A thriving arts and culture scene – from art and opera to festivals and storytelling – puts Roanoke on the map as the place to be in Southwest Virginia.
Roger Gupta
FloydFest
There’s simply no getting around it: those seeking a vibrant cultural destination west of Richmond have flocked — and continue to flock — to diverse and dynamic Roanoke. With a population of 100,000 (bigger than Asheville, North Carolina!), Roanoke is undoubtedly the place to be in Southwest Virginia. The Star City’s star is rising.
The Berglund Center, Salem Civic Center and Jefferson Center are the heavy hitters for regional arts and entertainment. The city also boasts two minor league sports teams (the Rail Yard Dawgs in hockey and the Salem Red Sox in baseball), but there are plenty of options beyond the obvious go-tos for locals and tourists seeking fresh experiences.
There are numerous high-quality indoor music venues to choose from, especially in downtown Roanoke. Martin’s Downtown is perhaps the most prolific and well-known of the bunch, offering live music from local, regional and national acts five nights per week. Just around the block from Martin’s is 5 Points Music Sanctuary, a unique auditory haven founded in 2017 that hosts live shows, while supporting music therapy, music education and hearing loss advocacy.
Founder Tyler Godsey’s two children were born with significant hearing issues, but each eventually received life-changing cochlear implants. Now they’re able to hear, and Godsey has dedicated his life to pursuing the power of sound, through his influential nonprofit.
Also downtown — and also a nonprofit — is The Spot on Kirk. Though its most noteworthy endeavor is bringing music (folk, blues, American, singer-songwriter, hip-hop, R&B and every genre in between) to the Valley, the intimate venue also serves as a community center.
With a capacity of 130 people, it often plays host to educational experiences, networking opportunities, charitable causes and other events that focus on cultural inclusion. In 2019, The Spot on Kirk hosted the first-ever Deschutes Kirkfest: a six-hour music, beer and food festival that celebrated the final day of summer.
Breweries, too, have gotten in on the party. Though it’s not based in Roanoke, Devil’s Backbone Brewing Company brought its Road to Hoopla event to Elmwood Park in 2019.
The day-long festival allowed four Virginia bands to compete for an opportunity to perform at the Hoopla Music and Beer Festival, held annually at Devil’s Backbone Basecamp Brewpub and Meadows in Nelson County.
In 2019, the Road to Hoopla event was free to the public, and all proceeds from beer sales went to the Roanoke Outside Foundation, a nonprofit that aims to make “outdoor activity and environmental stewardship a core component of our community’s lifestyle,” according to its website.
The Roanoke area has a thriving craft beer scene in its own right, with Deschutes, Big Lick, Three Notch’d, Twin Creeks, Parkway, Olde Salem and A Few Old Goats offering a wide array of delicious hop-and-yeast filled libations.
Across the Way Productions, meanwhile, has established itself as perhaps the premiere event planning company in Southwest Virginia. In addition to producing Floydfest, an annual five-day music festival that routinely draws upwards of 15,000 people, the Floyd County-based company also created, designed and executed three other large events in 2019: the Roanoke GO Outside Festival, the Down by Downtown Festival and the Big Chill — A Floydfest Ball.
Floydfest, however, remains Across the Way’s staple event. Held, aptly, in Floyd, it celebrated its 18th anniversary in 2019, and has featured world-renowned musicians, including Jason Isbell, Kacey Musgraves, Citizen Cope, Thievery Corporation and many others.
The Daleville Town Center Pavilion, located in nearby Botetourt County, is somewhat new to the scene. But it has grown into a stellar outdoor venue — one that hosted the Virginia Beer and Wine Festival in 2019.
Dr. Pepper Park at the Bridges in Roanoke is another quality open-air venue that features music, movies and the occasional event, such as the annual Dr. Pepper Day.
Though the Appalachian Mountains are famous for bluegrass, the Roanoke area has produced talented artists across a spectrum of genres in recent years.
In 2018, a panel of six prominent individuals within the region’s music community — most of whom are musicians themselves — voted on the city’s top 10 hottest musical acts.
They decided, in no particular order, on Fat Daddy, Marie Anderson, Lazyman Dub Band, Groova Scape, The Kings, The Worx, Radar Rose, the Lenny Marcus Trio, Hoppie Vaughan and the Ministers of Soul and Jo Jo Stockton and SoulacouStix/Hott Sauce.
That group of artists sums up the eclecticism of the Star City’s vibrant music scene (as does the fact that legendary singer Wayne Newton was raised here), but there are countless other artists making their names known around town.
The Star City is more than just a live music destination, too. Visual and performing arts also thrive here. Since the turn of the century, the Open Studios Tour has given the public an opportunity to celebrate local visual artists by offering a unique glimpse into how those artists live and work. The tour lasts two days, and winds through five neighborhoods: Southeast Industrial Park, South Roanoke, Old Southwest, Southwest Roanoke/Raleigh Court and Grandin Village.
Sculpture, painting, drawing, collage, assembling, jewelry, photography, fiber and ceramics are the featured mediums, and the artists who participate describe and demonstrate their processes to the public. The aim of the nearly 20-year-old tradition is to educate and excite future collectors and creatives.
Those with a flair for the dramatic will also find much to love in the Valley. Mill Mountain Theatre is perhaps the most established live theater in the region, hosting 12 annual stage productions on its 345-seat Trinkle Main Stage.
The venue also produces titles with a riskier bent in its Fringe series, held on the Waldron Stage — a 99-seat house that hosted two shows in 2019.
Roanoke also boasts a professional ballet company (Roanoke Ballet Theatre), a world-class symphony (Roanoke Symphony) and perhaps the most renowned opera in Southwest Virginia (Opera Roanoke).
For those brave enough to share their own stories, they can participate in Hoot and Holler, a themed live storytelling event for any and everyone.
Museum-goers will also be satisfied in and around Roanoke. Beyond the Taubman Museum of Art — the premier art museum in Southwest Virginia (and purportedly the only museum in the region that offers free admission) — locals and tourists alike can explore the Virginia Museum of Transportation, the Harrison Museum of African American Culture, the Science Museum of Western Virginia and (perhaps most eccentric of all) the Roanoke Pinball Museum.
Though Roanoke is best known for its blooming springs and foliage-filled falls, it boasts a plethora of arts and culture offerings for all four seasons. From warm-weather outdoor concerts and art tours to chillier days spent inside museums and indoor music venues, the Star City is a cultural juggernaut all year round.