Lynchburg Neighborhood Billy Hansen
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- Society & Culture
A podcast about the Lynchburg neighborhood, its people, and its history. By getting to know our neighbors and hearing their stories, we can feel more connected to this place. By learning this area's backstory, we can better understand how Lynchburg works, how it has changed, and where it may be headed.
Billy Hansen is a commercial real estate broker, appraiser, writer, and teacher in Lynchburg, Virginia.
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Episode 29: Funeral Flowers + The Last Round
In this episode, we have a special guest appearance from the Farmer of Mimosa Hill to talk funeral flowers before we hear the story of The Last Round, which was first told fifteen years ago at my father's funeral.
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Episode 28: HopeX + The Story of Two Boys
The story of how two boys born 50 years apart became dear friends. This story was told live at the HopeX storytelling event hosted by Lynchburg Beacon of Hope at the Academy Center of the Arts in downtown Lynchburg in March 2024.
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Episode 27: Laura Hamilton + Beacon of Hope
In this conversation with Laura Hamilton, we learn what it was like growing up as a city manager's kid, how she got from Nebraska to Virginia, her public policy work in the Clinton administration right out of college, her work as executive director of Lynchburg Beacon Of Hope, the backstory on their HopeX storytelling event, and a deep dive into Beacon's history and their ambitious mission to provide support, opportunity, and hope to students of all ages in our community.
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Episode 26: Deb Smith + Jones Memorial Library
"Library history is community history." In this conversation with Deb Smith, we learn about her work as executive director of the Jones Memorial Library in Lynchburg, Virginia, take a deep dive into the library's founding, early history, and the characters that shaped what it became, and explore the important discoveries still being made in the Jones archives to this day.
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Episode 25: Beau Wright
In this conversation with Beau Wright, we talk about his experience on Lynchburg City Council, how he thinks through the challenges facing Lynchburg, where he sees opportunities, why he is running again for an at-large seat, and reflections on his time in the White House.
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Episode 24: Shelley Blades + Lynchburg Grows
In this episode, I sit down with Shelley Blades, the farm manager and executive director of Lynchburg Grows, to hear the story of their farm and the work that they do. Lynchburg Grows has taken an abandoned, seven-acre rose farm right in the middle of our city and transformed it into a thriving urban farm with a mission to provide access to fresh, local produce and purposeful jobs to individuals with disabilities. In our conversation, we talk about how Shelley ended up in farming and in Lynchburg, the people who have helped her along the way, her fondness for radishes, what she's noticed from tending the same soil for several seasons, and what she loves about the work.