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HDR regularly sends out bi-weekly all-business emails with resources, news, and updates, and has been in regular contact with downtown small business owners in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. See below for the email sent to business owners on Thursday, March 19th. If you're interested in receiving news and updates like this, please email Andrea.dono@harrisonburgva.gov. more
March 19, 2020 [Harrisonburg, VA] -- Regional agencies and organizations have teamed up to coordinate support and resources for businesses in the Harrisonburg and Rockingham area. The Regional COVID-19 Business Support Taskforce started meeting weekly to brainstorm ideas, curate resources, share information, and unify their efforts as they address business and employer concerns. more
We are experiencing a highly fluid situation that changes hourly. This is a hard time for area families, community groups, and businesses. Small, independent businesses operate on tight margins. A few slow days is alarming but a few slow weeks (or temporary closures) can be devastating. It is up to us to pull together as a community to stay healthy and safe while also keeping our small businesses going. They are the backbone of our community – supporting nonprofits, employing locals, and keeping dollars in our own community. more
Read HDR's statement on the COVID-19 pandemic, a guide to what you can do if you're feeling powerless and want to help, and updates on what HDR is doing to support our downtown community at downtownharrisonburg.org/resilience. more
NewBridges Immigrant Resource Center's annual Taste of the World celebration is coming back to Downtown Harrisonburg this year on Saturday, March 21st at First Presbyterian Church! Ahead of the festivities, we had a chat with NewBridges' Communications and Development Coordinator Abigail Bush-Wilder to learn more about this delicious fundraising event and how it supports the great work NewBridges does in our community. more
Harrisonburg Downtown Renaissance (HDR), a private nonprofit organization focused on economic development and community building in Historic Downtown Harrisonburg, is seeking an Events and Promotions Intern. HDR is an award-winning Great American Main Street community and was voted by the public as “The Best Use of Taxpayer’s Dollars” in the Daily News Record’s annual survey for 6 years in a row. Harrisonburg has received much national and state recognition – we were designated as Virginia’s first arts and cultural district; one of the 10 most exciting places in Virginia; the best place to be a millennial by Blue Ridge Outdoors Magazine; and Virginia’s first culinary district to name a few. more
By Kyle Kirby / Photos courtesy of Rocktown Kitchen: Since opening on May 17th, 2017, Rocktown Kitchen has quickly become a downtown Harrisonburg staple. Owners Kristo and Mira Papa have paid meticulous care in ensuring that their guests feel right at home. more
By Katie Mitchell / Photos by Philip Meador: Remember that Disney/Pixar movie Ratatouille, the one where a rat lives inside a chef’s hat and shows the chef how to cook? The idea of rodents anywhere near my food is repulsive, but somehow I found myself loving those little scoundrels by the end of the film. The best part, of course, is when the food critic Anton Ego finally relaxes and reveals a covert truth: “In the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is probably more meaningful than our criticism designating it so.” He admits, at last, what renowned chef Auguste Gusteau stated at the beginning of the film, that “anyone can cook.” Those words are a distant shout to the ordinary guy who aspires to greatness, arriving only as a barely audible yet soul-stirring whisper: JUST TRY. So often a fear of failure or criticism keeps us from trying something new. But the creators of Harrisonburg’s Making Space sincerely believe anyone can create, and they invite you and everyone you know to check your fears at the door and enjoy a couple of hours of free, low-stakes art-making. more
When you see Zaharia Ford-Byrd’s painting, currently housed in the Arts Council of the Valley’s Smith House Gallery, of a Stars and Stripes wrecking ball slamming into a bright, colorful, enlivened house, you might recall artist Hugo Gellert’s image of a strapping, muscular man wielding a sledgehammer over the quaint town beneath him. Gellert’s image, however, was used in a 1946 pamphlet titled “THIS IS IT,” generated by Norfolk’s Redevelopment and Housing Authority to promote the “creative destruction” involved in urban renewal initiatives. The simultaneous resemblance and contrast of these two images highlights an urge to conveniently blur the line between progress and violence. Hearing the voices of the urban residents on the receiving end of the wrecking ball lends the balance needed to understand the consequences of urban renewal and opens a space where it’s possible for healing to begin. more