locales as far-flung as Europe, Singapore, Australia, and Guam. On any given week she and her husband Jesse might host out-of-town marathon runners, conference attendees, backpackers intent on a good Instagram shot at McAfee’s Knob, or bridesmaids primping for a wedding.
But in mid-March, with the advent of the COVID-19 crisis, the inn’s bookings disappeared in an instant, as did its guests – leaving Kristin to wonder what’s next, along with many Airbnb hosts across the country.
“We didn’t buy this 3,000-square-foot house to be empty,” says Kristin, who always dreamed of owning a traditional bed-and-breakfast in her retirement years.
A former photographer, she says the rising popularity of Airbnb inspired the Dunkers to launch their dreams early and turn a Grandin Village foursquare into an entrepreneurial project in 2018, remodeling the upstairs and converting a downstairs apartment to create a self-contained guest suite. A coop for backyard chickens and lush gardens for flower-cutting were the finishing touches.
“This is a passion project,” she says. “It’s been a dream come true.”
Maybe that’s why the loss of her bookings feels like a lot more than lost business.
“I love all things hospitality … I love decorating rooms and getting fresh flowers ready for the bedsides and putting muffins on the table. All of those things give me life, so now, all of a sudden to not have a reason to do that … I didn’t realize I’d have such an identity crisis.”
But the entrepreneur has managed to stay upbeat by throwing herself into creative, community-minded projects. She’s hosted an “Isolation Aperture” photography challenge on Instagram, and last week she launched a Grandin Village scavenger hunt, with fresh clues to local landmarks posted on the community's Facebook page each day.
“I’m still trying to … encourage people to get out there and make community connections, maybe discover new parts of the Village they didn’t know existed,” she says.
While she snaps photographs and looks for hidden gems in her neighborhood, here’s what the entrepreneur says about the Star City spaces she’s missing most.
Right about now, we're all fantasizing about a return to our favorite restaurants, coffee shops and watering holes. What's one or two you'll visit first?
KD: I’d put Scratch [Biscuit] on the top of that list, and definitely Pop’s, too. At Pop’s, I’m all there for their smoked gouda pimento grilled cheese. Oh my goodness – it’s the ultimate comfort food … the instant make-everything-better sandwich. I also love their gluten-free cakes. They’re just the best in town, from Blondie’s.
How about events and arts spaces?
KD: We definitely are lovers of the Jefferson Center and their concert series, so [we’re] looking forward to them reopening … We [also] are consistently involved in RBT [Roanoke Ballet Theatre] and are just heartbroken for them, for all the performances they had to cancel this spring… so I’m really looking forward to the ballet getting up and running again in the fall season.
Are there any local shops or take-out spots you're actively supporting while you're at home?
KD: Because our eat-out budget is a bit depleted, we haven’t been eating out as much as usual, [but] we’re definitely still grabbing bites from Local Roots, Farmburguesa, and Little Green Hive… Another place I’ve used for curbside pickup is Corbin’s Confections, which is a gluten-free bakery in Salem. [For] Easter, we ordered some cheddar garlic biscuits – so amazing – and carrot cake for dessert.
Have you picked up any new hobbies or routines while staying at home?
KD: We’ve been trying hard to come up with some fun time markers, since every week feels like a run-on sentence. So each weekend, I’ve been trying a new cocktail recipe. A favorite one is called a Rose Vesper -- it’s delicious. It has sparkling rosé, rosé vodka, St. Germain elderflower liqueur, rosewater. It felt super seasonal, so floral and bright and light.
What's one thing happening in the community that encourages you right now?
KD: Now that we’re all out walking so much, we’ve actually discovered neighbors that we haven't met before. People are so happy to just chat from six feet away or across the fence. Seeing neighbors be a lot more social – it’s super encouraging.
Want to learn more about Kristin’s Airbnb and microfarm? Visit her website and blog here.
About the Writer:
Ashley Wilson Fellers is a writer, educator, self-taught painter and contemplative photographer in Roanoke, Virginia. When she isn’t teaching writing at Virginia Western, she snaps photos of sidewalk cracks, rescues wet leaves from windshield wipers and leaves poems hidden under park benches. She has a Master of Fine Arts degree from Virginia Tech.