A Spring Saturday Done Right

Lynchburg’s spring tradition brings plenty of reasons to make a day of it 

#Opinion • 2:01 p.m. April 7, 2026

The first lawnmower passes are already cutting stripes across Moore County. Ball season is firing back up, and the diamonds are alive with chatter. More folks are out on the roadways, trying to work themselves back into shorts-and-T-shirts shape after a winter that stayed a little too long. Spring is not just something the calendar says anymore. It is out in the open now.

By the time Spring in the Hollow gets here, Lynchburg is usually more than ready for it.

Winter has overstayed. Folks are ready to get back outside – ready to circle downtown, run into somebody they have not seen in a spell, and carry home something they never meant to buy in the first place. Spring in the Hollow is not just another date on the calendar. It is one of those days that tells you Lynchburg has turned the corner.

A Saturday that Fills Up Fast

The 30th annual Spring in the Hollow begins at 8 a.m. Saturday, April 25, and this year’s lineup is loaded from the jump. The day will feature local crafters, a plant sale, and a birdhouse auction, along with LES PTO’s Vibin’ in the Hollow 5K and 1-mile color run sponsored by Lake Life Nutrition, the MHS Band silent auction, a Lucky Duck race, and the inaugural Chili Cook Off.

That is plenty for one Saturday, but Spring in the Hollow has never known how to do things halfway.

It is the kind of day that can get away from you in the best possible way. You may show up planning to make one lap and wind up staying until your feet remind you what a bad plan that was.

Maybe it starts at the craft booths.

Maybe it is the plant sale, where somebody talks themselves into one more plant, one more flower, or one more hanging basket they absolutely did not need.

Maybe it is the birdhouse auction, where the bidding has a way of getting lively enough to loosen up a person’s better judgment.

The Old Standbys Still Matter

And while visiting vendors may bring something fresh to town, the brick-and-mortar standbys matter, too. Spring in the Hollow is also a good reason to step inside the businesses that make downtown Lynchburg feel like downtown Lynchburg the other 364 days of the year.

The shops, counters, and storefronts do not need a festival to matter, but when the weather breaks and the sidewalks fill, they know how to rise right along with the day.

That is why it works. It does not feel brought in. It feels like it belongs.

Not Just a Stand-Around Day

It is not just a stand-around day, either. The Vibin’ in the Hollow 5K and 1-mile color run will get the morning moving early, and the MHS Band silent auction gives people a chance to back local students while they are at it. The Lucky Duck race brings the sort of fun small towns still know how to do right, and the inaugural Chili Cook Off has all the makings of something folks will still be talking about after the last pot is scraped out.

That is the mix that keeps people there longer than they meant to stay – shopping, visiting, a little friendly competition, and enough going on that the hours can slide by before anybody realizes what time it is.

A Good Cause Folded In

This year’s event also makes room for something useful.

Through April 30, Friends of Animals is holding a shoe drive and asking people to donate gently used or new shoes instead of throwing them away. Pairs should be tied or rubber-banded together and dropped off at Friends of Animals, Woodards Market & Deli, First Community Bank, Jack Daniel’s Credit Union, Lynchburg Veterinary Hospital, Harley-Davidson on the Square, IBIS, or at the Friends of Animals tent on the Square during Spring in the Hollow.

And that sounds about right. A day like this is rarely just about looking around, grabbing a bite, and visiting for a while. It is also about pitching in. Helping out. Doing one more decent thing while the town is already gathered in one place. A shoe drive folded into Spring in the Hollow does not feel tacked on. It feels like the sort of thing Lynchburg would think to do.

The Kind of Day People Talk About Later

By the end of the day, somebody will head home with a plant in the back seat, chili on the brain, and a birdhouse they had no earthly business bidding on but bought anyway. Somebody else will leave streaked in color-run powder, carrying silent-auction winnings, or already talking about what better be back next year. And more than a few people will walk away wishing they had shown up earlier and stayed longer.

That may be the clearest sign of all.

For a few good hours, the Square will be loud, busy, colorful, and alive – the way a small town looks when it is hitting on all cylinders. And when it is over, the feeling that sticks will not just be that there was plenty to do.

Nobody who comes will regret it. And by the time the offering plate is passed on Sunday morning, anybody who stayed home may be tired of hearing what they missed.