Roanoke, VA - 125 Years Young!

It wasn't the best of days (a bit chilly and showery) but today was Roanoke, VA (my hometown) 125th anniversary. I wanted to attend the festivities, as I was born here, and have lived here most of my 50 years. A parade of dignitaries arrived at the Roanoke Civic Center in a light rain shower. This horse-drawn carriage transported our Governor, Tim Kaine, to the event (and yes, I'm a bit slow, he's behind the carriage, so the photo is obviously not the best!). Today was also the grand opening of the new Exhibition Hall for the Roanoke Civic Center, and most of the photos here were taken there. The lighting left a lot to be desired, mainly because they were showing slides, and later a video, on the history of the city, so the lights were quite dim.


One of the main reasons I wanted to attend were the antique cars I knew would be there...


This is the hood ornament of the "Woody" in the photo above it. The photos of the Woody simply could not do the restored (and HIGHLY polished) wood trim justice - this car is just gorgeous...



(oh, did I mention my landlord owns these? I came home from work last night to discover several of them parked in front of my new home!)

Then there was a delightful display of handcrafted dolls wearing vintage costumes! I couldn't get all of them photographed, but I probably still went overboard in sharing them with you. I was quite taken with them...especially the period detail! Just exquisite...





Our History Museum had a display of photographs and period items from the day...I know I was born in the wrong time, as I'd feel so at home in this setting! (Ok...I'd have been a Suffragette, but I'd still have been happier living in Victorian times...)

Before I began making bags and knitting up a storm, I thought I wanted to be a Crazy Quilter. I've studied it and studied it, but discovered that, although I can quilt and embroider, both, I'm not cut out for this art form - I really need order, not random placement! Still I adore crazy quilts, and this vintage example took my breath away...look at that butterfly!

This is really not a good photo, but one of the guest speakers was none other than Earl Hamner, creator of The Waltons and Falcon Crest. Mr. Hamner is now 83 and reminisced about visiting Roanoke when he was growing up just down the road a bit in Schuyler, VA (okay, it's north, but around here we go "up" to go south and "down" to go north, so go figure!).


We realized the festivities were going to go on a lot longer than we'd expected, and we both had other things to get done today, so we left. As we returned to ground level at the Civic Center I realized we really do have a lovely view of downtown from there...you can see how gray a day it was...