The space behind the checkout counter at Valley Video in Nellysford is filled not only with videos, but also with works of paintings in progress by Waynesboro-based artist Ruth Hamner.

Barefoot and wearing pajama pants, senior Katie Wood, playing the part of Peter Pan, threateningly circles her character’s nemesis, Captain James Hook, played by senior Alex Kirchner.

The Lovingston Opry’s marquee that usually sports the name of a band or event happening at the entertainment venue that week spells out a sadder state of affairs after last month’s heavy rains: “Closed For Repairs.”

Major local bluegrass bands will play for the annual Amherst County Habitat for Humanity fundraising concert this weekend at Sweet Briar College.

Tamerra Moss, 10, a student at Heritage Elementary School, won the National Family Week 2009 essay contest held at James River Day School on Nov. 23 and sponsored by the Family Alliance. The topic of the contest was “Why My Family Is Special.” Tamerra, who received a savings bond for college, submitted her essay amid 500 local fourth-graders. grade essays.

Nelson County High School’s acting troupe won a state championship for its one-act play ‘Tuna Fish Eulogy.‘

Paul Koschara sells everything from artichoke hearts to bulk candies line the off-white shelves at Wintergreen Grocers on Virginia 151 in Nellysford, a small, locally owned and operated grocery and convenience store that recently celebrated its one year anniversary.

For more than two hours last Friday night, I watched some of Nelson County High School’s most talented students take the stage and compete for the top prize of $100 in the first ever “Nelson’s Got Talent” show.

The Nelson County School Board approved a field trip request at its Nov. 12 meeting from the Nelson County High School Advanced Drama department for 20 students to travel to New York City by train for a long weekend of touring the city in March.

A dance born halfway around the world, and characterized by colorful, swinging skirts, heel stomping, hand clapping and classical guitars, has made its way into Nelson County.

The Nelson County Historical Society paid tribute last Sunday to the Nelson County Garden Club for its 75 years of accomplishments and contributions at the society’s monthly meeting at the Nelson Center in Lovingston.

Nelson County native, best-selling author and creator of the iconic television show “The Waltons,” Earl Hamner Jr. will be visiting his home county next week and making an appearance at the Nellysford theater that bears his name.

During a regularly scheduled art class for fifth-graders at Tye River Elementary School last week, art teacher Claudia Van Koba told her students to “think outside the pumpkin.”

Wednesdays could get a little more “wild” in Lovingston after this week.

In a cozy navy-blue room, surrounded by stacks of yarn spun from everything using sugarcane to alpaca fur, Marilyn Scott sits making colorful creations using nothing but sticks and string.

An event, the first annual Baking Contest at Saunders Brothers Orchard in Piney River, was Sept. 19 and we were sitting in the office trying to think of a creative way to cover it.

Tucked away on a hillside just north of Lovingston amid fields of apple orchards, sit five acres of grape vines growing in more 3,500 recycled blue milk cartons.

The sheriff’s offices of Amherst and Nelson counties have joined forces to help keep some local hiking and biking trails safer for outdoor enthusiasts.

Nelson County has back-to-back weekends of music coming up.

It all began with a white pig named Norman, a gift to Dina Brigish from her mother.

Just in time for Mother’s Day, the Earl Hamner Jr. Theater at the Rockfish Community Center in Nellysford will be presenting a play about life as a woman in the Appalachian Mountains.

Audiences for this year’s Nelson County High School’s spring musical will be transported back to 1985, a time when Michael Jackson ruled the charts with a glittery glove, shoulder pads were the hottest style in fashion and Ronald Regan was president.

Molly Brown, 17, from Amherst, is a six-season veteran of the Wintergreen Adaptive Sports Program, a nonprofit corporation that aims to make sports like skiing and snowboarding accessible to people with disabilities.

Part of Nelson County’s community fabric will disappear Jan. 10 when the Spruce Creek Gallery closes, along with three Charlottesville art galleries, leaving artists with fewer regional venues.

No crowd is too small for the Love of God Outreach Singers (LOGOS).

Events in and around Nelson County for the week of July 31, 2008

For a Massies Mill woman, the third time was a charm.

Mike Kidd looks like an average, everyday, Nelson County country boy. Wearing faded jeans, a nondescript T-shirt and an old baseball hat, he could be anybody’s next-door neighbor. But it’s not every day that a man originally from Roseland is recording an album in Nashville, Tenn.

Wintergreen Summer Music Festival is set to kick off in July at Wintergreen Resort.

One of Nelson County’s most notorious murders and trials is being brought back into the spotlight and given a new twist.