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Good morning, Blacksburg.
Hope you a good rest of your weekend. If you spent your Saturday replaying that kick, you were not alone.
The good news: Monday brings the sunshine back after a rainy weekend. Partly cloudy skies turn sunny, with a high near 74 and a first properly crisp morning near 42.
In today’s Blacksburg Connect:
🎉 100 years of VT Homecoming: Oct 12-17
🎃 Fall feature: Sinkland Farms' 35th annual pumpkin festival
🐶 Meet Bedford, the future Growley IV
Let’s get to it.
Monday, October 5
Panel: Artistic Excellence and Professional Inclusion
2:30-3:45pm, The Cube, Moss Arts Center, 190 Alumni Mall, Blacksburg. Free; registration required. Presented for National Disability Employment Awareness Month, with Teatro La Plaza's actors talking about leading as neurodivergent artists. In Spanish with English interpretation; also livestreamed on YouTube starting at 2:30pm.
ReCode Blacksburg: Technical Review and Approaches Report presentation
6-7:30pm, Multipurpose Room, Blacksburg Community Center, 725 Patrick Henry Drive, Blacksburg. Free. Town staff and consultant Camiros present the Technical Review and Approaches Report, released September 18, which lays out findings on the current development code and sketches directions for the rewrite. Feedback from tonight's meeting folds into the draft code in Phase 2. Can't make it in person? The comment form on Let's Talk Blacksburg stays open after the meeting.
Radford Fiddle and Banjo Jam
6-9pm, Radford University Artis Center, 801 E Main St, Radford. Free weekly Monday jam and an official Crooked Road Heritage Music Trail event; all players and listeners welcome.
Town of Blacksburg Fall Cleanup: NW Quadrant
October 5-9. Brush and yard debris go out in one pile, bulky items in a separate pile, collected on different days. Leaves must be bagged; loose-leaf collection starts October 26.
Tuesday, October 6
VT Men's Soccer vs Longwood
6pm EDT, Thompson Field, Blacksburg. The Hokies host Longwood in non-conference play.
Trivia Night @ 540 Social
Weekly Tuesdays, 540 Social, 125 N Main St, Blacksburg. Prizes, food, and drinks with your trivia team.
Christiansburg Fire Prevention Night
6-8pm, Christiansburg Fire Department, 110 Depot St, Christiansburg. Free touch-a-truck and open house: kids can climb on emergency vehicles and tour the station.
Book launch: Cassie Miller, "Meet Me on Mistletoe Lane"
7-8:30pm, Blacksburg Books, 401 S Main St Ste 106, Blacksburg. Free, no registration. Launch party for a Hallmark-style holiday romance.
Wednesday, October 7
Blacksburg Farmers Market (Wednesday Market)
2-6pm, 108 W Roanoke St, Blacksburg. The year-round, producer-only market with seasonal produce, baked goods, and crafts.
Tech Talk Live with James Franklin
6-7pm, McClain's at First & Main, 1614 S Main St, Blacksburg. Free, first-come seating. Coach Franklin joins hosts Mike Burnop and Evan Hughes to break down the Pitt heartbreaker and look ahead to Cal.
Teatro La Plaza: "Hamlet" (Night 1)
7:30pm, Anne and Ellen Fife Theatre, Moss Arts Center, 190 Alumni Mall, Blacksburg. Peru's Teatro La Plaza: eight actors with Down syndrome reimagine Hamlet in Spanish with English supertitles; 95 minutes, no intermission. $30 general, $10 students and youth 18 and under.
VT Jazz Ensembles Concert
7:30-9pm, Creativity and Innovation District, Virginia Tech. Student jazz ensembles from across majors take the stage.
Haunted History Tours
7:30 and 9pm, starting on the lawn at 204 Draper Rd SW, Blacksburg. A 60-90 minute ghost walk with T.J. Prosalenti covering five stops including The Lyric and Stroubles Creek. Limited to 15 people, ages 8 and up; buy tickets at least 3 hours ahead.
MFA Salon
7:30-8:30pm, Blacksburg Books, 401 S Main St Ste 106, Blacksburg. Readings by VT MFA writers Ashlyn Peralta, Liz Tresidder, and Sandra Riffler.
🎉 100 years of VT Homecoming: Oct 12-17
Virginia Tech Homecoming turns 100 this year, and the week of Oct 12-17 is stacked. It starts Monday afternoon with the official Homecoming Kickoff on the Drillfield (DJ, photo booth, inflatables, Homecoming Court candidates), then the Class of 2028 Ring Premiere in Burruss Hall that evening, where the latest class ring redesign gets unveiled. Midweek brings a Red Cross blood drive on Wednesday (11am-5pm), Aux Cord Wars at Haymarket Theater at 6:30pm, the free rain-or-shine Sustainable Dining Fall Harvest Festival on Dietrick Lawn (11am-2pm), and a movie night on English Field. The Oct 16 Parade Watch Party on Alumni Mall ($10 in advance, free for kids 12 and under) runs 6-8pm with lawn games, music, and food before the downtown parade steps off at 6:45pm and marches through downtown Blacksburg to the Drillfield. Featured alumni guests include Rick Devens '06, the reality TV fan favorite, and Jerry Hulick '73, an Alumni Distinguished Service Award recipient. It all builds to Saturday's Homecoming Tailgate on the Drillfield (new location this year), starting four hours before kickoff of the sold-out, Maroon Effect football game vs Georgia Tech. Tailgate registration is $15 in advance or $20 day-of, free for kids 12 and under, and each adult registration includes a $5 gift to the Alumni Scholarship Fund. VT News / Full lineup
🎃 Fall feature: Sinkland Farms' 35th annual pumpkin festival
The 35th annual pumpkin festival runs Thursday through Sunday weekly through November 1 at 3060 Riner Rd in Christiansburg, spread across 125 acres against the Blue Ridge Mountains. USA Today ranked it the 4th best pumpkin patch and corn maze in the nation in 2025, and this year's edition introduces America's Harvest Celebration, honoring 250 years of American agricultural heritage.
The weeknight edition (Thursday-Friday, 4-8pm) brings the hayride to the patch, corn maze, Kids Zone, terrace bar, and food trucks. Weekends (Saturday-Sunday, 10am-5pm) add live music, local vendors, and artisans, plus pig races, pony rides, and farm animals for the kids. One scheduling note: Punkin' Chunkin' has been moved to this coming weekend, October 10-11. sinklandfarms.com
🐶 Meet Bedford, the future Growley IV
The Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets has a new pup in training. Introducing Growley IV, call sign Bedford, named in honor of the Bedford Boys. Virginia Tech says the name carries forward a legacy of courage, service, and unwavering loyalty.
Bedford will spend the next year completing his initial training and will join cadets on the Upper Quad next fall. He officially reports for duty in fall 2028 after a year of shadowing Growley III, call sign Stryker, who then begins a well-deserved retirement in the care of a former cadet handler. Legend says the original Growley was a beloved Depression-era dog cared for by cadets sharing breakfast scraps; the tradition returned to campus in 2016 when Echo Company brought a furry friend to boost Corps morale and serve as an ambassador. Virginia Tech announcement
📰 News Around the NRV
⚽ Women's soccer falls 2-1 to No. 25 Louisville. The Hokies fell at Thompson Field on Saturday night: Anna Weir scored Tech's lone goal in the 83rd minute, but the Cardinals found the winner in the final two minutes. Tech drops to 6-3-3 and 2-2-0 in the ACC. HokieSports
🏊 VT swim and dive sweeps its own Invitational. The Hokies topped Penn State on both sides Saturday at the Christiansburg Aquatic Center: the men won 265.50-87.50, and the women beat Penn State 312-41 and Liberty 240-111. Penn State Athletics
Blacksburg's Rick Devens wins "Big Brother" Season 28. The 42-year-old broadcast journalist and "Survivor" alum from Blacksburg won the Oct 1 CBS finale 6-1, taking home $750,000, plus America's Favorite Houseguest ($50,000) and a $10,000 "Pharaoh's Curse" prize. He is also one of this year's featured guests at VT Homecoming (see above). USA Today
🏈 Friday night lights. Blacksburg outlasted Cave Spring 34-27 on Thursday night, snapping a three-game skid; William Byrd rallied past Radford 40-35 on Thursday; Christiansburg edged Pulaski County 21-19 on Friday night after Pulaski's late two-point conversion was called back on a penalty. Virginia Preps scores
VT men's basketball signs Clemson transfer "Butta" Johnson. Virginia Tech officially announced the signing Thursday, Oct 1: 6-4 guard Efrem "Butta" Johnson averaged 6.3 points and shot 35.5% from three at Clemson last season, and brings 1,030 career points. He gives the Hokies 15 scholarship players for 2026-27. HokieSports
📌 Community Board
Free loft bed frame, Blacksburg pickup. Posted Oct 3; first come, first served. FB post
"Made in the NRV" wants local makers. A new local guide is taking shape and wants NRV makers, bakers, growers, artists, and creative businesses to be featured. Interested makers can sign up at madeinthenrv.com. FB post
A community meal milestone. A local meal-serving group is at 1,890 of its 2,000-meal first-year goal, with 110 to go in its final month. A thank-you post to everyone who has shown up. FB post
A new grad growing a landscaping business. Virginia Tech Class of 2025 grad Tucker Flynn is building Flynn & Co. Landscaping in the NRV (design, planting, garden maintenance), a business he started between classes. FB post
A local sawmill goes full time. Southwest Woodworks (portable sawmilling, slab flattening, kiln drying, CNC routing, custom millwork, hardwood lumber sales, custom signs) announced it is now a full-time business, as the owner retires from his day job on Oct 9. FB post / southwestwood.com
VT Rally Racing needs a garage. A new Virginia Tech club is looking for a garage, old barn, or any space to tear down and rebuild a rally car. Know someone with room to spare? FB post
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