It’s not every day a city council meeting features a quote from The Notorious B.I.G.
Last Tuesday was such an occasion as Danville City Councilmember Lee Vogler quoted the emcee’s “Juicy,” near the end of the meeting, saying, “if you don’t know, now you know.”
Vogler’s reference wasn’t without purpose as he was highlighting the city’s inclusion in the latest issue of Virginia Living.
The glossy, bi-monthly regional lifestyle magazine focusing on everything Virginia, made a stop in the River City and the stay resulted in an article highlighting the region’s reinvention.
The nearly 2,000-word article looked at the city’s resurgence through the eyes of art, hospitality and leisure, highlighting everything from Rick Barker’s initial downtown investment to how he and his wife, Kristen, have been influenced by their love of art, dance and music to Caesars Virginia and its performers to the coziness and uniqueness of The Bee and Holbrook boutique hotels to Danville restaurants Crema & Vine, King Cropp Kitchen, The Schoolfield Restaurant to Moon River Thai to Joyce Wilburn’s history tours to Virginia International Raceway to Old West End and Millionaires Row to Ballad Brewing and 2 Witches Brewery to the Riverwalk Trail to the Science Museum.
Councilmember Dr. Gary Miller mentioned seeing the magazine at one of the state’s biggest rest stops located off Interstate 81 on his way back from visiting his kids in Nashville, Tennessee, over the holiday break. That wasn’t the only piece of River City swag Miller saw, though.
“I stopped at the visitor center on 81 and got out to look to see if they had stuff out on Danville and they had pamphlets from Visit SoSi, it was really neat,” Miller said.
He also recalled talking to rest stop and tourism managers about Danville to find out how much they enjoyed a recent stay there.
“They told me they went on a civil rights tour, went to all the restaurants and they talked about how much they loved Danville and their trip,” Miller recalled before shouting out City of Danville Tourism Manager Lisa Meriwether and her staff for their efforts and hospitality.
Danville Vice-Mayor echoed Miller’s sentiments.
“You can see the stakeholders in this city have really taken the bull by the horns and helped transform this city into what it needs to look like in the future,” Buckner said. “It’s absolutely incredible the things Visit SoSi is doing, Lisa Meriwether and her team, all the city employees, they wake up and strive every single day to make this city a better place by trying to do right by the citizens.”
The mention of the article led to Vogler’s Biggie reference.
“I got a call the other from somebody in Virginia politics and they were raving about how good we’re doing in Danville,” Vogler said. “If you take a look at places similar to us, where we were at 12, 15 years ago, they’re not in the same position we are today. Crime is at a record low, investment is at record highs, it’s a great time to be in Danville, Virginia, so if you don’t know, now you know.”
At council’s last meeting in December of last year, Mayor Alonzo Jones mentioned the plethora of awards, numbered at 30, the city won in 2025. Buckner piggybacked off Jones’ words, mentioning the grand achievement before crediting the camaraderie, cohesiveness and like-mindedness that made it all happen.
“That doesn’t happen by accident,” Buckner said. “That happens by a lot of like-minded people working together for a common goal. This city council, several years ago, set forth a strategy, a plan, and we have not veered from that plan and I can’t tell you guys how proud I am of the work we’ve done and the work we’re going to continue to do together to make Danville a better place to live, work and play.”
Twenty-twenty-five brought the first-year anniversary of Caesars Virginia Casino, the opening of Dan River Falls, the full accreditation of all schools, the opening of Arnett Hills Elementary, Southside Virginia being named the fastest growing tourism destination in the commonwealth, major capital improvements to George Washington High School and John M. Langston High School, the inclusion of workforce programs in the city school systems to name a few.
Read the original article here (Davin Wilson, Chatham Star Tribune)