Priscilla Richardson

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What did we do before the Buchanan Theatre reopened? Tonight at 7:30 you can go there for a program to have fun while learning more about Botetourt's history.

The Buchanan Rotarians are putting on a special presentation to benefit the Christian Free Clinic that works out of Fincastle Baptist Church on Tuesday evenings. Those Rotarians got a matching grant for $2,500 to buy the clinic a defibrillator and ultrasound machine. Now they have to raise that same amount. This is where the fun for you comes in.

You railroad fans probably remember how these same Rotarians put on a show last year about O. Winston Link and his work photographing steam engines. How to follow that success? Well, Buchanan Rotary's Joe Obenshain talked to Fincastle's John Williamson. Williamson, our former county administrator who now runs the Roanoke Gas group of companies, chairs the board of the Art Museum of Western Virginia. Do you detect a Botetourt network?

Williamson suggested a program linking a 19th century itinerant painter to our own Botetourt story, because that painter did scenes of many area towns, including Buchanan, and a picture of Grove Hill. Although Grove Hill burned to the ground a long time ago, its likeness sits in the art museum. And, if you've read the published diary of Lucy Breckinridge, you know something about life at Grove Hill, her home, during the Late Unpleasantness. That's the Civil War for you literalists.

So, Scott Crawford, the director of education at the art museum, has created "Becoming a Historical Peeping Tom: Looking into Botetourt's Past Through the Fine Arts." Crawford's program will use the Grove Hill picture, Lucy's diary, an estate inventory and other material to give you a close look at Botetourt's past. The only thing better than going to different places to see the painting, artifacts and get the history? To sit in comfort and have it all laid out for you, and to have your questions answered.

This is what Crawford will do -- and all for only $10 for adults, $5 for students. Plus, the Rotary is working with the schools so some art students can come for free.

Obenshain has a personal link to Botetourt history. He lives in the old Obenshain home and hotel, formerly a coaching inn. That's that old house sitting on U.S. 11 next to Mill Creek Baptist Church. His great-grandfather, Samuel "Hotel Sam" Obenshain, ran a store there, too, after buying the inn in 1850.

Since this presentation will take up your evening you'll be glad to know that another Botetourt fun event doesn't start until noon Saturday, through 4 p.m. This is the Buchanan Elementary School PTA Fall Fair. And if you have children, this is the place for them.

Anyone who will want to play the games must pay $5 for a hand stamp, but it covers everything except the cake walk ($1 extra) and pick a pouch (50 cents). The kids will love something called a bounce house. Buchanan's Amy Fowler, one of the PTA members helping to set up this fair, explained that you jump and bounce on it "like a trampoline, but it has sides so you can't fall off onto the ground."

Your hand stamp admits you to more fun stuff, such as pink hair spray, fingernail painting, cookie decorating, a pumpkin toss where you try to get three wrapped candy pieces into a pumpkin for a prize, and a corn dig, where you dig for prizes through a pool filled with corn. One game older children love is called fear factor. There will be boxes with a cut out for you to stick your hand in. You feel something and figure out what it is. An example Fowler gave: "A large olive will feel like an eyeball."

Fowler predicts that an adult favorite will be the silent auction featuring baskets filled by different classrooms in the school according to themes such as Virginia Tech, Christmas and so on. You don't have to pay to make bids. The fair takes place on the school's grounds. Go to Pico Road and turn off at Schoolhouse Road to find it. Then come and enjoy.

For more information about the program, call 966-5433. The fair is Saturday, from noon until 4 p.m., rain or shine, and costs $5 to play games. For more information, call the school at 254-2084.