32 Small Things we like About Charlottesville, Va.

I was inspired by my friend Melissa Gilliam aka MilliGFunk, and this post, Grace in Small Things, sharing what readers love about St. Louis, Missouri. I decided to put the question to my own community of Charlottesville, Va.

Here are some of the small things we love about Charlottesville:

1. Marco and Luca dumplings
2. The view coming down 250 from Pantops
3. Beer Run
4. The Whale Tails
5. Walking on the grounds of UVa
6. Number 904 at Saigon Cafe
7. Seeing people you know
8. Dogwoods in the spring
9. Connecting with dogs’ siblings via social media
10. Dog friendliness
11. Being able to pick apples, ride a horse, float a river or hike the Appalachian Trail within a short drive
12. Outdoorsy feel
13. Big city offerings in a quaint small town
14. Azaleas in full bloom in May along the 250 bypass
15. The hike to Bear Fence Mountain in Shenandoah National Park
16. Walking the downtown mall
17. Having lunch (or even better WINE) outside on the downtown mall
18. The fact we still have bookSTORES
19. The independent coffee shops
20. The Festival of the Book
21. Pie Fest
22. The VA Film Festival
23. The Chocolate Festival
24. Knowing the name of your mailman
25. Food: specifically tons of amazing local restaurants, local farms and farmers markets and CSAs, most of the population loving local and shunning chains… I don’t know what I’d do without Spudnuts, Bodos, Beer Run, Mas, The Nook, Sticks, Christians, Horse & Buggy, Relay Foods, the Saturday market…all our awesome, awesome local businesses
26. Iconoclastic bagel shops that won’t slice more than 3 bagels per order and will look at you like a space alien if you mention the word “toasted.” 🙂
27. Any given day of the week, half the town is in a coffee shop. Love a bustling morning office
28. Local eggs and other great local groceries
29. Support for entrepreneurs. This town makes most things possible!
30. That despite the first snow of winter there were musicians playing outside at the Downtown Mall
31. Public observation night at UVa observatory
32. Cafe Con Leche from Cafe Cubano

Another reader had a “like,” and a question: “I like the fact that, even in the midst of a traffic jam, it is a custom in Charlottesville to let somebody else merge into the stream of cars from the side, ahead of you. This little piece of civilized, polite behavior makes me feel good about my city. Tell me, is this common elsewhere, or is Charlottesville unique in this feature?”

What do you think?