Summer has blossomed in Blacksburg. Follow along on a tour of some of its interesting people and places. Whether you're local or just visiting, plan your own Saturday getaway soon.

Gillie's Restaurant

As investors and developers transform Blacksburg's street corners and family farms into offices and subdivisions, few things have remained as constant as Gillie's Restaurant.

Sitting at the crossroads of downtown and campus, it is where radical ideals become vegan brownies and tofu gravy, where the specials board announces pumpkin chocolate chip pancakes alongside an anti-Wal-Mart message.

But in its own way, Gillie's has also evolved. Since opening as an ice cream shop in 1974, the clientele has expanded along with the menu, co-owner Ranae Gillie said.

The Gillie family still happily feeds the "old hippies," who have always congregated there for a bottomless cup of coffee and truly vegetarian and vegan foods, she said. But it's also common these days to find sorority women and Hokie parents from Northern Virginia lining up for a table on Saturday and Sunday mornings.

The Gillies started serving breakfast, including their fresh-baked biscuits, in 1984. Since then the restuarant has grown into one of the town's most popular weekend brunch spots.

Diners can still get staples like the tofu gravy, steel cut oats and fresh-squeezed orange juice. But they can also order a Spanish frittata with balsamic sauce, huevos rancheros with or without spicy beans or the old standby, the 122 special with eggs any way, potatoes or grits, homemade biscuit or fresh-baked whole wheat bread and coffee or tea for less than $6.

Fresh-squeezed orange juice and homemade pancakes and waffles round out the menu. But those "famous" Gillies potatoes, slow roasted to a crunchy brown in a cast iron skillet, form the foundation of the menu.

The seasonings have changed a little as founder Jan Gillie has gone into semi-retirement and handed over his kitchen to sons Nick and Noah. But while the recipes may change, the soul remains the same.

Blacksburg Farmers Market

Blacksburg's market, like many across the country, has become the new public commons -- a gathering place where people can take the kids for a fun event, debate politics and sign petitions or just shop for groceries and crafts on a pleasant Saturday morning.

But shoppers used to the monotony of the local grocery store produce aisle often find themselves intimidated by the exotic vegetables beckoning from the market's stalls. And in their times of need, they have often turned to Adriana Simpson.

They ask the Dietrick Dining Center chef de cuisine, who often shops in her chef's coat and pants: What can I do with this black tomato, white turnip or purple potato?

Those frequent before- and after-work encounters planted an idea in Simpson's mind. She said she knows bigger markets such as Seattle's Pike Place feature cooking demonstrations. Why not do something similar in Blacksburg, with its wealth of local and organic vegetables, cheeses and baked goods?

So last month Simpson and her boss, Dietrick Executive Chef Terry Reed, arrived in a Virginia Tech catering van to do the first "Chef at the Market" demonstration -- a salad of vegetables on sale that day. Everything except the oil, vinegar, pepper and salt were bought from the vendors, Simpson said.

Customers gobbled up about 200 samples, then used recipe cards provided by Simpson as shopping lists to gather ingredients.

"I'm going to have a party just to do this salad," said market customer and Montgomery County resident Lynn Margheim.

The chef program -- which organizers hope to do monthly -- is one of several community events at the market each season, market director Jenny Schwanke said. And every time someone shops there, "it makes a healthier community."

Vintage Cellar

"I was lured down here by news of Spatlese," Sam Riley announced upon entering Blacksburg's Vintage Cellar on a recent Saturday afternoon.

The Virginia Tech communications professor was referring to an e-mail he received from the store that morning telling him an example of his favored white wine was featured at that week's tasting.

"Peach in a glass," store owner Keith Roberts said tantalizingly about another bottle, this one of sparkling wine from France. But Riley declined the fruity drink. He also shook his head from side to side and pursed his lips when offered a rose.

"I'm not a rose man," Riley said.

This tasting, which often includes as many a dozen bottles from wine-making regions around the world, is a popular Saturday ritual at the store. Some days tasters can even nibble artisan breads from Roanoke and gourmet cheeses, both local and international. The event regularly draws dozens of aficionados, sometimes beginning as early as 10 a.m.

"We say we start 'after coffee,' " Roberts said.

John Leshyn said he comes for the store's Spanish wines, a love of which he developed while living for eight years in Spain. But Leshyn's often disappointed when looking for his favorites at other stores. At the Vintage Cellar, "the quality and the prices are good," he said.

Roberts and his small staff offer everything from good table wines for $3 to excellent wines that run into the hundreds of dollars.

"We're masters of substitution," said Roberts. Customers often come to the store looking for wines they've tried and loved on trips abroad. He and his small staff will try to get it. But if that's impossible, "we might be able to get something similar from a neighboring area," he said.

It matters not how much you know about wine, you can find something you like at his store that also fits your budget. "If you're tired and it's a Tuesday night, and you're eating leftovers, that's an occasion that calls for a nice glass of wine," he said.

Hahn Horticulture Garden

When Linda and Forrest Fiedler go out on the town, they bring gardening tools.

Nearly every Monday night from spring to fall for the past 14 years, the retired couple has driven 55 miles from their home in Meadows of Dan to Blacksburg to volunteer at the Hahn Horticulture Garden.

It began in 1993 when the Fiedlers were training to become Master Gardeners and needed to find a service project. Since then, they and a core group of more than a dozen gardeners have honored their standing date to help maintain the four-acre garden on Tech's campus.

Wedged between Washington Street and the Tech sports complex, the Hahn garden serves as a natural laboratory for Tech students studying everything from plant science and entomology to art, said Stephanie Huckestein, education and outreach coordinator for the garden.

It's primary mission for the past 20 years has been education. But the New River Valley's largest public garden is also a retreat for the university community and the community at large -- a place to stroll alongside a man-made waterfall and stream or have a Saturday afternoon picnic among the birds and trees.

"It's quiet, and if you don't take your cell phone you can have a little peace when you are there," Linda Fiedler said.

The garden is named for benefactors Peggy and T. Marshall Hahn and is funded by private donations and annual fundraisers. There are plans to expand the garden to seven acres over the next few years, Huckestein said.