There is nothing else in Virginia like Charlottesville’s Tom Tom Founders Festival, which launched a week-long series of events yesterday. Food trucks, craft beer, music concerts, an art bus, murals, films in the park, street dancing, a capella performances, craft cocktail competitions, a chili showdown, crowdfunding pitch night, and celebrations of arts, innovation and entrepreneurship — it’s all packed into one week.

The festival, now in its fifth year, “converges hundreds of bands, start-ups, artists, and visionaries with the purpose of celebrating creative founding,” says the Tom Tom website. “It’s a real opportunity to launch ventures amidst ideas and parties in one of America’s most beautiful and historic small cities.”

Charting a future as an arts-infused, tech-savvy economy was the theme of the Founder’s Forum opening event. “Speakers highlighted the importance of creativity as a means to boost Charlottesville’s attractiveness to businesses through education and culture,” reports Charlottesville Today.

“We will not succeed, I think, by trying to become Boulder or Raleigh,” said Mayor Mike Signer. “We will succeed by … becoming more Charlottesville.”

Bacon’s bottom line: The festival sounds like so much fun I wish I could be there. I’m envious — I want one in Richmond! Any region that can tap into the energy at the intersection of the arts, technology and entrepreneurship will thrive in today’s economy.

When I graduated from the University of Virginia in 1975, my experience at the university was so positive that I wanted nothing more than to move back to Charlottesville. At the age of 30 I managed to do so, taking a job in corporate communications for AMVEST Corporation in an idyllic location five minutes from UVa in the Boar’s Head Inn complex. But I discovered to my dismay that unless a newcomer was connected to UVa or had the bucks to join the Farmington Country Club, Charlottesville was no city for young professionals. It wasn’t long before I moved to Richmond, which I found much more to my liking. But times have changed in the past 30 years. Charlottesville looks like the kind of city where young professionals can sink roots and prosper. I foresee a great future for the region.

— JAB