ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, May 3, 1996 TAG: 9605030029
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: The Tipoff
SOURCE: ALMENA HUGHES
ALL'S FAIRS: Even the weather promises to be fair for this weekend's fests.
Community School's 16th Annual Strawberry Festival will take place today and Saturday, 10:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. in Crestar Plaza, downtown Roanoke. Homemade strawberry desserts including shortcakes, slushes, sundaes and chocolate dips will cost from $2.75-$3.75. Tickets are available at stores. Call 563-5036.
The 17th Annual Virginia State Championship Chili Cook-off will be going on Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.on Salem Avenue between Williamson Road and Jefferson Street and in adjoining areas in downtown Roanoke. Festivities will include entertainment, a chili pepper-eating contest, music and free chili samples. Park for free in First Union Tower garage. Call 342-2028.
Roanoke Catholic School's ``Carousel'' will be held Saturday from 10 a.m.-8 p.m.and Sunday from 1-7 p.m. on the school's grounds at 621 N. Jefferson St., Roanoke. The annual fund-raiser will feature music by Vertigo, The Thrillbillyz and Off the Cuff, plus games, crafts, food, rides, baton twirling and karate demonstrations. Call 982-3756.
The 12th Annual Barter Faire, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday at Wintergreen Farm, Floyd, is noted for fair-priced swaps and sales of vegetables, perennials, crafts and other goods and services. The music, storytelling, drama, workshops and children's activities are free. Demonstrators and performers are welcome at the farm along U.S. 221, two miles south of Floyd. Proceeds benefit Blue Mountain School. Call 745-2708.
PAINTERS AND POETS: Painter and sculptor Vandorn Hinnant glimpses the universal order of the cosmos through color, harmonies, geometry and the written word. Meet him at 6 tonight at an opening reception and gallery talk at the Harrison Museum of African American Culture, 523 Harrison Ave. N.W., Roanoke, followed at 7 p.m. by ``Voice of a People: Poetry Performances by Local African Americans.'' Hinnant's exhibit will be displayed through Aug. 26. Call 345-4818.
NIGHT LIFE: Tonight is the one per month when several downtown Roanoke businesses and galleries remain open between 6-9 p.m. for art exhibits and receptions. For a list of who's participating in Art by Night, call Downtown Roanoke Inc. 342-2028.
Tonight is also the first Friday of the month, and you know what that means: First Fridays at Five, 5-8 p.m., First Union Plaza, downtown Roanoke. Music by Radar Rose, Naked Blue. Food and drink available. You must be 21 or older to attend. Admission is $2. Call 983-8090.
SIGN TIME: Faline Jones, creator of The Cat's Meow Village collectibles, will make The Apple Barn in Troutville her first of only five nationwide appearances planned for this year. From noon - 3 p.m. on Saturday the popular entrepreneur, whose collectors' club boasts over 30,000 members, will sign her pieces purchased that day. For information, call 992-3551.
GOSPEL GATHERINGS: Saturday at 3 p.m. in Virginia Western Community College's Whitman Auditorium, the school's Black Student Organization and VWCC Choral Ensemble will present a free gospel concert. For information, call Gloria Lindsay 857-7583.
Carman's 1996 ``Riot Tour,'' Monday at 7:30 p.m. in the Roanoke Civic Center has an admission charge of $4. Tickets are available at Christian bookstores and at the center's box office, 981-1201.
ITSY BITSY BEASTS: The Roanoke Nigerian Dwarf Goat Show will be held Saturday from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. at Centura Farms in Roanoke County. Take U.S. 221 South from Cave Spring Corners, go 6.5 miles and turn right onto Martins Creek Road. Call 929-4688.
PEDAL PUSHERS: Sunday will bring Stage 5 of the Tour DuPont bicycle race from Mount Airy, N.C., to Roanoke, with an estimated finish time of 4:30 p.m. at Campbell Avenue and Jefferson Street. Monday, Stage 6, will start at 10 a.m. and travel from Salem to Blacksburg (Virginia Tech campus) finishing at approximately 3 p.m.
LONG ON LEE: Noted historian Dr. James I. Robertson Jr.'s mesmerizing account of "The Long Road to Appomattox: Lee's Retreat," just might whet your appetite for what for some people consider a dry subject. Robertson will speak at noon Friday at the Roanoke Valley Graduate Center, 117 Church Ave., Roanoke. Admission to the brown-bag presentation is free. Call 857-7900.
MAMA SONGS: Reservations are recommended for Opera Roanoke's "Opera in the Atrium," Mother's Day, May 12 at the Jefferson Center, Roanoke. The 3 p.m. performance by the opera's general and artistic director, baritone Craig Fields, and pianist Judith Clark will showcase arias and songs by Mozart, Rossini, Verdi, Schubert and others. Tickets cost $7. Call 982-2742.
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