Downtown’s All A-Twitter

Here’s a running list of downtown-related businesses and organizations now using Twitter:

Harrisonburg Downtown Renaissance: DowntownHburg
HDR’s Twitter feed is the best way to stay informed or get reminders of events. Miss the antique milk truck exhibit? Got to Court Square Friday only to find out Fridays on the Square was moved to the Turner Pavilion? You wouldn’t have if you were following us on Twitter.

Arts Council of the Valley: HarrisonburgArt
Keep up-to-date on arts related news and events downtown, including gallery exhibits, movies and live concerts, and First Fridays.

Big Brothers Big Sisters: BBBSHR
The Harrisonburg branch of this non-profit located near on High Street is a great source for family-friendly events both downtown and beyond. Also interesting RTs on articles related to child development.

Blue Nile Ethiopian Cuisine: The_Blue_Nile
All locals in-the-know have Blue Nile near the top of the list of nighttime haunts, or at least they should. Unfortunately, their Twitter feed hasn’t had an update for months, but used more regularly, this would be a great place for finding info on upcoming shows.

Blue Ridge Design Studio: blueridgedesign
Randall Seitz, co-owner of this downtown architect firm, has a Twitter page that is a bit difficult to describe…much like Twitter itself. Find photos, interesting articles (some even related to architecture!) and a few random musings in the mix.

By the Side of the Road B&B: HburgVaBandB
By the Side of the Road is one of Harrisonburg’s three B&Bs, all located near downtown. Owner Janice Fitzgerald keeps her page fed with room specials tied to local events, but also tweets about the day to day trials and joys of owning a bed and breakfast.

Chaz Evans-Haywood: ClerkChaz
Follow the Rockingham County Clerk of Court as he tweets from his office in the Court House. It’s actually more interesting than it sounds; Chaz lives a busy life, from traveling to Peru to volunteer in an orphanage to kissing a cow in the name of cancer research.

Daily News-Record: DNRonline
Kudos for the local paper for joining Twitter! Though so far the DNR is only re-tweeting content from its web page, breaking news is also posted here, so there’s a possibility you may see breaking headlines first on Twitter before you check DNRonline.com.

DIGICO: ShootPostDesign
The owners of this video production company tweet about cool projects they are working on, downtown sights from their vantage point on E. Market Street, and construction updates on their future site on Water Street, next door to the Free Clinic.

The Gaines Group: G2Architecture
Architecture and design firm The Gaines Group “gets” Twitter in a way that 98% of other Twitter-ers don’t. RTs of downtown news, words of wisdom, articles on green building (the company’s specialty), and the occasional tweet on Twitter’s most fundamental question, “what are you doing?” are all there for you to follow.

hburgnews: hburgnews
The micro-blog of hburgnews, the forum for news and all things Harrisonburg, often features downtown happenings, observations, and recaps of business from the city municipal building (which is of course located downtown).

Jack Brown’s Beer & Burger Joint: JackBrownsJoint
Downtown’s newest restaurant stays jam packed almost all the time, thanks to its intimate size, reasonable prices and good food. Its tweets are much like their burgers: meaty and to the point.

Joshua Wilton House: WiltonHouse
Chef Mark Newsome’s decision to tweet from the Wilton House kitchen is what inspired this blog post. Anyone who has ever wanted to get into the mind of a chef in an upscale restaurant, or anyone who loves gourmet food from fresh ingredients, should definitely become a follower.

Kai Degner: KaiDegner
Harrisonburg’s young major is undoubtedly the most plugged-in of all time. He ran on a pro-downtown platform, and his tweets show it.

Kline’s Dairy Bar: Klines_DairyBar
Never miss another weekly flavor forecast from Kline’s! Need we say more? I think not.

Rosetta Stone: rosettastone
Rosetta Stone is practically a household name in the US, so it follows that they get way more action on their Twitter page than anyone else on this list. The company stationed in downtown Harrisonburg uses their account to respond to fans and product users from around the nation (turns out #jason_mraz is using their software to learn Spanish).

Sancar Flats/Liskey Building: SJDonuts
SJDonuts is the business name of the developer working to restore the Sancar building on West Rock and the Liskey building on South Main (the red building that houses the Harrisonburg Beauty School). It’s a personal Twitter account, but one that includes construction pictures from inside the buildings and peaks of the completed rental units.

Travel Counsellors: TCItravel
Yes, that is an acceptable spelling variant of “counselors.” I think it’s British. The TCI folks (in a new location on West Market Street) are so well travelled, it makes sense they would bring some European flair to the party. Their Twitter updates include their latest special package deals and rates, travel advice, and general greetings to their followers.

WHSV-TV3: WHSVnews
Much easier to follow than TV-3’s web page, a tweet from an hour ago from the station located off Court Square involved the increasing popularity of farmers markets. We like that.

The Yellow Button: TheYellowButton
What happens when we say the following: Shoes! Designer Handbags! Sales! Did your heart just skip a beat? Do the words “Lucky” and “Free People” conjure up images of fabulous fabrics and stylish clothes rather than leprechauns and the Revolutionary War? If so, get thee to The Yellow Button, re-tweeting entries from their blog on a regular basis.

Downtown Dominates DNR “Best of the Valley” Awards

Once again, Daily News-Record readers have shown their overwhelming support of downtown Harrisonburg shops, restaurants and other businesses with their votes in the annual “Best of the Valley” survey. Running away with the most honors is Clementine with EIGHT awards, including best renovation and best place to be seen. Harrisonburg Farmers’ Market made its first appearance on the list as the best place to take visitors, likely aided by its new location under the Turner pavilion constructed since the last poll.

Some favorites, like the Little Grill Collective, James McHone Jewelry, and Jess’ Quick Lunch, retained their titles as best vegetarian/breakfast, jeweler, and cheap eats, respectively, while the Artful Dodger showed its expanding versatility by winning the best dancing and best karaoke titles. Downtown services also got a shout out on this year’s list, with the Studio winning best salon and the Beauty Spa taking best day spa. Congratulations to other downtown businesses listed below – 16 in total!

Similar to last year, downtown as a whole won both accolades and criticism, with voters choosing downtown revitalization as the best use of taxpayer money and listing downtown among their favorite part of Harrisonburg, while displaying a lack of fondness for our new blue and yellow wayfinding signs as their least favorite part about the ‘burg.

DNR’s “Best of the Valley” Winners: Downtown Highlights

Cheap Eats
Jess’ Quick Lunch

Vegetarian
The Little Grill Collective

French fries
Dave’s

Late-night eats
Dave’s

Coffee
Shank’s

Drink specials
Clementine Café

Best atmosphere
Clementine Café

Place to take your family
Clementine Café

Place to be seen
Clementine Café

Place to sit and read
Earth and Tea Café

Outdoor dining
Dave’s

Place to blow your diet
Kline’s Dairy Bar

Place to take a date
Clementine Café

Downtown restaurant
Clementine Café

Best appetizers
Clementine Café

Best breakfast
The Little Grill Collective

Salon
The Studio

Day Spa
The Beauty Spa

Wine shop
Downtown Wine & Gourmet

Jeweler
James McHone

Best dancing
Artful Dodger

Best entertainment value
Court Square Theater

Best cheap date
Kline’s Dairy Bar

Karaoke
Artful Dodger

Museum
Harrisonburg Children’s Museum

Best place to take visitors
Harrisonburg Farmer’s Market

Best renovation
Clementine Café

Best use of taxpayer money
Downtown revitalization

Best way to spend a Saturday morning
Farmer’s market (Dayton, Shenandoah and Harrisonburg)

Best place to propose
Joshua Wilton House

Harrisonburg Historian Donates Scrapbook Collection to Downtown Library

There are few people more valuable to downtown as Bob Sullivan. A former city planning director and resident of the Old Town Historic District, Bob is often one of the first people we go to when we want to know the background of a downtown building or event. His two-hour walking tour beginning at the Municipal Building and ending with ice cream at Kline’s was always a popular draw at Valley 4th and our downtown walking tour series. Every time I  participated, I learned something new about our town.

Though he can no longer provide tours due to health reasons, Bob has continued to play a vital role as our unofficial city historian. Recently, he donated 37 of his scrapbooks with news headlines from the 1960s to 2001 to the Massanutten Regional Library, as printed in today’s Daily News-Record. According to the paper, after the scrapbooks are indexed, they will be available for public viewing on request at the downtown library on Main Street.

Vote for Downtown – “Best of the Valley”

Message from Andy Perrine, HDR Board President:

The Daily News-Record is conducting its annual “Best of the Valley” survey. Because you have shown an interest in helping to revitalize downtown Harrisonburg, I suggest that you participate in the survey and vote for your favorite downtown attractions in the many categories.

The deadline for submissions is this Friday April 24. Please take a minute to vote. In addition to the many fine downtown restaurants, entertainment venues, cultural and recreational attractions, please vote for “downtown revitalization” in the “Best use of taxpayer money” category.

This link will take you directly to the survey:  http://www.dnronline.com/bestofvalley.php

Thanks you.

Andy Perrine
President, Board of Directors
Harrisonburg Downtown Renaissance

Organic Gardening Seminar in County Admin Building Downtown

From the Daily News-Record 04/20/09

Organic Gardening Seminar Tuesday At County Building
By Tom Mitchell

HARRISONBURG -The subject of organic gardening will be the focus of a meeting Tuesday at the Rockingham County Administration Building.

Gary Lantz, an organic beef-cattle, hog and feed farmer from Shenandoah County, will discuss organic gardening at 6:30 p.m. in the board room of the county administration building at 20 East Gay Street.

The meeting is a session of the Rockingham County chapter of the Weston A. Price Foundation.
According to its Web site, the Price Foundation is a nonprofit charity founded in 1999 to promote human consumption of foods that include those organically grown.

Lantz, his wife and son run a 272-acre certified organic farm near Mount Jackson, which uses no chemical sprays or growth-enhancing hormones. Lantz, who raises and sells organically-grown grains, will address such topics as planting, chemical-free weed control, tools and other organic gardening techniques.

Arts Council Names New Director

From the Daily News-Record:

Valley Arts Council Taps New Director
Posted 2009-01-26
By Jeremy Hunt

HARRISONBURG – Cecilia Carter Browne was drawn to the city’s downtown.

When she found out she was in the running to take the helm at the Arts Council of the Valley, Carter Browne explored Harrisonburg and found the downtown to have the right combination of design, ambience, culture and history.

“There’s something about the downtown area that has a really good feeling to it,” she said. “This place has something special.”

The arts council board apparently had a good feeling about Carter Browne too. They hired her and last week, Carter Browne began settling into her post as the Arts Council of the Valley’s new executive director.

The council, a nonprofit organization that supports the arts in the Valley through grants, fundraising and other means, was founded in 2001.
She succeeds Kai Degner, the new city mayor, who left the position to work at the Community Mediation Center.

Carter Browne has a bachelor’s in art and art history from the University of Texas and a master’s in museum studies and marketing from Texas Tech University.

In 2001, the Texas Tech University system hired Carter Browne to launch a public art program for its campuses.

In 2006, it was named one of the top 10 university public art programs in the U.S. by Public Art Review, a journal devoted exclusively to the field.

Since taking the job at ACV, Carter Browne has been splitting her time between Harrisonburg and Charlottesville, where her husband works at the University of Virginia Medical Center.

Carter Browne says she’s been getting familiar with ACV, reading through past strategic plans and meeting board and community members.

“I’m sort of in an orientation phase right now,” she said.

Her varied experience working with museums, theaters and visual art made her a “perfect fit” for ACV, said Ann Menefee, president of the board of directors.

“We see her as a leader with the expertise and the vision for enhancing the cultural opportunities we have here,” Menefee said.

Carter Browne credited the council’s previous directors for building a strong program, and she wants to take it to the next level.
“I’m looking forward to taking the Arts Council to another step in its journey and developing it further,” she said. “I am enthusiastic and passionate about this opportunity.”