The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - Matt Johnson, Ryan Becklund And Andrea Jacobs Joined Greer Achenbach On “The Downtown Spotlight!”

Episode Date: September 12, 2024

Matt Johnson, Assistant Director of Economic Development for the city of Charlottesville, Ryan Becklund, Owner of Botanical Plant-Based Fare, and Andrea Jacobs of CVille Sabroso joined Greer Achenbach live on The “The Downtown Spotlight!” The Downtown Spotlight airs live Thursday from 2:30 pm – 3:15 pm on The I Love CVille Network. Watch and listen to The Downtown Spotlight on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, iTunes, Apple Podcast, YouTube, Spotify, Fountain, Amazon Music, Audible and iLoveCVille.com.

Good afternoon. My name is Greer Akebak, and I am the executive director of Friends of Charlottesville Downtown. Welcome to the very first episode of the Downtown Spotlight, a web show bringing you conversations from downtown business leaders, business owners, community leaders, and event organizers. The Downtown Mall is among the most important eight blocks in the entire region and it is our aim to bring you the positive stories happening in this community. We'll bring you in-depth interviews and behind-the-scenes look from your favorite places in town. Today, we will be joined by the Assistant Director of Economic Development, Matt Johnson, Ryan Becklin, owner of Botanical Fair, and Andrea Jacobs, festival organizer for Seville Sobroso. And our first guest, Matt Johnson. Welcome, Matt. Thank you for having me, Greer.

First guest, no place to go but up, right? We're thrilled. Thank you so much for being here. So Matt, you're relatively new to Charlottesville. I think you've been here just about around a year. Tell us a little bit about the Office of Economic Development in Charlottesville and the role that you play there. Sure, happy to do that. So the Office of Economic Development, I tell everybody it's sort of that place where local government meets the business community. We're really sort of that intersection of those two larger groups. We have a staff that's set up that sort of covers a wide range of different things. We have a director, Chris Engel, myself.

We have a workforce development program manager. We have an entrepreneur program specialist. We have our admin support, Trish, that keeps us all pulled together. And then we have a position that's responsible for maintaining the facilities and overseeing the parking because there's some public parking that we have, especially here in the downtown area that falls under the management of our office. So we really try to engage with businesses however we can to help them. At its core, our mission is to grow and diversify the business community here in the city of Charlottesville.

That's a fantastic way to describe it. And I thought I knew a lot about it, but you've told me things in the last 30 seconds about your office that I didn't know. So obviously it's a lot more than just the downtown mall. You're covering many things for the entire city. I do happen to know that you are the liaison to the downtown mall businesses. What kind of resources and support can those businesses come to you for? Sure. Really, I tell all the businesses that I talk with, whether they're in downtown, whether they're not outside of that, but in the city, I tell them, if you're not sure where to start, you can always start with our office. Feel free to contact me. A lot of what we do is we connect businesses with the resources that they need in order to be as successful as possible. Sometimes that's putting them in touch with a group like the Small Business Development Center that really strives to help small businesses here in our

community. They're under the umbrella of the SBA. Sometimes it's connecting them with some of our workforce development partners to make sure that we're helping them with the talent pipeline that they need to fulfill the openings that they have, positions that they need in order to be able to grow their business. Sometimes it's a matter of trying to help them out with something that's more of a logistics concern, right? They're trying to get through a city process. Maybe it's permitting. They want to see if it's possible to do something in a location that they're either at or, more more importantly it's a location they're looking at maybe growing into and they're like can I do the type of business that I do in that location we

like to make sure we get them connected with our zoning folks our codes compliance folks to make sure that everything is lined up beforehand simple things like hey I've got issues with something that's wrong with the sidewalk right here. You know, we can help them through that process of reporting it through our online portal and really just sort of check up on that to try to get things like that addressed as well. And then any other concerns that they have, we try to make sure that we're relaying those to the appropriate people within city government or other outside things. Sometimes it's a state thing. We work with local elected officials, state elected

officials to share concerns that the business community has. So any number of things along those lines, they can always start with us. And we try to do whatever we can ourselves and whatever we can't, we try to make sure to give them sort of that warm handoff to a resource that can help them. That's fantastic. You're covering such a wide breadth of things in your office. You mentioned one thing I wanted to follow up on. There's an online portal. Could you tell me a little bit more about that? There is. You can go to the City of Charlottesville website and there should be a link at the top where you can go and click on the portal. You can report things like if there's an issue with the sidewalk, you see an issue with trash, you think that something needs to be addressed, if there's a stoplight or something like that that's not functioning, a street light that's not functioning like it should. Those

things can then be tracked internal in the city system so we can have a good idea of how the response is happening and where everything sits in that particular process. Wow, that's such an amazing resource. And that's on the Office of Economic Development website or on the city's website? No, just go to the city's website. Just go to www.charlottesville.gov and you can do a search for the portal

and it'll pop it right up for you. That's really amazing. So everyone listening at home, businesses, community members, make sure you go there if you have any questions for the city. While we're talking about the Office of Economic Development

and all the ways they're supporting the downtown community, I want to make sure to highlight the ways that they're supporting Friends of Charlottes want to make sure to highlight the ways that they're supporting Friends of Charlottesville downtown. So Friends of Charlottesville has a MOU, a written formal agreement with the Office of Economic Development. They are our point of contact in the city

and receive a lot of support, primarily for marketing activities related to downtown. So some examples of that in the last year are we collaborated with economic development to create a new website and a new interactive map online where you can look up over 1,000 businesses in the downtown community. We collaborated on new wayfinding signs. And we're working right now on some logistics for the brand new coming soon holiday lights on the downtown mall. So we're very thankful to Economic Development and the city

for all of that support they give us in addition to all the things they're doing in the community. The list goes on and on, right? Space for the downtown train and other marketing opportunities, things like that. So we appreciate all that very much, Matt. Yeah, I think it's important to point out for those that are not familiar, and I know that I'm relatively new here, but from what I understand, this has really been something that's, we've had a relationship, right? The Office of Economic Development, Friends of Seville Downtown have had a relationship for some time and done a lot of these things sort of in concert with each other.

This agreement was really just a way to help formalize things in a way that works well for the city, puts a mechanism in place that the city can provide some more direct assistance for the work that Friends is doing and has some specific things that we want to do. I want to touch on a couple of things that you really hit on briefly. I've got to tell you that the new website and the interactive map is just amazing. People have already talked to us about it. You can go in there. You can take a look. You can really get a lot of information about a lot of different points of interest,

shops, restaurants, event spaces. I mean, you name it, it's there. And it's done in a very engaging, easy-to-process format. So you can also tell if you're on the downtown mall or someplace else in the downtown area, you want to see what's right there around you. It's very, very easy to do that in the website itself and using that interactive map. So that has been a great tool. I think it's been beneficial not only for our residents that come down here, our visitors, but I think it's also really helped the businesses to better connect with those

that are coming here into the area that maybe aren't as familiar with it as they would be. We've got some great kiosk signage and great kiosk maps that we just went through the process, like you said, of doing a refresh on those, and they look great, and they link directly to the interactive map page but there's also something to be said we're so technology driven right we we all take a look at this this phone that we carry around in our pockets all the time and so to have that type of interactiveness in a device that we're all very familiar with and have very easy access to, I think has just been really outstanding. But the agreement itself really just formalizes what has been a good

relationship and what continues to be a good relationship. I know there's a lot of great things that are on the horizon. You've talked about a few of them. I don't know how much you want to pull back the curtain on some of those, but we're excited about some of the things that are upcoming as well. Oh, well, thank you. And thank you for kind of elaborating a little bit more on the map. That is an incredible resource that I hope people know about. It's something we're very proud of. I have to give a lot of credit to our operations manager, Hannah Keller,

who did all the research for those thousand businesses. You can find websites, social media handles, addresses, and you can filter by, like Matt said, shopping, dining, services, and look and see kind of physically where you are on the downtown mall. It's an incredible resource. It's on the wayfinding kiosks. It is also on, we have a physical downtown map that is out in area hotels, which is a QR code that links to that as well. So really fantastic. And then Matt and I alluded to some of the things we have upcoming. If we have time, we'll talk about them a little bit later in this interview.

But you sort of teed me up for my next question. Matt's been here for about a year, but he's worked in economic development for many years and has seen a lot of things. What do you think is the competitive advantage for downtown Charlottesville? What makes this place special and unique? I think there's a few things. The one thing that really stands out to me is that there is no place else like the downtown mall. I mean, there just isn't anything that is to that scope and that scale. I mean, it's the largest pedestrian mall, outdoor pedestrian mall in the U.S. I think back to before I even had any idea that I would eventually land here like I am now.

I was in town about, I guess it was about seven or eight years ago now, for a conference in the spring, and that was my first experience visiting the downtown mall. The conference was at the Omni. We stayed there, and of course, like anybody that's in town, when you have some free time, you go out and experience the mall. And I was just, just as somebody visiting, I was blown away by just the whole nature of it. I mean, you've got great scenery. You've got the bricks that make it feel very historic.

You've got these historic buildings. But you still have lots of really cool modern places that are in there. And I think that's something that is, I think Charlottesville has really embraced both the historic nature of the downtown area with the modern possibilities that come along with what people are looking for nowadays in their entertainment type of things, in their shopping experiences, in their food and beverage type of excursions that they like to do. And I just, when I think about some of the different places that I've not only worked, but also just had an opportunity to visit, I don't know that there's any place else that quite has the same blend of all of those elements in one thing like the downtown area does. So I really think that that's a huge advantage for the city of Charlottesville.

I think it's something that continues to draw people back and has that potential to really just draw people in. And it's not any one segment of a population either, right? There's stuff down here on the downtown mall and in the downtown area for college age students that are here, maybe they're at UVA or one of the other area colleges and they're coming in. that are here, maybe they're at UVA or one of the other area colleges, and they're coming in, they want to do something fun for younger families, for older people like myself who don't, you know, the kids are out of the house now. I mean, there's something literally for everybody in every age, in every demographic down here. And I think those are just, when you put all of those individual pieces together, you can get a lot of those individual pieces and maybe one or two things in a number of different places. Uh, but you don't have it all sort of combined into one place like you do

here in the downtown area of Charlottesville. We completely agree. And as we think about branding downtown, that is a, something almost that makes it challenging because it has so much. And you're so right to touch on that. Both historical and modern piece is something we talk about a lot, as well as it being there is something for everyone throughout a full day on the mall. You could have runners running down and getting coffee and then people at the escape room or catching a show at the Paramount or at Fridays After Five or First Fridays, the art show. And so there is just something for everyone in the community. And, you know, Charlottesville should be very proud and continue to see success there. Shifting gears a little bit. So you and I have been working together on applying to be a Main Street, for an official Main Street Virginia designation. What are the benefits of Virginia Main Street, of the Virginia Main Street program for Charlottesville? Sure. So just very quickly, for those who aren't familiar, Virginia Main Street

comes off of the Main Street USA program, which was formed back in like 1980, roughly, and really was an attempt to embrace a preservation-focused economic growth thing for downtown and Main Street areas where they had seen sort of suburban flight take place and some of those things have moved out of those more historic and traditional areas so what that type of program means for the downtown area i think i really would sum it up in access to resources whether it's training and marketing and things along those lines, or whether it's some financial resources, programmatic things that can come along with that. I think when you're also involved with Virginia Main Street and you actually go through one of the two-year cohorts that we're

getting ready to apply for, you build those relationships with other communities. So you create that network and really get engaged with a network of other communities that have similar opportunities and similar challenges. And you say, okay, well, what worked for you all? And then you see how some of those things can apply in your community as well and vice versa sometimes you have things that you really hit on in your community that you're able to share with others I think there's a lot of really interesting programs that they have as a part of Virginia Main Street that focus again on how you can build upon the historic

preservation nature of what you want from a Main Street area to keep it sort of like it is, while still encouraging ongoing economic growth and development. And so that's one of the reasons that we're interested and really excited to partner with Friends of Downtown, Seville Downtown, on this particular program going forward. So I really like that you keep talking about both the history and sort of the modern going forward because I think that is something that's really special. And we talk a lot about the magic of the downtown mall.

And so a program that fits and that encourages us to think in both of those ways is a really good fit. The other thing is sort of we in Charlottesville don't need to reinvent the wheel in terms of how we're approaching some of our challenges or areas of opportunity. So that's really exciting. I also think Charlottesville is, the mall is so unique. It's, there's other communities probably could learn from what we've seen here in Charlottesville. So as you kind of alluded to, it's a little bit of a long process with those two years. But I've obviously done a lot of research on why we would participate in that.

And the back end of that means that that's where you're going to find most of your grant money for Main Street programs in Virginia. And just resources to support and connect. And we actually already do that. And we had the director of the Lynchburg Downtown Association join us at TomTom, and we've learned a lot from her. Like we were talking about earlier, we're emulating some of the areas where they've seen success, like the downtown holiday lights,

like some programs we've gotten from other main streets, like Elves and Seville or Peppermint Trail. So really excited to be part of that and continue to learn more from other downtowns across the country. Yeah. streets like Elves and Seville or Peppermint Trail. So really excited to be part of that and continue to learn more from other downtowns across the country. Yeah. In that same kind of vein, so the downtown mall is coming up on its 50th anniversary. From your perspective, how might we prepare for that and celebrate that as a community? Sure. I think there's a few things. One, I think it's good for people to really, they embrace the downtown mall and sort of what it,

what it is and appreciate the process in some respects, but I don't know that they really totally understand the history. I know that was one of the things when I was originally coming here, I sort of thought the downtown mall had been sort of in its current state for, you know, for a very long time. Okay. It was sort of designed that way originally, but it wasn't far from it. I mean, I remember the first time I saw pictures of vehicles actually sitting on Main Street, and I was like, wow, that's right where I walk right now. So I would say really sort of dig in a little bit to the history of that. I know that there are some different resources that are through the Historical Resources Committee that's part of Neighborhood Development Services with the city.

Again, you can go to charlottesville.gov and you can take a look and do some searches for that. But there are some resources there that show old photographs that talk about some of the old studies. Another thing I would point out again is there is actually a new historic walking tour that there's a map and everything is sort of is very well laid out, is available online, but there's also hard and everything is sort of is very well laid out is available online but there's also hard paper copies if somebody wants to stop by the office they can stop by our office neighborhood development services at city hall and that really just gives people places mainly in the downtown area of charlottesville where they can go get out we're getting into fall this is the

perfect time to get out and get about. And then also provides information about some of the historical markers, where to look for that type of thing. But I really think in order to fully appreciate the present of the downtown mall and the future of the downtown mall, you also have to really be able to pull in the past and sort of what that development was so you can continue to see how that development moves forward. I'm glad you mentioned that because

that's just a kind of another point of you really can come and spend an entire day on the downtown mall and that's a free activity, free for the community, right? It's not just spending money and you can come and shop and dine and go and see arts and entertainment, but there's also ways that you can just kind of explore the space of itself and learn about that. So incredibly excited about that. Another thing I wanted to mention about the 50th anniversary that's sort of neat is it coincides with Virginia's 250th anniversary. So next month on the Downtown Spotlight, we're going to be joined by Courtney Caucasian from Tourism,

who can tell us a little bit about how we can promote the downtown mall and get ready for when those two things come together, and we can potentially expect a lot of history, probably mostly history-related tourists throughout that entire year. And I think also adding to that, the fact that the downtown mall was just placed on the National Register of Historic Places is going to play a huge part in that. A lot of people like to just visit places that are on that register. And so since it just showed up this year, it's going to mean there's more people

that are going to be interested in coming here to check it out. That's a really good point. I think sometimes as locals, we forget that Charlottesville is such a destination for history buffs, right? Between UVA and Monticello, which are just right down the road, the mall is situated right in the middle of that. And people are going to come and want to know about the history of Charlottesville as an old city. The mall is pretty new, but Main Street and what it's been is very old and so we're excited to to welcome all of those tourists here to the mall well matt before we wrap up is there anything else you want to tell me about what's happening in in economic development did i miss anything no i think you covered things i just want to say i'm i'm excited i know you're going to talk some more you've got some other guests coming um but i think one of the things we talked some about earlier, what are some of the things that make the downtown mall special?

And I really do think that the different events that happen in this downtown area has a lot to do with really activating and drawing people in. There's all types of different events. There are events down here at the downtown mall that you just won't see someplace else as well. So that's a huge part of things. We're excited to continue to support the activities of Friends of Seville downtown, all the businesses that are down here, and look forward to what the next 50 years hold as well. And Matt, where can people go to learn more about economic development? Sure, you can go to charlottesville.gov

slash E-C-O-D-E-V, or you can just go to charlottesville.gov and you can just look up economic development. We've got information about our programs, some reports that we've done, our annual report that's out there. Some people will find that interesting and has all of our contact information as well.

Okay, great. Thank you. And make sure you get on the Office of Economic Development newsletter as well as the Friends of Seville newsletter, of course, so that you don't miss anything that's happening downtown. Matt, thank you so much for joining us here today. It's been fantastic talking with you. I'd like to welcome up our next guest.

Thanks. Ryan Becklin, the owner of Botanical Fair on the downtown mall. Hello. Hi, Ryan. Hi. Thank you so much for joining us today. Yeah. I'm really excited.

Thanks for having me. Botanical is one of the coolest spots on the downtown mall. It's a personal favorite restaurant. I can't get enough of your sweet potatoes. So really excited to talk to you about that and a cool festival you have coming up. First, tell us a little bit about Botanical and why you started the restaurant. Yeah, well, thank you for that. I just cut like hundreds of sweet potato bits earlier before I came here.

So, yeah, it's a popular one. Um, and we've had, yeah, just a great time being on the mall. I started botanical basically right at the tail end of the pandemic. Um, so we're about two and a half years in and I did it because I could see, so I moved from D.C. I was in D.C. during the pandemic, and then I decided I wanted to come here, and I could see that there was lots of vegan options in places, but not a fully vegan restaurant. And so I was hoping that if we put one somewhere in the downtown area

that there would be enough demand for it. And thankfully, that's been correct. And people have responded really positively to it. It's just been beyond my wildest, what I would have expected it would be. And then within a year of opening, we also opened the bar out in Crozet. So we have a rooftop bar there now, too, which has been great. I wasn't planning on doing both right away, but it worked out that way, and we've been just rolling with it.

How's that been? That sounds crazy. Yeah, it's definitely a lot. Anyone who owns a business, in particular a restaurant, it's a lot of things that are constantly moving, things always breaking. There's like just always stuff to do. But it's been great. We're so lucky. I've had such a good staff.

That's basically, I mean, almost all of them have been with me since the beginning. Or if not, you know, they came on later. But that was just because we were growing and needed more people. And we've been really lucky with that. And we've been lucky that there's been a demand for it. But yeah, I mean, Crozet in particular, I live out in Crozet, so I had a little more motivation to be out there. And I saw out there that they just needed, maybe some healthier options. And there's just not a lot of food out there that they just needed, you know, maybe some healthier options and there's just not a lot of food out there, unfortunately yet, or a retail space. So it's, it's growing, but yeah, it's been, it's been awesome. We love it. So I think people are often really surprised,

myself being one of them, is that how, how good the food is for, for a non-vegan, right? Like I am very much a meat eater, but I love botanical. What made you passionate about vegan food and wanting to do that as a business? Yeah, I mean, I think that was part of what we set out to do was to be appealing to just people who like good food, regardless of whether it's vegan or not. And that's certainly we've seen that that people you know like it even if they don't typically eat vegan food and unfortunately vegan food has gotten a lot of there's a it's been it's taken a while for people

to I think like understand how to cook vegetables in a really like delicious way. Uh, and that's part of, yeah, that's just been some of the issues. So I think a lot of vegan food has gotten a bad rep for just being kind of flavorless or like not filling those kinds of things. Um, but yeah, I've just been, I, my previous place that I worked with a vegan restaurant too so I did a lot of research learned a lot there about it and then I just love cooking myself so I got really into that realm of cooking vegan specifically and applied all that to the restaurant there's a lot of like Asian flavors within the food because that just goes so well with vegan food which is often lacking in like that umami or the kind of, you know, satisfying flavors you get from meat. So yeah, so we use a lot of tamari

and like miso, things like that. And it really just, yeah, it worked out. I'm assuming you're vegan. Are you vegan? And how long have you been vegan? Um, I honestly don't know exactly. It's probably been eight or nine years at this point. I was vegetarian for a really long time. And then when I was a kid, you know, it wasn't even, I didn't really know what vegan was or anything. I just knew when I was young, I like really liked animals and didn't want to eat them. And so then as I got older, I, you know, researched it more. I learned a lot about all the other, you know, environmental implications and health implications. And so, yeah, then I switched over fully and I'm just excited to bring, you know, more vegan food out to the community and have those options available.

Well, it's such a great kind of education for the community as well. What's your most popular menu item? Our number one by far is the crunchy cauliflower bowl. That's definitely the big one that we, I was, when we opened, I was like, I have no clue what will be, what's going to be the most popular thing, but that has definitely been it. The sweet potato bowl is probably close second. The bowls are definitely the most popular, but yeah, we sell, I don't know what the numbers are in it, but we sell, you know, several thousand of those a year for sure. And I like that you have healthy kids' meal options. I took my 10-month-old and was feeding her like sweet potato and rice and she loved it too. And so it really is a great family spot and something for everyone. And we're so lucky to have Botanical here on the downtown mall as part of a really vibrant restaurant scene.

Right now you're working on a cool event. I believe it's the first. The first? The first since prior to COVID. There have been past VegFest here. VegFest. So we're here to talk today with ryan about veg fest tell us all about it what it is how how it started who's going to be there yeah uh so we are putting on

veg fest this year it is the first one since years ago prior to covid and i think i'm not even totally sure i might have stopped stopped just before COVID even started. But yeah, it's had several different iterations, but there was just a vegetarian one, I think, too. But it's a fully vegan festival. We're going to have a, well, I should say first, it's a free event. So open to the public totally. It's going to be at Ix Park, and it's this Sunday from 12 to 6, so the 15th.

It's a crazy amount of work for a six-hour festival, but the hope is that it goes off well and we get the word out and that we can make it self-sustaining for the most part so each year we can just do it and keep getting more vendors and different people invested in the festival. But yeah, it's going to be a big, we're going to have the main stage with a bunch of speakers. We're going to have one of our favorite drag performers

that does a lot of drag shows at Botanical will be doing a performance down on the stage there. We're going to have a vegan pie eating contest. That's so fun. What kind of pie? I think we're going to have a vegan pie eating contest. That's so fun. What kind of pie? I think we're going to do apple. How do I enter? Yeah.

The plan is that it's just one pie as fast as you can eat it, so it doesn't get out of hand and kind of gross. Wait, that's so clever. It's just one pie as fast as you can eat it, and that will be on the main stage too. So the big thing for that sign up, like if you want to do it, it's just going to be kind of first come first serve that day.

I think we'll probably do like 10 people-ish. So if you want to do it, sign up right away when you get there. What time will the pie eating contest be? I think it's around 3.30. Yeah. So we have a whole schedule of stuff going on the main stage all day.

And on the main stage, right? You the main stage right you mentioned the drag show but also nutritionists yeah we're going to have speakers that are going to be a lot of people in the medical field that are talking about yeah basically different you know how they came to like there's honestly a big movement of physicians that are you know essentially prescribing plant-based diets to their patients and that'll definitely be a component. So education-wise, we're going to be doing that. We'll also have, like, an animal activist there. Just kind of, yeah, everyone in the vegan world. And then, yeah, a bunch of vendors, lots of Seville ones,

lots of Richmond vendors too. Richmond has a really big VegFest, so we're not going to be quite at that level yet, but maybe one day. And, yeah, it's over, it's 50-plus, like, vendors, so it'll be pretty full at X. And, yeah, thankfully we had a bunch of people apply, and hopefully the turnout is good. Brian, that's incredible. I mean, that's like the farmer's market. So I didn't realize this, but it sounds like there's VegFest across the country.

There are, yeah. And maybe it had been here before uh how did you get involved and who else is involved yeah planning yeah so we got involved so I basically I wanted to do it since we opened um two and a half years ago but because I knew it had happened here in the past and there had been different groups that had handled it. But as soon as we opened, I was like, well, we're the vegan place in town, so I definitely want to put all of our energy behind bringing it back. But I was a little busy getting things moving and starting the bar out in Crozet. So then I was approached by just a local. Her name is Mary Cheryl, and she asked me about bringing it back,

and she wanted to, you know, work to bring it back. And I was like, yeah, we're in. We definitely want to. We've been wanting to do it. So her and I have been working closely to just get it going again. And it's basically been us and a lot of the staff at Botanicals have been helping too which has been great we have a lot of people who have these different skill sets that i do not have

and have been handling a lot of the all the background stuff like the social media and you know all the communications there's so many emails involved with stuff like that so yeah we've it's been a team effort for sure. But we've learned a lot. I'm sure it's not going to be perfect, especially it's our first one. But we'll see how it goes. And then next year, I'm sure we'll be even smoother. Well, it's a perfect time of year, right? The weather's perfect.

I think you'll have a huge turnout in this community. And I'm really excited to see. And you mentioned that amount of work. So Friends of Seabold does a ton of free community events as well and yeah i definitely underestimated the behind the scenes work that goes into those types of things um sounds like it's a real labor of love for you and for your team and it's such a gift to the community so yeah i would encourage all vegetable lovers and charlottesville downtown lovers to come out to VegFest on Sunday. It is another great example of the diversity of things that we offer down here.

And I really appreciate you coming on. Is there anything else you want to tell us about Botanical or about VegFest? Where can we get more information? I think we covered everything. The only thing I didn't mention at VegFest. Where can we get more information? I think we covered everything. The only thing I didn't mention at VegFest, too, we'll have a kids area. So it's definitely very kid-friendly. And, yeah, the big thing is, so it's on Instagram. It's at Seville VegFest.

If you want to look into, there's, like, the social media especially has tons of vendor spotlights. So if you're, like, curious who's going to be there and things like that, you can just go on our Instagram and see all that. And then veganrootsfest.org is the website for it. So that has like our schedule lineup for the day and a bunch of information about it. But yeah, it's at X park and weather's looking good. So hopefully it'll be a great day. So website vegan roots, vegan roots, and weather's looking good so far, so hopefully it'll be a great day out there.

So website, veganrootsfest.com, social media, VegFest. Yeah, at Seville VegFest. Seville VegFest, okay. Check it out. Check out all the vendors. Ryan, thank you for doing such cool stuff. Thanks for having us on the first one. That was exciting. Thank you so much.

Really appreciate Ryan being here today. I'd like to bring up our next guest, Andrea Jacobs, the festival director for Seville Sobroso. Hi, Andrea. Thank you so much for joining us today. Thank you for having us. Thank you for having me. I was really, I have been in communications with some of your board members and people working on this festival. We are thrilled that you're moving to the downtown mall. Yes, I know. This is very exciting for us.

This is our 12th festival here in Charlottesville. And over the past years, it has just been growing and growing. And it's been amazing the amount of support that we've received from the community. So we are very excited to move to Ting. It's allowed us to double our vendors, double our sponsors. And so it's going to be a big fiesta. So backing up a little bit for those watching that might not be familiar with the event. So tell us about what is Seville

Sabroso? Of course, Sabroso. Yes, Seville Sabroso is a cultural festival of art, food, music from Latin American countries. We try to represent a lot of diverse Latin American countries and their traditions in either food, art, or in music and dance. So it'll be on September 21st with nine hours of lots of dancing, lots of music. It's hopefully going to feel like a big Latino block party that people are going to be able to come and partake and kind of see the energy that the Latino community shares with each other. And now we want to share it with the rest of Charlottesville and surrounding areas. That's so exciting. And again, such an asset for downtown. What, how did this, you said it's your 12th year in Charlottesville. How did the festival come about? So our founder, Fanny Schmilde, who is also the founder of Sin Barreras

who is the organization that hosts this festival she started this festival 12 years ago at Incarnation Church a Catholic church here in town and it was such a big hit that then our co-founder Estela Knott from Lua Project, partnered with her, and they basically were able to expand the festival to McGuffey Art Center for a while, and then it became bigger than McGuffey, and so then we were at Ix Park for a few years, and then at Ix Park, it grew even more. And so for the last couple of years, we had a hiatus during COVID. But for the last couple of years, we've had it at Washington Park, which has also expanded the crowd attendance. And so now we're moving to Ting to help Sin Barreras kind of grow the festival, also partake in announcing that Sin Barreras has been the

organization here in town that has been hosting this festival for many, many years for the Latino community. So tell us a little bit more about the organization itself for those that aren't familiar. Yeah, Sin Barreras is a Latino immigrant- focused organization that provides services for DACA children, anyone who is looking for assistance in their citizenship. They have helped over 100 people get their citizenship here in Charlottesville. They also offer educational services. If you're a new member to the community and are wanting to learn English, they offer English ESL classes. It is a very diverse organization. They've actually expanded into the Waynesboro area as well.

And so it has, again, been a very fruitful organization that has provided a lot of diverse services to the immigrant population depending on what they need. They also offer health services, helping immigrants be able to get their preventative care health procedures done at a low cost or no cost at all in some cases. So yeah, we've kind of been in the back scene supporting the community and making sure that our immigrant community is just as fruitful as the rest of the community here in Charlottesville. And how long has the organization been in Charlottesville?

12 years. Okay, so the same as the festival. Yes. Well, just like we were saying with Ryan, it is a huge amount of work to put on a festival like this in addition to all of the other things that the nonprofit is doing. Could you tell us a little bit more about some of, you mentioned there's lots of vendors and lots of performances. What kinds of things can people expect that day? Yeah, sure. The Sivas Abrozo Festival is actually a passion project of the volunteers of Sin Barreras. So this is all a volunteer-led planning committee and day of

kind of event. We solicit our sponsors, our local businesses. We try to bring in a lot of our Latino-owned small businesses here in the community to participate, to provide that diverse, you know, community because, I mean, Latin America is so big and massive that there is a lot of representation from many countries. For instance, this year we're going to have acts from Peru, we're going to have acts from Mexico, El Salvador, Bolivia, and then we're also going to have food that is representative of Argentina, Mexico, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Costa Rica. And so we're very, very excited that Ting allows us to really expand and bring in more of the small Latina-owned businesses. I'm so looking forward to this. I have been to the festival in the past. The food was delicious.

The costumes were beautiful. The performances were truly fantastic. So I would encourage everyone to come. You've mentioned, of course, we've talked about it's moving to Ting. Why this year did you decide to make that choice to move to the downtown mall um this year uh well because we have outgrown all of the parks in charlottesville and albemarle county the attendance has surpassed over 4 000 people and so we've had to in order to accommodate everybody comfortably our along with our sponsors and our small businesses and our festival attendants,

we felt that the teen pavilion would provide us that space and ability to give more of the community. So we will try to... We're trying to scale it up, but, of course, with that comes some operational overhead costs. So this year, it will be our first year that we'll be charging to come to the festival. In the past, it has been a free community event. But, unfortunately, we've been unable to carry that operational cost at Sin Barreras.

So we are asking the community for support because we need more support from our local businesses, more support from the community. So we will be charging. It will be $10 for adults, $5 for teenagers between 13 and 17, and kids 12 and under are going to be free to make it feasible for families as well. It sounds like a very fair price for everything that you've mentioned and certainly a worthy cause. Where can the community go to buy tickets? You can go to Sivo Sabroso on Facebook

to find the latest information and ticket pricing. You can also go to Ting Pavilion. They also have a link to our ticket system. And you can, Sivo Sabroso Facebook is probably the best place to go to get the latest information of that. But like I said, again, it's going to be a big

fiesta. We're trying to make this one of the biggest central Virginia-like fiesta parties to come and check out for us. And you can buy tickets day of as well? Yes, yes. We will be closing the pre-purchasing tickets on Thursday, September 19th. Okay. So after that, you'll have to come on the day of

to purchase your ticket and come and enjoy nine hours of entertainment, food, artisan work. I mean, I'm wearing a huipil, which is something that some of our vendors will be selling. So it will be beautiful. It's going to be a beautiful event. We're very excited. So one particular reason that we at Friends of Seville is excited is because bringing this event to the mall, like you talked about, makes it a bit of a block party. About how many people are you expecting and how can we kind of prepare and help you on the mall and make that successful? Oh, I'm hoping we will surpass our attendance last year.

Last year we had about 4,000 people come through the festival, so we're hoping this year it will be between 4,000 and 5,000 people to come and enjoy and just sit. You can bring your blankets because Ting has a nice grassy area and your lawn chairs and you can sit and hunker down and just enjoy the show and walk around and meet some of our sponsors and talk to some of our local Latino business owners and get to know them as well and of course just support Sin Barreras and help us continue to host this festival because it has, like I said, it's a passion project of ours. The volunteers love hosting this

event. We love encouraging all of our Latino community to come out and showcase their talents and what they bring to Central Virginia and Charlottesville and all the surrounding counties so I want to point out what a triumph it is to have 4,000 attendees in a city of just over 40,000 that's a huge success you can tell that it is a passion from your volunteers and a really just it's something that makes Charlottesville so special, is the amount of diversity and things that we have access to here. We encourage everyone to come out and support this event. It's at Ting, September 21st, from 12 to?

From 1 to 9, 30. 1 to 9. So you can come and eat all of your meals here, dancing, buy, shop. Actually, I have one correction. It's actually 1 to 10. I'm sorry. 1 to 10 p.m. 1 to 10 p.m.

Yes. Okay. Friends of Sea will also have the downtown train running that day, doing some promotion for the event. And we cannot wait to come and be part of this fiesta. Yes, please come be. Come partake. Thank you so much, Andrea, for being here today,

for being one of our first guests on the Downtown Spotlight. We wish you the best of luck at your festival and cannot wait to celebrate with you. Yeah, thank you for having me. Thank you. And thank you to all of you for tuning in today for this first episode of the Downtown Spotlight. If you love downtown Charlottesville and support the efforts of Friends of Seville, please be sure to visit our website, www.friendsofseville.org, where you can donate, you can join as a member, or learn more about how to volunteer. We're currently looking for sponsors for Magic on the Mall, as well as for train drivers on the downtown Express train which is now running every Saturday morning leaving from Central Place at 10 a.m. so families be sure to come out and take a

free ride on the downtown Express tune in and join us again next month when we will be joined by Courtney Caucasian to talk about tourism on the downtown mall thank you again we'll see you soon Thank you.