I love living in the New River Valley. I could name fifty reasons why right off the bat, and if you gave me five minutes I could come up with another fifty pretty easily, I’m sure. My friends scattered around the country – in NYC, in PA, in Chicago – don’t quite understand why I’d want to live in a little valley here in Southwest VA. “We have Broadway”, they say, or mention Wrigley Field as if a plane isn’t available to me somehow. Sure, it’s SWVA, but it’s not like we have to walk ten miles to “get to town”, you know?

There’s something to be said for the way small-town life and the university culture inexplicably meld together to create this ever-changing, energetic vibrancy.  Too many adjectives in the last part of that sentence?  Oh well … it’s hard to describe, and something that Noah Hutton came down from New York City (to see for himself.  Sponsored in part by the NewVa Corridor Technology Council, this short film does a good job of highlighting some of that energy … no offense to Arlington but we don’t need an area rap to represent all the natural beauty that surrounds us here, or point out the great eats, the awesome venues, and the incredible people that make up both the New River Valley, and Roanoke Valley.  They serve to explain why so many people, year after year, come back to the mountains of Virginia.

Noah, great job.  You’re welcome back anytime, my friend.