Traci White Photo

While waiting around before a new style of Sunday morning service at Harrisonburg Baptist Church, one member of the congregation decided to take the opportunity to entertain himself by making the pews his personal jungle gym.

As summer starts winding down, the valley has been hosting more festivals and fairs. Going to assignments like these seems kind of like shooting fish in a barrel, but finding unique photos of scenes that are inherently visual is trickier. But, still a lot of fun. The Rockingham County Fair and the Stone Tower Glenn Renaissance Faire were held in the same week:

Sherry Ball, from Yorktown, Va. - better known as Els with the Medieval Fantasies Company - belly dances at the Stone Tower Glenn Renaissance Faire on Saturday. 

Instrumentalists play Renaissance-era melodies arranged for woodwinds.

Rachel Towns (left), 16, from Weyers Cave, and Kirsten Soaper, 16, from Staunton, play an invented game of tossing three rubber balls into the air and catching them in a piece of fabric with the Natural Chimneys rock formation behind them.

Anna Updike (top left), 7, from Dayton, and her cousin, MacRae Richardson, 6, scream as they ride the catepillar roller coaster on Kid's Day at the Rockingham County Fair. 

Heavy rains temporarily sent visitors running for shelter and postponed the tractor pull, but the rides and games were filled as people made their way through puddles at the Rockingham County Fair.

Randy Moosbrugger guides his no. 72 super sportsman lawnmower around a turn on the dirt track in the Harrisonburg Ford Arena.

Howard Meredith churns out huge plumes of smoke as his tractor, "Meredith's Agitator," revs up during the East Coast Tractor Pullers in the Grandstand on Saturday night.

Fans cheer in the stands as black smoke drifts over them during the East Coast Tractor Pullers in the Grandstand on Saturday night at the Rockingham County Fair.

This photo was from an assignment that I seriously doubted would be visual at all. I was being given a tour of a modular home for a story on their sales increasing in spite of the housing crisis. I figured a portrait of the home's owner on the front porch would work pretty well, but I agreed to a quick tour of the inside to look for secondary shots. Kimberly, the home owner, led me down a short hallway to her daughter's bedrooms, and her younger daughter, A'leah, was napping in this green oasis. I was kind of awed, that such a beautiful scene was in this home all along, seemingly waiting for me to find it like a scavenger hunt. 

National Night Out is an evening in the late summer across America for police officers and fire fighters to interact with children, particularly in economically challenged areas, in a positive context. The idea is to show kids that emergency personnel do care about them, and to teach them about safety. And, in some cases, just give them stickers and cake. The first stop on the tour around town was Harris Gardens, and while the teens mainly just played it cool, treating it like any other night in the neighborhood, the younger kids got really, really excited. 

Teens who live in the Harris Gardens neighborhood hang out on the stairs of one of the apartment buildings on National Night Out.

Young teens show off for the camera inside a bouncy castle, inflated for about 10 minutes, in front of an apartment.

A swimming hole in Rockingham County provided a spot for folks to let off some steam as the summer days grow shorter.

I just got back from the land of Nether, where my nerdy and handsome fiancee Elger Abbink lives. I wanted my mother to finally meet his family, so I convinced her to join me on this trip, which was truly wonderful. She took to it very naturally. I always love being there, the profound flatness of the landscapes are a natural backdrop for contrasting ultra-modern and historic architecture, and colors all stand out. This makes my 10th trip, and it keeps getting better every time.

This past week has been equally full of district sports playoff games and bombastic thunderstorms. On Thursday, the boys soccer championship game was delayed and delayed and delayed for two hours until it was finally rescheduled on account of persistent lightning. Everyone else was bored - I kept myself thoroughly entertained.

The Harrisonburg High School boys varsity soccer team reluctantly leaves the field at Broadway due to a lightning delay.

Lightning appears to strike between the goal posts on the football field at Broadway High School.

A red flag marking the edges of the soccer field at Broadway High School is illuminated by storm clouds at sunset.

A member of the Harrisonburg High School girls varsity soccer team prepares to kick the ball into play during a lightning delay.

Members of the Harrisonburg High School girls varsity soccer team play a pick up game.

    In October 2009, Dennis "Chip" Taylor, a Rockingham county firefighter, was murdered along with his wife and youngest daughter. His ex-wife and her new husband are facing charges for the murders. 


     This year, the first Dennis Chip Taylor memorial scholarships were awarded. One went to John Woods, a 19-year-old enrolled in the Massanutten Technical Community College firefighter training program. Woods told our reporter, "Knowing how many lives Chip has touched, I can't express how honored I am to receive the scholarship."


     He's just a good kid, and he called me ma'am. Meeting someone who at such a young age has already committed himself to a life of service was inspirational, especially hearing how appreciative he was of what the scholarship meant.  

John Woods, a student from Broadway, looks up a ladder before climbing it at the Broadway Volunteer Fire Department. 

Woods holds his gloves and helmet after a drill at the Broadway Volunteer Fire Department. 

Woods puts on his heavy flame-retardant gear inside the station before participating in a drill.