TOPS (Take off Pounds Sensibly): All ages are invited to participate in the non-judgmental program at the Salem Senior Center on Tuesdays from 5-6 p.m. There is a registration fee and a $3 per month fee. Call Charlene Lester at 540-293-7753 with questions.
Victory Stadium: How a Lawyer, a Minister, and Twenty Football Players Helped End Segregation in Virginia and Professional Sports: Thursday, February 13, 2025, 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. Bank Building, Logan Gallery. Law professor Alex Long will offer a look at the remarkable history of a landmark NFL game played at Victory Stadium in Roanoke City in 1961. At the time, Virginia state law demanded segregated seating for the event. But two local leaders, an attorney and a minister, worked to bring national attention to that injustice by organizing the first successful civil rights boycott of a professional sporting event. Long serves as the Williford Gragg Distinguished Professor of Law for the University of Tennessee College of Law. His scholarship has been published in numerous journals and his most recent book, “Professional Wrestling and the Law,” was published in 2024 (McFarland).
2025 Juried Biennial Exhibition: February 1 – March 16. Olin Hall Galleries. The Juried Biennial Exhibition at Olin Hall Galleries showcases the work of regional artists within a 200-mile radius of Roanoke College. Paintings, sculpture, graphic design, ceramics, textile, mixed media, video and photography are among the mediums considered for exhibition. Submissions were judged by juror James Salomon, director of design projects at Achille Salvagni Atelier in New York. Salomon’s decades of experience began with Mary Boone, followed by his own galleries in East Hampton and New York. He has curated numerous gallery and institutional exhibitions, as well as facilitated adventurous art projects, like Norma the Art Car by Kenny Scharf, which rolls around the Roanoke campus on occasion. The biennial exhibition has been organized every two years since 1990. It is on display at Olin Hall Galleries from 1 to 4 p.m. daily (closed during school breaks and holidays).
International Film Series: February 11 – February 23. Various Locations. The 7th annual Roanoke College International Film Series is offering eight public film screenings held at locations across the Roanoke Valley. This year’s theme is Truth & Lies. Each film will be followed by a post-screening, panel-led discussion. For a full schedule of films, visit roanoke.edu/rcifs. The series is co-sponsored by Hollins University, Roanoke Valley Sister Cities, Grandin Theatre and Taubman Museum of Art.
The David L. Guy Lecture Series with Daniel Di Martino: Monday, March 10, 2025, 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. Colket Center, Wortmann Ballroom. Born in Venezuela during the same year Hugo Chavez became president, Daniel Di Martino shares his personal story of how socialist policies transformed the once prosperous nation. The David L. Guy Lecture Series is presented by the Center for Economic Freedom and the Young America’s Foundation.
Bishop Crumley Lecture Series with Dr. Brad Wilcox: Tuesday, March 18, 2023, 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. Colket Center, Wortmann Ballroom. When it comes to relationships, many young adults are confused, conflicted and unsure that they can forge a successful path toward the altar. This lecture by UVA Professor Brad Wilcox will help identify problems confronting young adults looking for lifelong love and then provide 10 steps that young men and women can take to increase their odds of finding lifelong love. The Bishop Crumley Lecture Series is organized by the Benne Center for Church & Society.
Emancipation Week Lecture: Wednesday, April 2, 2025, 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. Colket Center, Wortmann Ballroom. In a lecture entitled, “Male or Man?: American Slavery, Public Monuments, and the Containment of Black Manhood,” Dr. Charmaine A. Nelson will examine how Reconstruction Era sculptors marginalized and infantilized newly freed black men in their art. Nelson is the founding director of Slavery North, a research initiative focused on slavery in Canada and the U.S. North, and a provost professor of art history for the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Emancipation Week events are sponsored by the Center for Studying Structures of Race.
Brantley Gilbert: Brantley Gilbert is bringing The Tattoos Tour 2025 to the Salem Civic Center on Thursday night, March 20. Special guests that night will include Black Stone Cherry, Austin Snell, and Colt Ford. Tickets start at $25.
Gavin Adcock: Fast-rising country music star Gavin Adcock is scheduled to make his first Salem Civic Center appearance on Friday, Aug. 29. Over the course of 12 months, Adcock’s album, “Actin’ Up Again,” was crowned the largest major-label country debut from a solo male artist released in 2024, and with more than 15 million on-demand U.S. streams week of release, Actin’ Up Again was also 2024’s top streaming major-label debut across the whole genre. Tickets start at $38.50 and go up to $79.50: https://www.ticketmaster.com/gavin-adcock-salem-virginia-08-29-2025/event/0100623E921043FA
Alice Cooper: Electric chairs, guillotines, fake blood, and boa constrictors are on their way back to the Salem Civic Center. Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Alice Cooper is bringing his Too Close for Comfort tour to Salem, Aug. 19. Cooper’s legendary shows draw equally from horror movies, vaudeville, and garage rock, and his performances are designed to heighten all of your senses. Cooper last played at the Salem Civic Center in 2017, but his first appearance at the historic venue dates all the way back to January 28, 1972, when the building was still named the Salem-Roanoke County Civic Center. Tickets are available at the Salem Civic Center Box Office Monday – Friday 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. or online at Ticketmaster.com.
Alison Krauss: Bluegrass music icon Alison Krauss is coming to Salem on Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025. The 27-time Grammy winner revealed this week that she and her band, Union Station, featuring Jerry Douglas, will embark on their first tour together in a decade next year. The tour will make a stop at the Salem Civic Center on Tuesday, September 23. The Arcadia 2025 Tour will see the acclaimed group play 73 dates across the United States and Canada. Tickets are available at the Salem Civic Center Box Office Monday – Friday 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. or online at Ticketmaster.com.
Public meetings:
The Salem City Council will meet on Monday, Feb. 24 at 6:30 p.m.