Loose Leaf Notes

1. I often have no idea what I’m going to write for my 13 Thursday weekly round-up, but for me, every blog post starts with a good picture, like a meal starts with olive oil and an onion, and I go from there.

2. New Year’s Resolutions – I don’t want to announce them, hold myself to them. If it hasn’t happened yet I won’t hold my breath. I’m not one to make resolutions, although when the New Year arrives I do find myself reviewing the past year. I weigh what was meaningful and what was not. I stay curious and open about what will happen next and trust that I’ll rise to the moment.

3. It takes time in the dark room to bring lived-experience into focus and to develop the meaning we’ve made of our lives. -More on Poems From the Dark Room HERE.

4. I bought my first camera in Jackson Square, Weymouth, Massachusetts, when I was 18 years old.  Before that it was Polaroids and those black and white strips from the photo booth at Paragon, our town’s amusement park.   I don’t remember the camera brand or how much it cost.  It wasn’t very good, but I loved it from the moment I started snapping and was only sorry that I hadn’t gotten one sooner instead of spending all my babysitting money on clothes.

5. Speaking of cameras, this is one of my favorite self-portraits. I call it straight shooter.

6. “Winter is a Time of Deep, Hidden Work. Like bulbs beneath the frozen ground or bears in hibernation, profound internal change happens in the quiet dark. This is a time for composting the past, for dreaming, for the invisible mending of the psyche. The growth is underground, but it is vital. When grand purpose falters, small, repetitive rituals provide anchor points: the making of tea, the daily walk, the lighting of a candle. These acts are not mundane; they are sacred practices that build a small, warm shelter of meaning in the cold.” – Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times by Katherine May

7. Led Zeppelin runs in our family.

8. And is passed down like an inheritance.

9. I saw Led Zeppelin before they were famous in 1969 at The Boston Tea Party. A friend and I only went because we called the venue to see who was playing and they said that one of the members used to be in the Yardbirds. We were blown away. I later learned that Steven Tyler, well before Aerosmith, was in the audience too. This picture shows me holding their 1970 album after two albums in 1969. It’s a Christmas present and that’s my dad sitting behind me.

10. Floyd native Morgan Wade was welcomed like a rock star to her Saturday night Home for the Holidays concert at Dogtown, the local venue where she had her first show in 2015. Tickets for the show sold out within five hours… At one point, Wade called young Dayson Crawford, daughter of Blue Ridge Diner owners Travis and Kristin Crawford, and presented her with a surprise, a custom guitar with a Morgan Wade design on the front.Wade frequents the diner when in Floyd and the Crawfords have been following Wade’s rise to fame, which includes performing on CBS Saturday Morning, the 21st Annual Americana Honors & Awards (where she was nominated for an award) and the 2023 CMT Music Awards. She has toured with Alanis Morissette and Joan Jett, Eric Church and Chris Stapleton and others. Since her first live show at Dogtown, Wade has released five albums, Puppets with My Heart, Reckless, Psychopath, Obsessed and The Party is Over (Recovered).” – More from Morgan Wade Returns to Dogtown for Sold-out Holiday Show HERE.

11. Seeing a blockbuster movie at Christmastime is a tradition started by Josh, Star Wars, Avatar etc. This year’s blockbuster was a meet-up with Josh and Dylan’s brother Skye (who most of us hadn’t seen in more than 5 years) and his family, which included his wife Jessica (who we hadn’t met yet), her sweet daughter and their new baby! “I got a new nephew for Christmas. I got a new niece too!,” I heard my son Josh say to someone on the phone driving home from The Hotel Roanoke after we just had an epic lunch and a heartfilled family reunion. More from The Christmas Blockbuser HERE.

12. Solstice Shakedown: The light trickles back / through the skinny-waisted squeeze / of winter’s hourglass grip.

13. Review of The Pathless Path by Paul Millerd by Reading is my Therapy: “Identity Must Be Rebuilt After Achievement Falls Silent – When external markers of success are removed, identity trembles. Millerd captures this disorientation with honesty—the strange grief of no longer being able to explain oneself in a single sentence. This lesson unfolds as a slow reconstruction. Without titles, roles, or scripts, the self must be rediscovered through values rather than validation. The book reveals how fragile identity can be when it rests solely on productivity—and how resilient it becomes when rooted in curiosity and alignment…

__________Thirteen Thursday

-The following was first published at Floyd Times on December 24, 2025.

Floyd native Morgan Wade was welcomed like a rock star to her Saturday night Home for the Holidays concert at Dogtown, the local venue where she had her first show in 2015. Tickets for the show sold out within five hours.

The Dogtown house was full-to-capacity with an enthusiastic crowd who sang along to many of her songs. The front of the stage was lined with some of Wade’s most ardent fans from all over the country, many who knew each other from past shows. Waiting for the show to start, Cheryl Fitzsimmons, a moderator from Morgan Wade’s Official Fan page, spoke of the diversity of Wade’s followers.

“When you see the people that follow her from around the country, they’re all so different,” she said. Fitzimmons, who is from California, pointed out fans from Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, Florida and Washington State.  “This is my 25th show,” she added.

Wade, who followed singer-songwriter Brennan Edwards’ opening set, took to the stage with her band and belted out a rendition of Elvis Presley’s Santa Clause is Back in Town.  She later performed an original from her new Christmas EP called Christmas in My Dreams.

With her longtime bandleader/producer and lead guitarist Clint Wells by her side, Wade traded off her electric and acoustic guitars throughout the two-hour set and went from powerhouse rock and roll numbers to her slower soulful songs.  Some of her songs played like anthems, as the crowd loudly sang along, and Wells played some exceptional guitar solos.

Wade gave a shout-out to her band, saying, “We’ve been to a lot of shows this year. We’ve been a lot of places together, and I’m really appreciative of these guys for packing up the week before Christmas and coming back out on the road.” She teased, “It’s been nice. Lots of bus sandwiches and lots of weird conversations.”

At one point, Wade called young Dayson Crawford, daughter of Blue Ridge Diner owners Travis and Kristin Crawford, and presented her with a surprise, a custom guitar with a Morgan Wade design on the front.

Wade frequents the diner when in Floyd and the Crawfords have been following Wade’s rise to fame, which includes performing on CBS Saturday Morning, the 21st Annual Americana Honors & Awards (where she was nominated for an award) and the 2023 CMT Music Awards. She has toured with Alanis Morissette and Joan Jett, Eric Church and Chris Stapleton and others. Since her first live show at Dogtown, Wade has released five albums, Puppets with My Heart, Reckless, Psychopath, Obsessed and The Party is Over (Recovered).

 In closing, Wade referred to Saturday’s show as “the last show for a while,” adding, “It’s nice to end it here,” as someone in the crowd shouted, “Welcome home, Morgan!”

“I got a new nephew for Christmas. I got a new niece too!,” I heard my son Josh say to someone on the phone driving home from The Hotel Roanoke where we just had an epic lunch and a heartfilled family reunion.

Seeing a blockbuster movie at Christmastime is a tradition started by Josh, Star Wars, Avatar etc.

This year’s blockbuster was a meet-up with Josh and Dylan’s brother Skye (who most of us hadn’t seen in more than 5 years) and his family, which included his wife Jessica (who we hadn’t met yet), her sweet daughter and their new baby!

It was a love fest!

The baby made the rounds, happily getting introduced to everybody as everyone got caught up.

It was the best Christmas gift of all!

P.S. Later that night, back at home, Josh, Joe and I did see a blockbuster movie, “One Battle After Another,” which has been nominated for best picture of the year.

Cheers! More Christmas Merriment HERE.

It all started with the arrivial of the boys and grandboys.

There was the traditional family Christmas photo-shoot.

And the exchange of gifts.

At one point the tree fell over but was rescued before it hit the floor.

The Open House Neighborhood Kaluah and Cookies Christmas Eve party was smaller than it had been in years past but was warm and cheerful.

There was a new baby to meet.

And some Yankee Swap to play.

The Swap included a Zephyr Farm Starter Pack.

A personalized and coveted spread of coffee from those creative people at Chantal Coffee.

“Everything you need to become one of us (a little bit of chaos and a lot of love).”

Josh got a turntable for Christmas and we listened to The Resonance Sessions, a three disc set of regional musicians playing haunting and uplifting songs, recorded in the bones of Josh’s Old Marshall Jail after the devastation of the Helene Flood in Marshall. It was heartful to listen together.

Now I’m  all decked out in my new slippers and Vermont Store cotton bathrobe, Christmas classics.

And the boys are getting some rest.

It only happens once a year!   More Christmas Merriment HERE. 

1. This could also be called The Gravity of the Grave.

2. One day my body / will fall like a star / I’ll burn like a poem on paper  / I’ll radiate ember  / and scatter like ash / Someone will make a wish. – From A Ticket Home

3. Like a bee buzzing for nectar from flower by flower. That’s the love note I put in my longtime dear friend Luke’s casket this weekend. He said those words to me about my dancing. Now it’s him buzzing for nectar from flower to flower.

4. “I too subscribe to a Jungian framework that sees the world as a living dream-text to be interpreted. I too, understand that major historical or physical events as, also, psychic realities that both reflect and reveal deep structures of the collective unconscious, which sees our shared world as something like a synchronistic loom.” Adapted from Fall in the Family – Rob Reiner’s archetypal death and the collapse of civic discourse by Daniel Pinchbeck

5.  As we grow older, “loss becomes the primary condition of living. That doesn’t mean you’re in a hopeless, grief-stricken state all the time; it just means that you carry a deeper understanding of what it is to be human.” Nick Cage

6. Every day is a loss / of yesterday / Every tear feeds a seed / for new ground – Read Bardo in its entirety HERE. 

7. This could also be called The Gravity of Grace.

8. Silence does not mean nothing is happening. It means the brain is finally being heard. Scientists have discovered that just two hours of complete silence can spark the growth of new brain cells in regions tied to memory and emotion. In controlled studies, the hippocampus lit up after silent sessions, showing signs of neural activity associated with learning and repair. When external noise fades, internal attention networks activate. The brain lowers its sensory workload, redirects energy inward, and begins restoring itself from within… When the world gets loud, silence becomes a form of medicine.  Via Duke University research

9. The sky cuts a remnant / from the longest night / for a red-carpet spread / that warms as it mends / that unfolds the hold / of times outgrown / with room to move / and new patterns to choose – Read my poem The Tight Fit in its entirety HERE.

10. “In 2008 evolutionary anthropologist Katie Hinde was working in a primate research lab in California, analyzing breast milk from rhesus macaque mothers. She had hundreds of samples and thousands of data points. Everything looked routine until one pattern refused to disappear. Mothers raising sons produced milk richer in fat and protein. Mothers raising daughters produced a larger volume with different nutrient balances. It was consistent. Repeatable. And deeply uncomfortable for the scientific consensus. Milk is not just nutrition. It is information. Katie kept going…”

11. …When a baby nurses, microscopic amounts of saliva flow back into the breast. That saliva carries biological signals about the infant’s immune system. If the baby is getting sick, the mother’s body detects it. Within hours the milk changes. White blood cells increase. Macrophages multiply. Targeted antibodies appear. When the baby recovers, the milk returns to baseline… The implications are enormous. Milk has been evolving for more than two hundred million years.  In 2017 Katie brought this work to a TED stage. In 2020 it reached a global audience through the Netflix series Babies Katie Hinde did not just study milk. She revealed that nourishment is intelligence. A living responsive system shaping who we become before we ever speak.” –  Hinde’s blog Mammals Suck… Milk! is HERE.

12. I want the billionaire bah humbugs / of the world to be haunted / Shamed by Christmas ghosts / into epiphanies of conscience / I want the children fed and swaddled / and the poor among us sheltered / I don’t want our North star / to be mistaken for bombs of war – Read my poem Christmas morning in its entirety HERE. 

13. I hope your Holidays are happy and chill.

___________Thirteen Thursday 

– The following was first published at Floyd Times on December 17, 2025.

Drawn from the World’s wisdom traditions, the Dances of Universal Peace are simple, meditative circle dances that use sacred phrases, chants, music and movement to cultivate inner joy and peace. The dances, originally called “Sufi Dances,” were first introduced to the world in the late ‘60s by Sufi teacher Samuel L. Lewis and are currently practiced worldwide.

“We will be honoring this time of deep darkness and anticipating the return of light,” read the invitation for December’s Dances of Universal Peace, held at the Floyd Center for the Arts on Sunday.

“It’s an embodied peace practice,” said Rachel Theo-Maurelli, one of the three dance teachers present. “The point is to create peace within that we can then share with the world.”

The songs and dances are chosen to align with and celebrate the seasons. “We choose a theme that celebrates the solar aspect of creation through all of the world’s traditions, through the lens of inter-faith and inter-cultural expression,” said Dances of Universal Peace teacher Ashera Rose. “In December it’s the celebration of light, which we are doing tonight.

A third dance teacher, Tajali Tolan, who had just moved to Floyd from Montana, led some of the dances, along with Theo-Maurelli and Rose. Jeff Tiebout provided acoustic guitar music to accompany the dances.

The dances and singing went from introspective to playful and celebratory. “Deep down in the valley of the night… dream deep winter dreams… lie safe in your grandmother’s arms… still as a seed…” the first song began. Silence is observed before going on to another dance.

The group Facebook page for Dances of Universal Peace in Floyd states that there are 68 members. Because of the frigid weather, Sunday’s dance turnout was small, but it was deeply engaging and devotional.  The next Dance will be February 15, 2026.

-The following first appeared at Floyd Times on December 16, 2025.

Saturday’s annual Holiday Market at the Floyd Farmers Market took place under sunny skies with temperatures reaching near 50 degrees, which resulted in a bustling crowd around the Community Pavilion on south Locust Street.

Market Manager Jasmina Janjic said, “We open the market space to additional craft venders for our annual Holiday Market because we want to encourage more holiday shopping.”

On Dec. 13, Janjic was busy at the Market Information Table processing EBT SNAP benefits (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) for some of the patrons and promoting the Kids Kash Raffle, a raffle worth over $500 of local farm and craft items to benefit the Kids Kash program, which gives children from ages 6-9 the opportunity to exchange paper vouches for 5$ worth of fresh fruits and vegetables.

Along with traditional Farmers Market offerings, the Holiday Market added carolers and a visit from Santa. Children were especially interested in the “Toy Giveaway” tables.

Barry LeNoir sang John Lennon’s “Happy Christmas” — And so this is Christmas / I hope you had fun / The near and the dear ones / The old and the young — as neighbors and friends, families, and individuals shared greetings and friendly interactions.

Originally from Bosnia, Janjic said she has family in the area and had been coming to Floyd every year for a decade. “I always came to the Market,” she said.

There are always kids, dogs, coffee and baked goods at the Market, making it an atmosphere where people can hang out and spend time in community, which Janjic says is her goal.

Blue Mountain School served hot apple cider and was one of two groups singing Christmas carols.

Fresh root vegetables and greens grown in hoop houses were abundantly available.

The Market will be open on Saturdays throughout the winter if the weather allows it, Janjic reported. Winter hours will be from 10 am to 1 pm, starting an hour later than warm weather hours, which are 9 am to 1 pm.

A December 12th post on the Floyd Farmers Market’s Facebook page summed up the Market team’s gratefulness for the community’s support of sustainable local agriculture and their involvement in making the Market a success: “As this year is coming to a close, we want to take this opportunity to thank our community for another great and successful year at the market together.

We are so grateful that you show up week after week to support our hard-working makers who take pride and joy in serving you delicious and nutritious foods and goods.

We want to thank our committed volunteers and our generous sponsors who support our programs and projects.”

1. When I meditate I either see, hear or feel my TM mantra. It’s up or down, left or right, in or out. Sometimes it’s right there and other times I have to find it.

2. I’m a mandala in your eye / a sunflower dancing / on a black scrying mirror / where the sun and moon / are lovers -From A Pupil of Poetry HERE.

3. What would Jung say: In a recent dream I was trying to tie up long laces on my shoes and it kept not working. The third try looked great but then I saw a knot that stopped it from closing. I managed to get the knot out but as I did the whole lacing came apart. The laces were pink.

4. There was a time when I playfully added different endings to my last name Redman so it would be less male orientated, like Redmantra, Redmana, Redmandala, Redmagma and Redmany more where that came from  – Read about my name spell HERE.

5. In Grateful Dead circles, 4:20 is time to light up the herb. In British circles it’s also the time for High Tea, which has the word “high” right in it.

6. An AI hallucination is when a generative AI system confidently produces false, nonsensical, or factually incorrect information that isn’t grounded in its training data, appearing plausible but misleading users into believing it’s real. I prefer Wikipedia.

7. I like the sparkle and the jingle of this season.

8. My friend Ruth recently posed this picture. I commented: 1987 at the Blue Mountain School. Taken by Sparky. The day Joe and I collided.

9. After we collided and all the books I was holding fell to the ground like something out of a movie, the weather started to get colder. Joe gave me his Irish sweater to wear, a sign we mark to this day. I had a room to rent.  He needed a room for the winter. Soon we were housemates…

10. Thirty eight years later.

11. I literally have hundreds of poems on the moon, but I couldn’t find one with the moon as a mandala.  I’ve had moon as a silver trumpet, a Christmas sleigh, a crystal ladle, Mary’s Halo, a scoop at the Milky Way counter, a  headlight, a nightcap, a cameo pin, a glass slipper, a night altar, a sacred hoop, a medicine wheel, a pressed petal, a tack that holds up the dark,  a cauldron of light,  a womb, a jasmine bloom, a tipped beret, a snowflake, a capsized buoy, a skipping stone,  an empty boat, a wheel of cheddar, a full bodied figure, a bell to ring, a lip gloss of light, a coin to toss, an eyelid sleeping, a turntable spinning, a thumbprint of evidence,  a bare bulb that dangles, a cat’s bowl of cream, a dreamcatcher, a cauldron, a mother of pearl, a parasol of pink, a eye that blinked, a dark weight and a dinner plate…but no mandala. Yet.

12. I do have a name for a future book of poetry on the moon: Moondala Ooh La La.

13. I hope your Christmas is Out of This World.

___________Thirteen Thursday

-The following was first published at Floyd Times on December 10, 2025.

There were lots of people in red Santa hats and a few Grinches at the Small Town Christmas Parade on Sunday, Dec. 7. The town lit up with holiday spirit as families and friends gathered downtown, lining the streets for the beloved annual tradition.

After being postponed because of a winter weather advisory, the festivities went off under blue skies and without a hitch. Children waved and clapped with delight while floats, marchers, dogs and even horses passed by.

Hosted by the Floyd County Parks and Recreation, the parade brought the community together with creatively decorated floats and vehicles for a holiday celebration that was fun and cheerful.

Floyd County High School (FCHS) Snow Queen Sage Blackwell rode on the back of a convertable car.

The FCHS Marching Band played upbeat holiday music as they marched.

There were buckets of candy to pass out and throw to the kids.

The children didn’t hold back their delight.

The Kazim Hillbilly Kuzins playfully interacted with the crowd.

FCHS Buffalo Cheerleaders shook their pom poms as they passed the Courthouse.

Many church groups on decorated floats  brought seasonal messages.

“We are all gifts” was the PFLAG float message.

The Handmade Music School teachers and students brought musical entertainment as they marched.

The Grinch is always suspect but this one came bearing candy.

Floyd Main Street Podcasters made an appearance.

So many cute kids in Santa hats bringing the good word.

Santa is worth the wait. He and Mrs. Claus closed out the parade on a high note.

-The following first appeared in Floyd Times on December 9, 2025

A few inches of snow that fell the day before Winterfest – December 6 and 7 – didn’t stop shoppers from participating in the Floyd Center for the Arts holiday shopping tradition. With roads plowed, general parking areas at the Center scraped and salted and temperatures well above freezing, attendees flowed in and out over the two-day event.

Winterfest is one of the Center’s biggest yearly fundraisers and the longest running one, turning 31 this year.  It’s also one of the Center’s best attended events.

“The Living Traditions Festival this year became our biggest turnout, but Winterfest was our biggest before that,” said FCA executive director Keela Dooley Marshal.  She explained that The Living Traditions Festival received a lot of grant funding but that Winterfest is supported by the community.

The addition of the Festival of Trees Silent Auciton in 2013 has been a patron favorite and is a boon to the Center’s fundraising and community involvement. Businesses have stepped up to elaborately decorate table trees and stock them full of donated gifts and gift certificates.

Marshal reported the Center has about 25 – 30 volunteers, including board members, who are available all year long and were called on to prepare and to staff Winterfest, a free to the public event.

“It was really busy this morning. People showed up before 10.  We had a morning rush hour,” she said, adding that according to their attendance clickers they were on par with last year’s attendance, although the snow may have been responsible for the event’s food truck owners cancelling their scheduled commitment.

Over 40 vendors included return artists and artisans, but there were also first time Winterfest vendors represented.

Hillsville Potter Bonnie Undseth, who had only been making pottery for a couple of years, drew a crowd in her studio room.

First time Winterfest vendor Adaline of Mama Menh’s Handmade Jewelry and Gifts said she sells her wares at the Floyd Farmers Market, “but it’s getting cold now,” she commented.

Shaun Webber of County Line Carvings staffed his booth with his two young sons, Oakley and Silas. When asked if they were interested in carrying on the family trade, Webber said, “They’re starting to be interested. They’ve started picking up tools.”

Rebecca Terrill was demonstrating wheel spinning. Her booth was a group fundraising effort to raise money for a new loom for the FCA’s Loom Barn, where weaving classes are taught.

Knitter Suzanne Piovano was selling her finished knitted creations as a fundraiser for The Humane Society.

Santa Claus made the rounds on Saturday and posed for pictures with attendees. Mason Lewis, a young hunter who was with his mother, asked Santa if he was a hunter and what he hunted. “Turkeys,” Santa answered.

Late Sunday, Marshall reported that 1,400 people – up from last year – attended the weekend event and that the Festival of Trees and Wreaths earned $5,645 to benefit the Center. “I would say that the majority vendors said they had great sales this year. People came to shop!” she said.

Vendor Dustin Marshall of Marshall’s Wildlife Control sold animal hides. His decorated tree at the Festival of Trees,which was topped with a coonskin cap, won the People’s Choice of 2025. – Colleen Redman

1. It was a Double Header. We got 3-4 inches of snow and then 4+ more a couple of days later.

2. Some might call it Double Trouble.

3. A Double Header could also refer to the fact that I covered two stories this weekend for the Floyd Times. One was the 31st annual Winterfest, the other was the town Christmas parade. I took well over 300 photos, which all had to be sorted through, cropped and Adobe photo-shopped. More to come…

4. While watching a line of antique cars at the parade, one old car broke down and some bystanders came and pushed it off the road.

5. I had a lot of fun photographing outtakes of two boys having a snow fight.

6. The grinch hitched a ride.

7. I became interested in the word “grinch” and found this online: The word “Grinch” was popularized by Dr. Seuss (Theodor Geisel) in 1957, but he didn’t invent it; it likely stems from a corruption of “grouch,” meaning a grumpy person. Earlier uses include Rudyard Kipling’s 1892 poem featuring “grinching” (a harsh, grating noise) and the surname “Grinch” for severe characters since 1903, with Seuss himself using the name for a cantankerous bird in 1953 before his famous Christmas character.

8. It’s too bad our chickens are molting in December right when they need their feathers for warmth.

9. My mind is a blizzard in a snow globe / The drifts pile up / Sometimes they lean to one side / The leaks are inevitable / when they melt / I bump into door frames / and hold on to walls / I avoid unplanned moves / Crash but don’t fall… Read my poem Vertigo in its entirety HERE.

10. Floyd’s own Morgan Wade has an original Christmas song out. Listen HERE. 

11. One of my favorite part of the Floyd Art Center’s Winterfest is The Festival of Trees, introduced in 2014, where business donate table trees that they decorate and fill with gifts and gift certificates for a Silent Auction to benefit the Center.  These two trees are from Cocoa Mia and artist and store owner Jeannie O’Neil.

 12. In 2016 I bid on and won a tree from Confectious Shenanigans. I was going for the year’s worth of free cupcakes when I bid and that’s what I got, along with a pretty tree. The baker, who created the absolute best cupcakes I’ve ever had moved since then.

I still have that tree! ___________Thirteen Thursday

The following was first published at Floyd Times on December 1, 2025.

Billed as a heartwarming evening of food, friendship, and celebration, the eighth annual Community Thanksgiving Potluck at Dogtown Roadhouse lived up to its description. More than 100 individuals, including families, attended this year’s event last Tuesday, Nov. 25.

The holiday tradition dates back from before the current owners, Alee Epperly, John Epperly and Chad Hull, took over the business from Anga Miller and Ed Erwin in 2022.

Dogtown owners provide the turkeys, and the community brings the rest: a wide range of appetizing side dishes, desserts and a nonperishable food donation to Plenty’s! food bank.

“It’s a way to give back,” said Alee Epperly. “We like hosting gatherings like this that bring the community together.”  She noted that the live music they feature every weekend is another extension of bringing the community together.

Along with live bands, Dogtown also hosts fundraisers. This year the venue hosted fundraisers for Empty Bowls and the Humane Society.

 They host clothing exchanges, food drives, craft events, community karaoke, Trivia night and a popular Sunday evening Open Mic.

The Thanksgiving celebration included games for children and live music performed by Seph Custer.

-Read about the 2024 Dogtown Thanksgiving HERE.