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In this issue of Blacksburg Connect
🗓️ Upcoming Local Events
🏛️ Local Government: The Waiting Game at the Old High School Site
🦃 Hokie Happenings: Board of Visitors Preview
🌳 Local Leisure: Unwind at The Gathering at Prices Fork
Upcoming Events
Monday August 24th
Historic and Design Review Board — 4:30 PM (Blacksburg Motor Company Conference Room, — one item: 400 N. Main St. lighting and walkway repair
Monday Night Madness — 5:30 PM shotgun start (The Hill, Blacksburg Municipal Golf Course, 800 Graves Ave., Blacksburg)
Free Acroyoga Class and Jam — 6:30–8:30 PM (outdoors at Pratt Dr. & Kraft Dr., Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center, Blacksburg) — free; no experience or partner needed — first hour guided instruction, second hour open jam; rain location is the In Balance Yoga CRC studio, 2000 Kraft Dr., Suite 1204
Montgomery County Board of Supervisors — 7:15 PM (Government Center, 755 Roanoke St., Christiansburg)
Tuesday, August 25th
Blacksburg Town Council — 6:30 PM (Municipal Building, 300 S. Main St., Blacksburg) — no public hearings; next hearings Sept. 8
Farmer Auctions: Kenneth McCoy Funeral Collection, Part 1 — bidding closes (online only, Blacksburg)
Taco Tuesday — 11:00 AM–10:00 PM (Cabo Fish Taco, 117 S. Main St., Blacksburg)
Music Bingo — 622 North, 622 N. Main St., Blacksburg
Wednesday, August 26th
Sustainable Blacksburg Lunch & Learn: "How to Garden…When Deer Are Everywhere" — 12:00–1:00 PM (Blacksburg Library, 200 Miller St. SW, Blacksburg) — free
Midweek Farmers Market — 2:00–6:00 PM (Market Square Park, 100 Draper Rd., Blacksburg)
Jazz Zoo — 6:00–9:00 PM (Rising Silo Brewery, 2351 Glade Rd., Blacksburg) — every fourth-Wednesday jazz
Think & Drink Trivia — 7:00 PM (Eastern Divide Brewing, 1610 S. Main St., Blacksburg)
Market Square Jam with Ashlee Watkins & Andrew Small — 7:00–9:00 PM (Market Square Park, 100 Draper Rd., Blacksburg) — free, bring a chair
🏛️ Town Development: The Waiting Game at the Old High School Site
Sixteen years after the old Blacksburg High School closed its doors for good following a dramatic gym roof collapse in 2010, the future of the property at 520 Patrick Henry Drive remains only half-settled. Here is the wild ride of how we got here:
The 2010 Collapse: In April 2010, the high school gym roof collapsed under heavy snow. Students evacuated to the new facility on Prices Fork Road, leaving the old site completely vacant.
Sitting Vacant (2010–2016): For six years, Montgomery County tried to sell the land. Multiple deals died because nobody wanted to touch the massive multi-million-dollar demolition liability cost.
2017: The $3.3M Buyback: After Montgomery County sold the 36-acre property to HS Development LLC, the Town of Blacksburg ultimately shelled out $3.3 million to buy roughly two-thirds of the land back and split the land into a mix of community center, recreation, and private development.
2024: The Development: The 11-acre residential slice is officially a done deal under the RZN-24-1 rezoning amendment. Instead of the originally planned 111 units, developers are capped at a maximum of 73 higher-end townhomes expected to command roughly $650,000 each.
🗓️ Where It Stands Right Now
The Residential Slice (~11 Acres): Platted and ready for the 73-unit premium townhome community under the July 2024 zoning limits.
The Recreation Slice (~24 Acres): Firmly under town municipal control. The old track is staying, and national design firm Kahler Slater is finalizing a study to pit this site against Municipal Park for a brand-new recreation center facility. Public input surveys wrapped up back in September 2025. Nearly a year later, the official Let's Talk Blacksburg project page still lists the active phase as "consultant work."
🦃 Higher Ed & Hokie Happenings: Board of Visitors Preview
The Virginia Tech Board of Visitors is holding its quarterly meetings this week from, August 24 - 26. Wednesday’s meeting of the full board and Presidential Search Committee will be livestreamed. To view the meetings, go to the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors website.
Information about the Presidential Search Committee meeting will be posted on the presidential search website.
What's on the Docket: Committees are rolling through facility metrics, financial overviews, and updates following earlier spring deep-dives into campus housing and structural frameworks.
Attendance Notes: Heading over in person? Make sure you have your Hokie Passport or a government-issued photo ID ready, as bags are subject to routine security checks.
🌱 Local Leisure: The garden center on Prices Fork is planning a lot more than plants
The Gathering at Prices Fork opened quietly on April 4 as a garden center and market — plants, seasonal selections, farmers market goods, local produce, and a rotation of food, wine, dessert and coffee trucks on weekends. That's Phase 1. The plans posted on their site run considerably further.
From their website:
Beyond an expanded garden center and market, the list includes food and drink, live music and entertainment, seasonal markets and festivals, community celebrations, a mulch, stone and landscape supply yard, large indoor and outdoor gathering spaces, and courtyards purpose-built for events and live entertainment. Phase 2 is slated for this fall.
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