Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, September 10, 1993 TAG: 9309100275
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: ROBERT FREIS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Medium
It's way too downbeat for Radford's celebration of the year's ninth month.
True, as the song says, the days grow short when you reach September. But the summer's heat has broken and the students are back in town and the Radford High football Bobcats are 1-0, so it's time to party.
Radford's annual street festival, Septemberfest, is nothing if not jubilant.
Beginning tonight and continuing through tomorrow, there will be fashions, jazz, wine sipping, crafts, chili, racing cars and lots of people checking out the goings-on on Norwood Street.
Septemberfest is a small-town big deal.
"We feel it's really important," said Gary Kinder, chairman of the event. "We have an opportunity to bridge a gap between the university and community residents. It's a chance to come together."
The goal of this year's Septemberfest - as it has been since the event was begun in 1990 - is to give Radford University students and everybody else the opportunity to mingle and to showcase the city's downtown business district.
The gathering's venue is Norwood Street, which will be blocked off between Virginia and Harrison streets for pedestrians, vendors, merchants and musicians Saturday between 8 a.m. and 10 p.m.
Meanwhile, traffic on U.S. 11 will be detoured along Tyler and Grove avenues. Norwood Street will be opened on either side of the area where the action will be.
Septemberfest's kickoff takes place this afternoon at the Central Depot building. There, at 5:30 p.m., Sew Biz will host a fashion show titled, "A Taste of Fall."
Featured will be the latest seasonal fabrics and pattern designs, plus hairstyles and cosmetics by Radford's Images by B.
Staff members of Sew Biz, guest artists and store patrons will show and model original garments, with a special presentation of Western styles from a Texas pattern company, Dos de Tejas.
Tickets for the event are $2 and may be purchased at Sew Biz. Space is limited, however, so they may not be available at the door.
Following the fashion show, at 7 p.m., it's Jazz Night at the adjacent Central Courtyard. Featured will be the Radford University Faculty Jazz Quartet, and wines for the tasting from Meadows of Dan's Chateau Morrisette Winery.
Tickets for Jazz Night are $1.
On Saturday, at 10 a.m., the main events get rolling as the city becomes a scaled-down Watkins Glen with the running of the Radford Grand Prix.
It's a race for miniature, radio-controlled cars that whine like a bee hive and zip along at speeds up to 40 mph. Organized by Dad's Day Off Hobbies shop, the races will occur at the First Virginia Bank parking lot.
Norwood Street will be transformed into a bazaar, with crafts and food vendors, sidewalk merchandise sales and other activities.
At 11 a.m. begins the Septemberfest Chili Cookoff, where amateur chefs will prepare variations on the popular edible theme from scratch right before your taste buds.
Sponsored by Hot Chilies Restaurant and sanctioned by the International Chili Society, the cookoff is being organized by three-time state chili cooking champ Charlie Whitescarver.
The winners will take home prizes and a chance to compete in state and even world chili cooking championships. Chefs have been instructed to make enough chili for spectators to taste, too.
For children, Discoveryworks children's museum in the Norwood Center will sponsor activities throughout the day. Additionally, Radford emergency services personnel will conduct demonstrations of fire, rescue and police equipment in the lower municipal parking lot at Third Street and Grove Avenue.
Kids will be allowed to climb in and on some of the equipment, which should make their day.
From noon until around 8 p.m., a stage set up in front of the Chamber of Commerce building will have nonstop music, featuring the following bands:
\ Noon: Greg Phillips, acoustic music;\ 1 p.m.: John Benfield, acoustic-bluegrass music;\ 2 p.m.: Wheeler, rock 'n' roll;\ 3:30 p.m.: Crossties, bluegrass;\ 5 p.m., Second Skin, acoustic-folk music; and\ 6:30 p.m. Lather, funk-rock.
Septemberfest designer T-shirts will also be on sale.
Chairman Kinder has the proper perspective on the event. "We just want to have a good time," he said.
by CNB