
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, April 30, 1993                   TAG: 9304300146
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Joe Kennedy
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

THE TIPOFF

FAMILY TOWN: Depending on your age and situation, you may view that appellation as either a blessing or a curse. But this weekend, in downtown Roanoke, there is no doubt that families will dominate the day, as three activities do their best to lure them.

First is the Virginia Championship Chili Cookoff Saturday from 10 to 4 on the Roanoke City Market. Chili cooks from across the country will vie for the state title, and a new emphasis on children's activities will be introduced. For information, call 562-1839.

Close by, at the Crestar Plaza, the annual Strawberry Festival from Roanoke's Community School will provide music and some of the most delicious strawberries, whipped cream and shortcakes you've ever laid teeth into. It actually starts today and continues Saturday. The time each day is 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Then there is the Saturday and Sunday thing called Carousel, a fund-raiser of Roanoke Catholic School and the Knights of Columbus. It goes Saturday, 10 a.m.-9 p.m., and Sunday, 1-7 p.m., and features such musical stars as Brad Jones, Saturday at 4, and Jane Powell, Sunday at 5. Plus "Henry Street!," a musical tour de force about the Star City's past, Saturday night at 7. Plus carnival games, pony rides, arts and crafts, a petting zoo and more. Admission is free.

\ WORLD PREMIERE: The Roanoke Symphony Orchestra will present a commissioned work, "Shifting Circles," by Margaret Brouwer, Sunday night at 8 at the Lenfest Center of Washington and Lee University in Lexington, and Monday night at 8 at the Roanoke Civic Center.

Joseph Schwantner's "From Afar" also will be performed, with guitar soloist Sharon Isbin.

Margaret Brouwer is composer-in-residence at Washington and Lee. She also directs the new music festival, Sonoklect, at W&L. The Sunday performance is part of that festival.

Tickets to the Lexington concert are $10, $8 for senior citizens and $4 for W&L students. Call 463-8000.

For the Roanoke performance they are $10, $14, $16 and $18. Call 343-9127.

\ SOULFUL: The Kandinsky Trio will present Rachmaninoff's "Trio Elegiaque" plus music from Boccherini, Persichetti and Mendelssohn, Saturday night at 8 at Olin Theater of Roanoke College in Salem.

Tickets are $7. The musicians are artists-in-residence at the college.

\ HUMM-BABE: The Salem Buccaneers take on the men from Lynchburg in baseball tonight and Saturday night at 7 and Sunday afternoon at 3. You might want to go out and watch them. It beats worrying about the Orioles.

\ DIVERSIONS: The Spring Craft Show and Sale of the Junior Woman's Club of Vinton will be today and Saturday at Lake Drive Plaza in Vinton. Proceeds go to several worthy community programs.

The Blue Ridge Orchid Society will have its annual show and sale today and Saturday from noon to 9 at Valley View Mall in Roanoke.

And Thorton Wilder's "Our Town" will be presented three times this weekend at the Bedford Middle School to raise money for the Bedford Public Library Building Fund. Show times are 8 tonight and Saturday night and 2 Sunday afternoon. Tickets are $7.50. Call 586-1936.

by CNB