Intentionally Unconventional: Third Wave Coffee Company Expands
An unmarked, steel garage door in historic Manchester rolls open to reveal a warehouse filled with neatly stacked rows of kegs. Standing next to a walk-in refrigerator, childhood friends Terry Darcy and Mike Woitach take inventory of their oaked cold brew. They look confident, like two guys just waiting to shake up an industry. Darcy […]
From Bean to Bar
By Luis Davila As with many good ideas, the decision to launch a small-batch chocolate company started over a cup of coffee. Alexander Burlingame, a philosophy student at VCU, was working at Lamplighter Roasting Company and was intrigued by the coffee-making process. In particular, he was drawn to the uniqueness in each roast and the […]
Smelling Success: The Story Behind Garden Grove Brewing Company
By Josh Epperson This is a story about beer. And craft beer at that. Yeah, yeah, you’ve heard it before. A group of friends get together and start brewing beer that tastes like pomegranate or whatever. Well, this one’s different. This is a story about gaining it all and falling apart. This is a […]
Making Something Memorable
By Sydney Page Lester On any given day in a sun-drenched studio in Manchester, Andrea Gleason is making something memorable. Step inside and you’ll find five to four women next to Gleason, all chatting and laughing while remaining intensely focused on the beautiful assortment of Swarovski crystals, beads, sequins, and pearls in front of them. […]
Shop and Sip Roaring Pines
Drew Dayberry is an advertising man gone rogue. He is the owner and operator of Roaring Pines, a general store and soda shop in Union Hill. Walking through the front door of Roaring Pines is like walking through time. The walls are made mostly of frosty gray-green pegboard decorated with American-manufactured goods: brooms, galvanized buckets, […]
Making RVA Active
By Kyra Oliver Dr Jo pumps a fist in the air and shouts, “Boom, RVA, Boom.” She then turns to the 250-plus crowd and asks everyone in their seats to make a pretend mirror with their hands and gaze into it. “Now yell – you sexy thing, don’t you ever die.” This was the […]
Gears in the Garden: Bike Gardens In Bloom At The Center of the Universe
A green bike with a yellow seat and an American flag sits in front of Cross Bros. Grocery with a country cured ham hanging from the handle bars. Nearby, two bikes – one baby blue and the other hot pink – sit atop the Ashland Theater marquee covered in lights. Decorated bikes sit in front […]
Exhibits, Helmets, and Community
With its knack for connecting the past with the future, The Valentine has launched “In Gear: Richmond Cycles,” a rich collection of photographs, bikes, and historical objects that span several centuries of cycling. Curated by David Voelkel, the exhibit celebrates all things cycling – from 19th century high wheel bikes to the local stories of […]
How We Roll: Richmond’s Inner-City Youth Cycling Program
By Craig Dodson What does cycling have to do with low-income kids from public housing? Nothing and everything. When I started Richmond Cycling Corps (RCC) in 2010, it was merely a project: a “let’s see what would happen if …” kind of thing. Well, in our first year, a group of four kids from Fairfield […]
Wine Tasting Uncorked
By Robey Martin It takes most people many years to learn about wine, and even then the knowledge is so subjective and intense that it feels as though you’ve only scratched the surface. With upwards of 4,000 distinct grape varieties (or cultivars) in the world plus fruit wines, barley wines, honey wines, ginger wine, and […]