Community Calendar

Please join the JMU Choral Area and special guests, the JMU Wind Symphony, for HolidayFest 2025: Holiday Pops! A sellout every year, this family-friendly event features a crowd-pleasing variety of contemporary holiday favorites, with guest readers and soloists sharing the inspiration of “A JMU Charlie Brown Christmas.” Don’t miss this spirited tradition that brings the community together in harmony and cheer! Prior to the December 7th matinee (at 1 pm), children can enjoy crafts, cookies, and cider in the lobby.

Calling all tree huggers, forest friends, and book worms! If you are interested in connecting with fellow nature-lovers over a good book, join us for Highland’s Green Gathering Book Club.

Who would have guessed that tiny organisms beneath the surface of the soil are crucial to the survival of life on this planet? This month we’ll take inspiration from Merlin Sheldrake’s Entangled Life and talk all about fungi, the strange and amazing life forms that continue to fascinate and inspire researchers.

This event is free and open to the public. Designed for participants aged 12 and up. Participants will meet at the Highland Museum Shop and walk as a group to our comfy conference room for the book club meeting.

Entangled Life can be purchased through your local bookstore or via Amazon. Want to be extra green? Check out the book from your local library branch!

The Shenandoah Valley Art Center during the month of August, in the Cabell/Arehart Invitational Gallery, is presenting Elizabeth Moss: Passages Through Art, Myth, Magic, and Healing. Moss built a career in arts administration and curatorial pursuits. As a seasoned visual artist, Elizabeth has spent over two decades exploring the power of symbolism, storytelling, and nature through her work. A deep personal vision- one rooted in mythology, sacred imagery, and the organic forms of the natural world are reflected in her work. In her own words, “I have a fascination with symbols and the effect these images can have on the subconscious. Serendipitously, symbols keep showing up in my life, and as a result in my work. My imagination is inspired by myth, sacred icons, the gods and goddesses, masks, and Mother Gaia. Especially by the ocean and the forest. Both provide evocative opportunities to observe the geometry and symbols created by nature. The story is there to be discovered in each line, whorl and tint of color. The artwork I create speaks to the universal connection I feel we all have with each other and the natural world.” The exhibition opening will be August 2, 5:00 – 7:00 p.m. and guests are welcome to meet and talk to the artist The exhibition is open to the public August 2 – September 27, Tuesday – Friday, 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m., Saturday, 11:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m., at 126 S. Wayne Ave, Waynesboro, VA 22980.

Building and supporting our community is what we do at the LIFEworks Project! We invite you to shop our client choice grocery outlet today from 4:30pm-7pm.
The River City Bread Basket is located at 505 N. Winchester Ave. in Waynesboro, Va.
Select what works best for you and your family! Grab a shopping cart and not a box!
All items are available while supplies last! Meat, eggs, dairy and more! All FREE!
Call 540-251-2381 to register
We’ll see you soon! #ThriveThursday
#distributionwithdignity #buildcommunity
#foodjustice #empowerment

CIRQUE DREAMS HOLIDAZE dazzles with a brilliantly breathtaking holiday spectacular for the whole family. As the original cirque holiday theatrical event, this annual tradition wraps a Broadway-style production around awe-inspiring contemporary circus arts.

Guests will be on the edge of their seats as a cast of holiday characters come to life, captivating audiences while defying gravity. Reimagined for 2025, CIRQUE DREAMS HOLIDAZE features original music, fresh twists on beloved holiday favorites sung live, new sets, dazzling scenery, and stunning costumes – making it the ultimate holiday gift!

The Shenandoah Valley Art Center, during the month of July, is exhibiting the artwork of Group 6. This exhibit presents recent work by its six members who are established artists living and working in Virginia, women who meet regularly to show, discuss and critique their work. Primarily known as painters, some in the group also create in collage, vitreous enamel, clay, photography and printmaking. Their work is shaped by an interest in abstraction and a commitment to process and creative inquiry. By choice or necessity, Group 6 artists spend most of their working time alone in the studio, so it’s particularly valuable to gather as a group to exchange ideas and information, provide analysis, offer challenges and encouragement, and build friendships. All group members have studied and /or taught at Beverley Street Studio School in Staunton, and for the past several years the group has met with guest advisors Ron Boehmer and Nan Covert. Members participate in solo and group exhibits nationally and regionally, and their work can be found in public, corporate, and private collections in the United States and abroad. The exhibition Opening is July 12, 5:00 – 7:00 p.m. and an ART Talk with Group 6 is August 13, 2:00 p.m. Come meet Lindsay Freedman, Janly Jaggard, June Jordan, Joan Ranzini, Krista Townsend, and Christine Watts. The exhibit is open to the public: July 12 - August – 30, Tuesday – Friday, 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m., Saturday 11:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. at 416 W. Main Street, Waynesboro, VA 22980.

Join Champion Scottish fiddler, singer and harpist Seán Heely and a cast of nationally acclaimed Celtic performers on a magical journey through Scotland and Ireland during the holidays. The fiddle and bagpipes will sweep you away to Christmastime and Winter Solstice celebrations, along with dancers who are sure to lift your spirits and warm your heart. Kilts and tartan abound as the show travels through ancient Gaelic carols and songs, tucked in perfectly with lively Irish tunes and familiar seasonal melodies with a Celtic twist. An award-winning musician, Heely is one of the most creatively versatile and captivating young artists of his generation.

Rain, snow, or shine we are open with a wide variety of fresh and local fruits and vegetables; pasture raised eggs and meats like beef, pork, and chicken; coffee; ready to eat foods, artisanal chocolate, herbal self-care, honey, maple syrup, local art, pickles, sauerkraut, pet accessories, candles, and more!

We are a producer-only market, meaning that everything is home grown or handmade by our vendors.

Cash, card, SNAP/EBT accepted. SNAP transactions will be MATCHed up to $30 thanks to Virginia Fresh Match!

Visit our website for more information: https://www.harrisonburgfarmersmarket.com/

Shenandoah Valley Art Center presents: Compositions that Work with Peg Sheridan. Do you wonder why your paintings don't seem to "pull together" at the end? Would you like to understand how to use compositional tools to make your paintings better? In this hands-on class, you will learn powerful, practical compositional tools that work. Whether you are painting landscapes, figures, still life or abstracts, you will learn how to arrange shapes for better impact and balance. Through guided exercises, you will learn compositions that are proven winners. Peg will provide weekly demonstrations for each of the six weeks of class. She will provide color worksheets, one-on-one help and weekly reviews of student paintings. She has been painting in watercolors for 45 years, and teaching watercolor painting for 35 years, and is known to be the most popular watercolor instructor in the Piedmont/Blue Ridge region. See Peg's work, and more about her classes and materials list at www.pegsheridan.com . (Fee: $250, Tuesdays, September 23, 30, October 7, 14, 21, & 28, 10:00 am – 2:00 pm, at 126 S. Wayne Avenue., Waynesboro, VA 22980, register: www.pegsheridan.com or call SVAC at 540-949-7662)

The Shenandoah Valley Art Center during the month of August, in the Cabell/Arehart Invitational Gallery, is presenting Elizabeth Moss: Passages Through Art, Myth, Magic, and Healing. Moss built a career in arts administration and curatorial pursuits. As a seasoned visual artist, Elizabeth has spent over two decades exploring the power of symbolism, storytelling, and nature through her work. A deep personal vision- one rooted in mythology, sacred imagery, and the organic forms of the natural world are reflected in her work. In her own words, “I have a fascination with symbols and the effect these images can have on the subconscious. Serendipitously, symbols keep showing up in my life, and as a result in my work. My imagination is inspired by myth, sacred icons, the gods and goddesses, masks, and Mother Gaia. Especially by the ocean and the forest. Both provide evocative opportunities to observe the geometry and symbols created by nature. The story is there to be discovered in each line, whorl and tint of color. The artwork I create speaks to the universal connection I feel we all have with each other and the natural world.” The exhibition opening will be August 2, 5:00 – 7:00 p.m. and guests are welcome to meet and talk to the artist The exhibition is open to the public August 2 – September 27, Tuesday – Friday, 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m., Saturday, 11:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m., at 126 S. Wayne Ave, Waynesboro, VA 22980.