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2026 Best Of Roanoke Winners

This year’s Best of Roanoke Readers’ Pollis officially our biggest and best yet!

Web Exclusive: More Photos from Our Christmas Lights Preview

Here’s a look at just a few spots to get you ready for the season. Think your holiday decorations are better? Send us your photos for a chance top have them featured online or in a future issue!

Places You Never Go — Virginia Tech’s Locker Room (Circa 2012)

It is the inner sanctum of Virginia Tech Football. It’s where players contemplate. Coaches motivate. And, if it’s a good season we hope for, winners celebrate. Includes photos not seen in our September/October issue!

“Good Bones” – Ranch Reborn Under Design Couple

John and Theresa Dorlini – architect and interior designer respectively – took a sturdy four-bedroom, three-bath, 1960s ranch and made it distinctively their own.

Passivhaus National Groundbreakers are in Roanoke

Adam Cohen and Steven Strauss of Stuctures Design Build are not just near-evangelical about the “green” Passivhaus design, they are also actively putting up structures employing its tenets.

Bedford’s Only Passivhaus Exceeds Expectations

Jason Specht has placed thermometers all around the home he and his wife Stephanie built with Passivhaus technologies – just part of the package of steps and techniques that has kept energy costs in the $40-$50 per-month range.

Smith Mountian Lake Dream Home

Retired Major General Galen Jackman and his wife Cathy looked at countless homes at their desired location of Smith Mountain Lake before finding their “forever” home, and at the right price.

Web Exclusive: “A Taste of Virginia Tech”

A new cookbook has arrived, and it’s just in time for tailgating season. Here's a peak at five select recipes from the book (including two not found in our September/October issue!)

School Tips From the Top

Read what four local superintendents and one college president suggest parents and students keep in mind as a new school year approaches.

Five Cool Small Businesses to Keep an Eye On

They range from two employees to nearly 50. What they have in common is a good idea, hard work and a measure of success, even against the headwinds of a stubborn economy.

Current Issue

The Roanoker May June 2026 Best Of Roanoke Editors Note

2026 Best Of Roanoke Winners

This year’s Best of Roanoke Readers’ Pollis officially our biggest and best yet!
It’s a Blue blue Christmas at the corner of Colony Court and Colony Lane.

Web Exclusive: More Photos from Our Christmas Lights Preview

Here’s a look at just a few spots to get you ready for the season. Think your holiday decorations are better? Send us your photos for a chance top have them featured online or in a future issue!
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Places You Never Go — Virginia Tech’s Locker Room (Circa 2012)

It is the inner sanctum of Virginia Tech Football. It’s where players contemplate. Coaches motivate. And, if it’s a good season we hope for, winners celebrate. Includes photos not seen in our September/October issue!
Husband and wife team John and Theresa Dorlini have taken a sturdy ranch with "good bones" and transformed it into a home distinctively their own.

“Good Bones” – Ranch Reborn Under Design Couple

John and Theresa Dorlini – architect and interior designer respectively – took a sturdy four-bedroom, three-bath, 1960s ranch and made it distinctively their own.
Adam Cohen and Steven Strauss of Structures.

Passivhaus National Groundbreakers are in Roanoke

Adam Cohen and Steven Strauss of Stuctures Design Build are not just near-evangelical about the “green” Passivhaus design, they are also actively putting up structures employing its tenets.
The Specht home is the only Passivhaus structure in Bedford County.

Bedford’s Only Passivhaus Exceeds Expectations

Jason Specht has placed thermometers all around the home he and his wife Stephanie built with Passivhaus technologies – just part of the package of steps and techniques that has kept energy costs in the $40-$50 per-month range.
The Jackman home is in Contentment Island at the lake.

Smith Mountian Lake Dream Home

Retired Major General Galen Jackman and his wife Cathy looked at countless homes at their desired location of Smith Mountain Lake before finding their “forever” home, and at the right price.
A Taste of Virginia Tech

Web Exclusive: “A Taste of Virginia Tech”

A new cookbook has arrived, and it’s just in time for tailgating season. Here's a peak at five select recipes from the book (including two not found in our September/October issue!)
We asked area superintendents and a college president to provide key aspects to keep in mind as students get ready to return to school.

School Tips From the Top

Read what four local superintendents and one college president suggest parents and students keep in mind as a new school year approaches.
Aaron and Michelle Dykstra have translated Aaron's love of bicycles into Roanoke-based Six-Eleven Bicycle Co, which has gathered national attention to the point that its waiting list for a new bike is about one year.

Five Cool Small Businesses to Keep an Eye On

They range from two employees to nearly 50. What they have in common is a good idea, hard work and a measure of success, even against the headwinds of a stubborn economy.
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Departments
Home & Garden

Your Easiest Holiday Yet

These home-related tips will ease your stress and quite possibly make it the easiest holiday yet.

October 18, 2021
Heather Leeper
Features

40 Under 40: Heather Leeper

Meet the next generation of Roanoke leaders, as nominated by readers and selected by editors.

January 6, 2020