Join us for a thrilling afternoon of Harry Potter-inspired trivia as we take you on a journey from 4 Privet Drive through Diagon Alley to the magical world of Hogwarts!

We’ll have great prizes and giveaways throughout the afternoon! Dress up as your favorite character from the Potter books (or films) to win a grand prize!

Brightwood (Brenda Bowen Cox, Mimi Vidaver-Davis, and Tes Slominski) are a Charlottesville-based trio of Irish musicians who delight in performing for audiences of all ages. With carefully crafted instrumental music on Celtic harp, Irish flute, and fiddle—and the occasional interlude of Irish and Cape Breton step dance!—Brightwood is passionate about the music of Ireland and its neighbors. Each member of the trio brings decades of experience. Brenda is a highly regarded harp player in the southeastern United States and in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, where she spends several months every year. Mimi is an experienced Irish and Cape Breton step dancer and teacher in addition to her prowess on the Irish flute and tin whistle. Tes co-founded the Blue Ridge Irish Music School (BRIMS) in 1999 and went on to receive a Ph.D. in Music. All three members of Brightwood teach at the Blue Ridge Irish Music School and can be seen performing throughout Central Virginia.

Halloween began as an ancient Celtic fire festival called Samhuinn (pronounced "sow-in"), celebrated over 2,000 years ago. Marking the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter, Samhuinn was a time when the Celts believed the veil between the living and the dead was at its thinnest. Bonfires were lit, costumes were worn to ward off spirits, and offerings were made to appease the otherworldly beings.

Join us for our 5th Annual Samhuinn celebration as we honor our ancestors by carrying on this ancient tradition. Tickets available here.

Open to all ages, this year's Samhuinn celebration will feature:

Music and Dance

• Albemarle Pipes and Drums 2PM (confirmed)

• Community Ceili called by Lori Madden, BRIMS 3PM

• The Donnybrooks 330-630PM (confirmed)

• House of Hamill 7-9PM (confirmed)

• Samhuinn Procession & Ceremony 9-10PM (confirmed)

Making, Magic, & Learning

• Pumpkin Carving Contest

• Tarot Readings and Samhuinn Ceremony With Meg Madden (confirmed)

• Fairy House Workshop w Elizabeth Culbertson (confirmed)

• Harvest Crown Workshop with Wayflowering (confirmed)

• Viking Living History (invited)

• Historical European Longsword Lessons & Live Combat Demonstration (confirmed)

• Herbalism with the Elderberry

• Gothic Art Gallery x Kailey Reid

Feasting and Drinking

• Mead x Thistlerock & Special Guests

• Craft Beer (Guest Vendor, TBC)

• Fire-Cooked Feast

SugarBelt is an Annual ALL-YOU-CAN-DRINK Mead Festival hosted by our friends at Funktastic Meads and The Answer Brewpub. The Thistlerock team will be serving several of our estate meads at this year’s Sugarbelt event in Richmond so don’t miss out!

Tickets are required but can be purchased here.

Location: The Answer Brewpub, 6008 West Broad Street Richmond, VA 23230

Gordonsville is famous for its fried chicken, which was served to passengers of trains stopping in town during the late 19th and early 20th centuries by local women carrying platters of the delicacy on their heads. Nationally-known at that time, Gordonsville’s fried chicken earned the town the nickname of “chicken-leg center of the universe”.

To celebrate this special heritage, the Town of Gordonsville will hold its Famous Fried Chicken Festival on Saturday, October 7, 2023 from 11 am –  5 pm at the Gordonsville Fire Company Fair Grounds. The event will feature a fried chicken and pie contest, wine (AND MEAD) garden, and numerous craft and artisan vendors.

Free to attend!
More Details: https://www.townofgordonsville.org/events/index.php

Our partners at the Community Climate Collaborative are hosting this free community event once again to recognize climate leadership and success right here in Charlottesville!

Join us on Friday, October 6, at IX Art Park from 5:30 p.m.-8 p.m. to celebrate Charlottesville’s progress toward becoming a healthy, clean, climate-conscious community.  Thistlerock will of course be on site pouring our net-zero meads!

Invite your friends and family to come enjoy local food trucks, live music by Vibe Riot, prizes, and much more. You’ll also have a chance to learn more about other local organizations that are pushing for climate action and how you can get involved.

Freddy Jackson, founder of LoveNoEgo, will be our emcee for the night!

Where: IX Art Park, 522 2nd St SE, Charlottesville, VA 22902

Travel to Middle Earth for an afternoon celebrating Bilbo Baggins’ 111th Birthday!

We’re journeying into the mind, life and work of J.R.R Tolkien as we celebrate the lore of hobbits, wizards, elves, and all things Middle-earth. Dive deep into riveting questions spanning "The Lord of the Rings," "The Hobbit," and the rich mythology crafted by Tolkien himself. 

There will be winners, prizes, and very much merriment. Hobbit attire optional.

Get ready for an unforgettable afternoon of Tolkien Trivia with our friends at Tagteam Entertainment!

Siempre Puente was founded in Córdoba, Argentina in 2018 by Franco Martino and Sol Vidales Beduchaud, based in Buenos Aires, currently traveling in North America. The band’s name comes from the concept of “forever” (Siempre) being a “Bridge” (Puente), something that connects people amongst and within ourselves.

Franco Martino is a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and music producer. He is the guitarist of the Grammy-nominated band Che Apalache.  Sol is an astrologer, writer, singer and songwriter. They both work together writing and recording songs that cross different rhythms and styles of music, sharing a diverse taste of folk music from all over the world, especially music from Argentina, South America and the Appalachian region.

On the performance side, while traveling, they present themselves as an acoustic duet and during the show the audience is invited to a journey across different folklores and stories.

Siempre Puente has released many songs and their latest release album was “Historias de un embarque” (2021).

Franco and Sol have been lately traveling around the Appalachian mountains and filling themselves with inspiration and stories that today color the upcoming album (“Se Abre al Cerrar” translated as “Opens when Closed”) that’s going to be released this September 1st.

TICKETS ARE AVAILABLE HERE

Siempre Puente’s website

Interested in hosting your wedding ceremony or rehearsal dinner amidst thousands of blooms? It would be our honor to help you celebrate one of life’s greatest moments. There’s also deep traditions across many cultures of celebrating weddings with mead! Whether right or wrong, many believe that mead has close ties to the post-marriage celebration and is the reason we have the term “Honeymoon” to this day.

Within many cultures including Welsh, German and Scandinavian mead was often consumed during the wedding celebration as a toast to the bride and groom. After the wedding the couple was given enough mead to continue the toasting for one month following the wedding, or one cycle of the moon – hence the term “honeymoon” – One month of honey wine.

Not only was mead great for toasting and celebrating, it was also considered an aphrodisiac and was said to increase fertility and virility. What more do you need on a honeymoon? It was believed that by drinking mead for that first month, the bride would become fruitful and a child would be born within the year. Often, the groom filled with his fair share of Mead, was carried to the bedside of his bride. If nine months later, a baby was born, credit was given to the Mead.

So if you are getting married, grab a generous supply of mead and celebrate the history of the occasion!

Known as “The Blue Ridge Bard,” Matthew O'Donnell is a singer, multi-instrumentalist and performer of traditional Celtic music based in Charlottesville, Virginia, USA, sharing songs and tunes for all people and all places.

An experienced practitioner of the classic pub singer’s trade, Matthew brings a modern energy to traditional drinking songs, sea shanties, Irish jigs & reels, timeless folk favorites and original songs. A typical live show sees Matthew switching between the accordion, bouzouki, cittern, guitar, banjo, fiddle, bodhran and tin whistle as he roars out singable choruses to the rhythm of kick drum and tambourine (played with his feet).

Matthew’s familiarity with a wide range of musical styles allows him to mix flavors of rock, pop, country and jazz music as side dishes to the main course of traditional folk music. Matthew’s expansive repertoire of 1,000+ songs & instrumental tunes, and penchant for variety, ensures that no two shows are ever quite alike. Matthew treats every performance, be it for 10 or 10,000, as a warm gathering of close friends, full of humor, storytelling, interaction, camaraderie, optimism and tenderness, and Matthew invites all who might hear to rediscover the joys of social music and communal singing.

Admission to this concert is free of charge.

Friday, April 12, 2024

5:00 PM 8:30 PM

Eastwood Farm and Winery 2531 Scottsville Road Charlottesville, VA, 22902 United States (map)

Matt Johnson is a 32 year old singer song-writer from central Virginia. With inspirations like Stevie Wonder, Elton John, Alicia Keys, Dave Matthews Band, and more, Matt delivers eclectic performances with a ton of heart and soul. He’s known around the state for his cross genre, cross decade shows with his keyboard. Matt was also a finalist on NBC’s THE VOICE Season 15 where Team Jennifer Hudson selected him as one of the Top 48 vocalists of 50,000 performers nationwide. Don’t miss him!