Features

WHITETOP — The annual Whitetop Maple Festival will launch Grayson’s 2015 festival season, which continues throughout the summer and into the winter season, with over 38 events to choose from.

The Maple Festival is March 28-29 in the county’s highlands. It begins at Mount Rogers School (11245 Highlands Parkway, Whitetop) at 8 a.m. each day. Enjoy a pancake breakfast with genuine maple syrup, tapped fresh from the highest peaks in Virginia.

In an effort to prepare both staff and public for a new future, Bogeys, Galax’s answer to fine dining, held a private, small-plate dinner with wine pairings.

Owner Kenneth Belton, who was one of the restaurant’s four owners before buying out the others late last year, was on hand along with consultant Judy Brannock; new chef J.C. Botero (born in Colombia, raised in south Florida and lately of Olde Mill Resort); sommelier Steve Foster of Andes Importers of Salem, who was responsible for the wine pairing; and new staff members.

Hillsville Town Council Member David Young took these photos of the staff at Classic Creations as they worked hard at producing thousands of NFL Super Bowl shirts for the Feb. 1 event.

“I couldn’t be more proud,” said Young of the business that he and Mayor Greg Crowder helped bring to the town a little more than a year ago.

Classic Creations received its first NFL T-shirt order last year with the Seattle Seahawks’ Super Bowl win.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., born in poverty in Atlanta and killed by an assassin’s bullet in Memphis at age 39, spent his life traveling through America as a Baptist preacher and Civil Rights activist who sought justice and racial equality for African-Americans.

His “I Have a Dream” speech established him as one of the greatest orators in American history, and his work shed a light that is still a beacon today.

On Jan. 1, all 36 Virginia State Parks will offer hiking opportunities, contests and special events.

This is the fourth year Virginia State Parks has participated in this America’s State Parks initiative to get people outdoors and into parks.

Grayson Highlands State Park and the New River Trail State Park, which passes through Galax and Carroll and Grayson Counties, both will be participating in the First Day Hike event.

New River Trail will offer a 10-mile bike ride. Participants can use their own bike or rent one from the park.

Last year, The Gazette was approached by a World War II veteran from Florida, who asked for help to locate a lost pen pal from Galax.

Jack Sutherland, who now lives in Florida, had corresponded with a woman from Galax while he served in the U.S. Navy, on a Pittsburgh heavy cruiser with the ship number CA-72.

Santa’s elves are taller than you’d think: dozens of firefighters and citizen volunteers crowded into one of the Galax Fire Department’s bays to help pack Community Christmas Food Fund boxes for 550 needy local families on Dec. 18.

Helpers of all ages loaded boxes onto a conveyor system, stocked the boxes with food and household items, kept them moving and stacked them when full. The boxes were delivered on Sunday.

The West Galax Diner will be open Christmas Day to serve a very special clientele, says owner Tina Dowling.

“We just started [planning] this last Sunday, because a girl who helps out on Sundays came in,” says Dowling. “She was looking for somewhere to volunteer [for Christmas] and couldn’t find anybody having a Christmas dinner. So I said, ‘We’ll do it.’”

Three years ago, Katy Dunn suffered the unthinkable when she lost her infant son in a tragic accident. But since then, she and her family have worked together to turn their grief into something beautiful for other families.

This year, the family’s annual toy and clothing drive, CJ’s Christmas Project, has resulted in more than 1,100 donations from their community. Dunn says that this year’s collection will be distributed to several charities, including the Carroll Christmas Fund.