Things to Do in Blacksburg

Floyd County's annual Bluegrass & BBQ Festival welcomes friends and families to convene on Chantilly Festival Farm's 101 acres of grassy, rolling hills and celebrate local barbecue and music. Two stages showcase bluegrass veterans, aspirant local musicians, and overhead stage lights that always dreamed of hitting the big time. After licking fingers clean of prize-winning barbecue, guests can scope antique tractors and cars, fly kites, or explore myriad children's activities.

Chartered in 1970 as the first science museum in the Commonwealth of Virginia, the Science Museum of Western Virginia educates all ages with interactive exhibits and events. Exhibits include displays that engage visitors with information about healthy living, Earth-themed lessons about geology, energy, and natural resources, and a how-it-works gallery that answers questions about physics, chemistry, technology, and why gravity shuts off every leap day.

Helen Maxwell, owner of Bedford Yoga Center, has been practicing yoga for more than 17 years. As a registered yoga teacher, she helps her students strengthen their bodies, develop coordination, and cultivate self-awareness during private and group classes. In addition to certifications in Vinyasa flow, yin, therapeutic, and restorative yoga, Helen also has a degree from Duke Integrative Medicine and cultivates good karma by offering free gentle-chair yoga to cancer patients and their caregivers.

When Helen isn't teaching adults, she puts her ChildLight Yoga certification to good use during her children's yoga classes. These whimsical sessions incorporate storytelling, games, music, and art to foster personal growth, connectedness, and peace.

With more than 28 years of dance-studio experience, Director Karen Stemen and her agile staff strive to instill her students with both technical dance training and a palpable passion for movement. An array of classes direct the feet of all age levels and abilities. Youngsters can hone ballet and tap skills, and adults can come to the studio seeking a challenging workout or serious training in techniques such as hip-hop and pointe, ideal for those who have trouble reaching the cereal on top of the refrigerator.

While stationed on Long Island to conduct secret war research for the U.S. government during World War II, O. Winston Link started snapping photographs of the Long Island Railroad tracks behind his lab. Eager to capture large-scale railroad pictures at night, he built his own customized flash equipment. After the war, Link harnessed that creative curiosity by spending five years photographing the Norfolk and Western Railway, the last large steam-powered American railroad. From his 20 trips to the railway's tracks in four states, Link collected 2,400 pictures.

His work didn't garner attention until the 1980s, when he published his first collection of railroad photos in the lauded book Steam, Steel & Stars. The West Virginia Historical Society continues to preserve his legacy with the O. Winston Link Museum, which showcases Link's Norfolk and Western project while filling in its historical context. Throughout seven galleries, patrons hear the sounds of bustling locomotive engines, adjust the lighting of an interactive diorama's photograph, and ogle Link's original photographic equipment, including flashbulbs, power boxes, and super power boxes. The museum underscores its edifying galleries with a plentitude of tours, workshops, and ongoing photography programs.

Floating is the number-one activity at this small-town fitness center, which boasts three pools. A two-story water slide ushers guests into the leisure pool via three slick loops, and a zero-depth beach entry lets them ease into the water at their own pace without getting drenched. Guests can hone their butterfly strokes in four 20-yard lap lanes or existentially ponder the nature of water in the deep end, which is heated to 86 degrees. Visitors may also dive into an Olympic–size competition pool from 5-, 7.5- and 10-meter platforms, then speed through 9-foot lanes. Those with sore joints can ease into the therapy pool, which pampers sore joints with soothing 94-degree water.

Swimmer-specific fitness equipment fills a nearby cardio room, where Vasa trainers help guests to perfect front crawls and backstrokes with body-weight exercises. Treadmills, ellipticals, and recumbent bikes bolster cross-training regimens, along with Magnum strength trainers designed to tone the entire body. The facility also boasts a wet classroom that hosts scuba trainings, a kitchen, and shower-equipped locker rooms.