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Record crowd comes out for Rocky Mount Fest
JASON DUNOVANT
The Roanoke Times
Record crowds came out for live music along Franklin Street in
downtown Rocky Mount on Saturday. Attendance was the largest in the
event's four-year history at 22,500 people.
Courtesy, Town of Rocky Mount
A record 22,500 people were in attendance for the fourth annual Rocky Mount Fest held along a jam-packed Franklin Street in downtown on Saturday.Â
Crowd size has grown each year for the event since it was first started in 2023 as 150Fest celebrating Rocky Mount's 150th anniversary. That first year more than 15,000 attended, growing to 18,000 the following year and 19,500 last year.Â
The totals were provided by Mayor Holland Perdue in a Facebook post on Tuesday. He said in the post that restaurants and vendors reported record sales during the day with thousands visiting local businesses during the event downtown.Â
NAACP luncheon to honor storied Franklin County native
JASON DUNOVANT
The Roanoke Times
The Franklin County NAACP will be hosting a Freedom Fund Luncheon this Saturday honoring community activist and county native Adam Clayton Powell Sr.Â
Powell was born in Franklin County in 1865 before moving with his family to West Virginia. He later attended Wayland Seminary in Washington, D.C., where he pursued a religious education toward becoming a pastor.Â
Powell pastored churches in Philadelphia and New York. He was also an activist who was a member of the NAACP and founder of the National Urban League.Â
His son, Adam Clayton Powell Jr., later became New York's first Black representative in the U.S. Congress.Â
Journalist Adam Clayton Powell III will be the emcee for Saturday's luncheon. The Rev. John Kinney, dean of Virginia Union University's School of Theology, will also be a guest speaker.Â
The luncheon will be held at the Pigg River Community Center at 12 noon on Saturday. Tickets are $25 for adults and $15 for students.Â
Virginia panel targets school, job gaps for boys and men
DAVE RESS
Richmond Times-Dispatch
The General Assembly’s panel on the needs of Virginia boys and men is calling for action to address lagging progress for boys and men in schools and workplaces.
The Virginia Boys and Men Advisory Commission, authorized earlier this year, is charged with evaluating state policies, laws and programs that affect boys and men.
The commission is calling on the state to set gender-specific progress targets to raise boys’ reading levels by a set date.
It said the state should identify schools where boys’ reading levels have improved or declined and identify schools’ practices associated with those trends.
The commission called for state grants to support programs that boost boys’ reading levels.
It called for state grants to encourage schools to hire male teachers.
The commission is asking the governor to require the state Department of Education to publish an annual report tracking the number of male teachers and the number of military veterans employed as teachers.
It called for funding to expand efforts to connect Virginians on probation or parole with career opportunities.
The commission called on community colleges to expand job credentialing programs and wants them and the Virginia Board of Workforce Development to find ways to bring more men into nursing and other healthcare jobs.
It said the state should expand dual enrollment high school-community college programs to include specific paths into teaching, healthcare and advanced manufacturing, with such programs starting in ninth grade.
In addition, it wants the Department of Education to publish results of the Student Vocations Assessments that schools give to 14-year-olds, broken down by gender, to gauge interest in teaching and other fields.
The commission reported that fourth-grade boys' average National Assessment of Educational Progress score is 208, versus 221 for girls and that it has been falling more steeply over the past decade.
More fourth-grade boys than girls are reading below the national assessment's "basic" reading level: 48% versus 34%.
Boys are more inclined to drop out of school, 6% of high school boys do, versus 4% of girls, the commission reported.
Males account for just 44% of college and university enrollment in Virginia, the commission said, when single-sex schools are excluded.
At colleges serving first-generation students and those from disadvantaged communities, the percentages are still lower: 36% at community colleges serving Southside and Southwest Virginia and 34% at Norfolk State University, the commission reported.
While men account for all individuals enrolled in apprenticeships for transportation and warehousing, waste management, farming, real estate and hospitality, they account for only 23% of programs for healthcare and social services, 24% of programs for retail jobs and 39% of teaching programs, the commission reported.
Reporter Dave Ress talks about the business of politics, Friday, July 24, 2026.
Community
Top Story
Furry Friends
In need of a forever home: Avatar and Rally
Updated
Avatar, domestic short hair
Rally, Labrador retriever mix
Avatar, domestic short hair
Avatar is a 6-month-old tabby and white girl. She has the prettiest markings of yellow, gray and brown tabby and white. This little lady has been through a lot in a short amount of time. A staff favorite, Avatar is hoping to find a loving, indoor-only home where she can live in the lap of luxury with her people. She is equal parts silly and sweet and is always able to find a toy to play with or a lap to curl up in. Avatar is spayed, vaccinated, microchipped and house trained.
Rally, Labrador retriever mix
Rally is a 1-year-old sassy girl who loves to play with other dogs. She has weak back legs, but that doesn't keep her from playtime. She's happy to scoot along if her legs do give out. When she doesn't get the attention she thinks she deserves, Rally isn't shy about asking her people for more. She's currently in foster care where she's learning manners and new tricks. She's spayed, vaccinated, microchipped and house trained.
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