Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, December 2, 1994 TAG: 9412020026
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: DONNA ALVIS-BANKS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
It's Christmas 18th century style at Smithfield Plantation.
The historic plantation house in Blacksburg is open through Sunday for tours. Guides in Colonial costumes will lead you through the 200-year-old house built by Col. William Preston. Originally, it was home to 12 Preston children!
Members of local garden clubs have decorated the house with holiday greenery. Wreaths, roping and holly will be available for those who want to take some home for holiday decorating.
The gift shop will be open for Christmas shopping, too. You'll find treasures such as brass from Virginia Metalcrafters, stoneware from Williamsburg Pottery, hand-blown glass and Colonial crafts, Early American toys, history books and gift items made by Cherokee Indians.
A new attraction at the plantation this year is Susanna's Tea Shoppe. You can relax and enjoy an English tea served by members of the Docent Guild of the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities. Reservations are not needed for tea and the cost is $5.
Tours of the house are $4 per person or $8 per family. Hours each day are 1 to 5 p.m.
The Colonial Christmas celebration features live music Saturday and Sunday. Here's the schedule:
Saturday
1 p.m. - Violin students of David Salness
1:30 p.m. - Violin students of Judi Schneck
2 p.m. - Celtic music by Meridian
3 p.m. - Recorder Ensemble
4 p.m. - Becky Barlow and Nick and Carol Stone
Sunda|
1 p.m. - Blacksburg High School Madrigal Singers
2 p.m. - Recorder Ensemble
3 p.m. - Violin students of Judi Schneck
4 p.m. - Folk music by Simple Gifts
All proceeds from the event will be used for maintenance and restoration of the plantation and grounds. Smithfield Plantation is an official Virginia Historic Landmark. It's adjacent to the Virginia Tech campus off the U.S. 460 bypass. Call 951-2060 for directions.
CHAMBER OF CONCORD: Virginia Tech's music department is presenting a chamber music concert of works by Brahms and Schubert this weekend. Performances are Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. in Squires Recital Salon.
The Audubon Quartet, featuring violinists David Ehrlich and David Salness, violist Doris Lederer and cellist Clyde Shaw, will team up with several talented musicians from the university's music faculty: Mary Louise Hallauer, piano; David Widder, clarinet; and Wallace Easter, horn. Curtis Burris, double bass player for the National Symphony Orchestra, is the guest artist.
The musicians will play Schubert's Octet, Op. 166 for winds and strings, and Brahms' Quartet in A Major, Op. 26 for piano and strings. Both are considered masterpieces of chamber music compositions.
Tickets, available now at the box office in Squires Student Center, are $7 for adults or $5 for students and senior citizens. To reserve them, call 231-5615.
COLORS OF CHRISTMAS: Scarlet red and deep emerald, salmon pink and creamy ivory, flaming rose and mossy green -the colors of Christmas are as varied as the poinsettia.
The annual poinsettia sale at the Virginia Tech greenhouses runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. today. You'll find a vibrant assortment of pretty plants for holiday decorating.
All poinsettias are $6 with proceeds from sales going toward a scholarship fund set up by Pi Alpha Xi. The national honor society for floriculture and ornamental horticulture is sponsoring the sale.
AROUND THE WORLD IN TWO DAYS: The YMCA International Bazaar, featuring handcrafted items from around the world, is today and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., at the YMCA building on Washington Street in Blacksburg.
The bazaar features nativity sets, jewelry, toys, baskets, Christmas ornaments, cards, carvings and folk art made of wood, brass and onyx. The artisans are from many Third World countries, including Peru, Honduras, El Salvador, Bangladesh, Nepal, Thailand, Kenya and India. Educational materials about the various countries will be available at the bazaar.
The workers from these developing countries are supported by Selfhelp Crafts, a job-creation program sponsored by the Mennonite Central Committee. Proceeds from sales will benefit this program and help start a skills-training project for women at the YMCA in Sao Tome and Principe, West Africa.
For more information, call the YMCA at 231-6860.
TINY TIM AND ALL OF THEM: Those unforgettable characters from Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" will parade across the stage in Virginia Tech's Burruss Hall on Tuesday. The Nebraska Theatre Caravan will give a musical performance of the Christmas classic at 7:30 p.m.
The traveling production boasts a 36-member troupe of actors, musicians, singers and technicians. A picturesque set, colorful costumes and special effects (Scrooge's bed moving about the stage, Marley's ghost rising from a cloud of smoke and a gigantic 15-foot Ghost of Christmas Future) make this a delightful show for children big and small.
The Virginia Tech Union is sponsoring this show as part of its Entertainment Series. Tickets are available at the box office in Squires Student Center. Admission is $14 for adults, $7 for children under 12, $11 for Virginia Tech faculty and staff and $4 for Tech students. Call 231-5615 for information.
JAZZ CATS: Virginia Tech's University Jazz Orchestra will rock the house Wednesday in an 8 p.m. concert at Squires Haymarket Theatre. The performance, "A Salute to American Music," features works by Henry Mancini, Frank Comstock and other American jazz composers. The concert also includes three original works by up-and-coming student composers.
Many of the Mancini-Comstock tunes will ring familiar: "Mr. Lucky," "Baby Elephant Walk," "Charade," "Pink Panther," "Moon River" and "Peter Gunn."
The student works are Mike Daugherty's "Sur Mat," Chris Colvin's "Sirocco" and Karl Kimmel's "At the Mall," for which vocalist Tonisha Barksdale will join the orchestra.
Tickets, $2, will be available at the door.
by CNB