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Good morning, Blacksburg.
Happy Tuesday, and happy first day of fall. Astronomical autumn arrives tonight at 8:05, and the season is making an entrance: a forecaseted cold snap tomorrow with a high of only 58 and more rain. Are snuggies still a thing?
In today’s Blacksburg Connect
🚧 Tonight: Christiansburg weighs a 105-foot manufacturing structure
🕺 Grease on the big screen, then dancing in the street
🍻 Eastern Divide's Oktoberfest weekend
Let’s get to it.
Tuesday, September 22
Inorganic Ventures' ICP Conference 2026, 9:00am at 300 Technology Drive, Christiansburg. Expert sessions and real-world takeaways on your workflow. Link
Brentano String Quartet in concert, 7:30 to 9pm at the Moss Arts Center (Fife Theater). The program is Haydn's "Bird" Quartet Op. 33 No. 3, James MacMillan's Heart Speaks to Heart, and the Brahms Viola Quintet Op. 111 with violist Hsin-Yun Huang. brentanoquartet.com
Trivia Night at 540 Social, 7:30pm at 125 N Main St, Blacksburg. Free to play every Tuesday, prizes plus free game cards for each round's winning team. Link
Christiansburg Town Council, 7pm at Town Hall, 100 E. Main St. Tonight's regular meeting includes a public hearing on a conditional use permit for a 105-foot manufacturing structure at 2040 Parkway Drive SE (details below). The meeting streams live on the town's YouTube page. Town calendar
Wednesday, September 23
Walk-In Wednesdays, 10am to 12pm at 201 Wheatland Ct in Christiansburg. Open interviews for positions company-wide every Wednesday, open to all job seekers at any background or experience level. Questions: 540-235-5687. Facebook event
Sustainable Blacksburg Lunch and Learn on Hacksburg, the NRV's makerspace, 12 to 1pm at the Blacksburg Library. Link
Blacksburg Farmers Market Wednesday Market, 2:00pm at Market Square Park.
The 2026 Paddling Film Festival at the Lyric Theatre, hosted by Blacksburg Parks and Recreation; $15 in advance, $20 at the door, with raffle prizes from local sponsors. paddlingfilmfestival.com
The 2026 Market Square Jam with host band The McKenzies, 7 to 9pm at Market Square Park. The weekly Crooked Road old-time jam is free; bring a chair. blacksburg.gov
The Think and Drink Trivia Night, 7 to 9pm at Eastern Divide Brewing. Free to play, three rounds of general trivia with host Wes, seating first come first served. Link
Joint Chamber Connection: 5 After 5, 4:30pm at the Pete Dye River Course, 8400 River Course Dr in Fairlawn. The Pulaski County, Radford, and Montgomery County chambers team up with Ameriprise Financial Radford for an evening of golf plus relaxed after-hours networking. Facebook event
Thursday, September 24
16 Squares Walking Tour, 12pm, meeting at the Alexander Black House (204 Draper Rd SW). An every-other-Thursday guided walk through the original 16 Squares of Blacksburg, with the stories behind the buildings and landmarks you might walk past every day. RSVP to [email protected]; tours limited to 15 people. Facebook event
Freedom's Classroom: Exploring the Legacy of Black Education in Southwest Virginia, 6:30 to 7:30pm at the Christiansburg Library. Hosted with Christiansburg Institute, Inc. GoToMontVA
Robin and Doug Duo at The Farmhouse, 6 to 9pm, 285 Ridinger St in Christiansburg. The Roanoke duo plays classic old school rock covers. GoToMontVA
🕺Grease on the big screen, then dancing in the street
The Lyric's Dancin' in the Street series is back Saturday night. It starts with a 7pm screening of Grease at 135 College Ave, then spills out onto College Ave at 8:45pm for a free street dance with DJ Joey Nicely spinning 50s and 60s tunes. Arrive early for photo ops and a costume contest, and get first bids in on the Lyric's silent auction, which supports the theater's Phase 2 renovations. Tickets
🍻 Eastern Divide's Oktoberfest weekend
Eastern Divide Brewing's annual Oktoberfest runs Thursday through Saturday at 3175 Commerce Street. On Friday: doors open at noon, Blue Ridge Axe Throwing sets up on site, and The Sauerkraut Band plays from 6 to 9pm. The lineup includes an Oktoberfest platter (pre-order online for a discount), hand-painted gingerbread cookies, pretzel bites with beer cheese and spicy mustard, Marzen lager on tap, and custom steins. Eastern Divide
🚧 Tonight: Christiansburg weighs a 105-foot manufacturing structure
Tonight at 7pm, Christiansburg Town Council holds a public hearing on a conditional use permit request from the Montgomery County Economic Development Authority. The EDA wants to build a manufacturing structure with an 8,500-square-foot footprint rising 105 feet, well above the 70-foot height limit, on about 38 acres at 2040 Parkway Drive SE in the General Industrial (I-2) zoning district, according to council minutes that set the hearing. The hearing is part of tonight's regular council meeting at Town Hall, 100 E. Main St., which streams live on the town's YouTube page. Town calendar
📰 News Around the NRV
Hay emergency: Gov. Abigail Spanberger declared a state of emergency September 16 over Virginia's hay shortage, with drought cutting yields about 35 percent and leaving an estimated 500,000-ton deficit. Executive Order 21 waives over-width transport limits for hay haulers starting October 1 so bigger loads can reach farms faster. Montgomery County is on the USDA's primary natural disaster area list for drought, along with Floyd, Giles, Pulaski, and others, which opens up federal emergency assistance for local farmers. Spanberger's order
Head Start grant: New River Community Action in Radford received a $69,434 federal grant for Head Start projects serving Radford and Floyd, Giles, Montgomery, and Pulaski counties. The program serves more than 200 children across the NRV. Griffith Statement
Data centers and your power bill: The U.S. House passed the Ratepayer Protection Act (H.R. 9340) 417 to 3 on September 16. It would require state utility commissions to make large data centers, those drawing over 100 megawatts, cover the cost of the grid upgrades they trigger instead of passing it to households. The bill now heads to the Senate. The local angle: Christiansburg is weighing the same question, after council held a September 8 public hearing on requiring conditional use permits for data centers in its industrial districts. guthrie.house.gov / hearing agenda
Grunkemeyer honored: Ethan Grunkemeyer was named to the Davey O'Brien Award Great 8 after completing 31 of 39 passes for 314 yards and three touchdowns at Maryland. hokiesports.com
📌 The community board
Save the date: The 2026 New River Valley Heart Walk is Saturday, October 24 at 8:30am at Huckleberry Park in Christiansburg.
Business owners: Small Business Workshop: How Money Works is Thursday at 9am, 210 Laurel St NE in Christiansburg. Robert Carrington of Primerica Advisors leads a practical session on the financial principles that shape business decisions, with time for questions. Facebook event
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