Community Calendar

Furious Flower is teaming up with the Shenandoah Valley Black Heritage Project to offer a special workshop and open mic with the Harrisonburg/Shenandoah Valley community. The event will begin with a poetry workshop from 11:30 AM – 1 PM, followed by a 1-hour participant open mic that begins at 1:30. This workshop will take place at the historic Northeast Neighborhood Community Center located at 491 Broad Street, Harrisonburg, VA, 22802, and a light lunch will be provided to workshop participants. Registration highly advised.

The Edith J. Carrier Arboretum is thrilled to host our first-ever Squirrel Fest!

The JMU and local community are welcome to join us Saturday, Sept. 19, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. for a host of activities that will include:

- Arboretum tours (from the POV of a squirrel!)
- A squirrel-based Citizen Science project using iNaturalist
- Beatrix Potter's "Squirrel Nutkin," featured on our StoryWalk
- Open mic poetry/songs about squirrels at 12 noon
- A Haiku workshop
- An educational exhibit of squirrels that live in the Arboretum (four species!)
- Special focus on our black squirrels
- Activity and display tents

Questions? Want to be involved? Contact us at EJCArboretum@jmu.edu or call us at 540-568-3194.

What does 1776 mean to us in 2026? That’s the question historians Frank Cogliano, Nadine Zimmerli, and Nick Guyatt discuss in Highland’s final 250 Book Series program on September 23rd from 4:30 to 5:30 PM. You won’t want to miss perspectives on some of the pressing issues that these and other contributors address in the essay collection The American Revolution at 250: Twenty-Four Historians Reflect on the Founding. This program is free and open to the public, and registration is requested using the link on our website.

What did the Revolution look like in the rear-view mirror for the founding generation? And what did the future hold for the young nation? Author Ryan L. Cole joins us on October 28 from 4:30 to 5:30 PM in conversation about his book The Last Adieu, which recounts the summer of 1824, when the aging Marquis de Lafayette returned to America for the first time in forty years. Once a young general in the Revolution, he now found a vastly changed nation—twenty-four states strong, thriving yet divided, and facing new political storms.

Experience this moment of transition through the eyes of Lafayette–and of ordinary Americans–as they witnessed elderly founding fathers, rising politicians, and reformers shaping the nation’s future.

Attendees will have the opportunity to purchase The Last Adieu and have their copy signed by the author after the program. This event is free and open to the public as part of Highland’s celebration of America’s 250th. Registration is requested at the link on our website.