What is going on in Fincastle?

I recently had a new resident of Fincastle tell me they were always finding out about events in the town after they occured.  I am not sure why there is no information available on the internet about Fincastle events.  I will attempt to list the main annual happenings here:

 January

Fincastle Community Twelfth Night Charity Concert will be
8th held on Saturday, January 8, 2011 at 7 p.m. at Attic Productions
Theater. The Twelfth Night Charity presents a concert of free
family entertainment for the entire community. This year’s
performers will feature nationally known Blue Highway, an
influential group in contemporary bluegrass. Admission is free
although tickets are required due to limited seating. Attendees are
asked to make cash and/or food donations at the concert. These
gifts will go to support the Botetourt Food Panty and the Botetourt
County Social Services’ Fuel Assistance Program.

1st - 10th Christmas lights come down sometime after or on new years day...not sure who sets that up.

14th 17th County offices closed for Lee Jackson and Martin Luther King days.

February

2nd Groundhog day, no event
14th Valentines day sometimes local churches or other civic groups have Valentine Day Dinner nothing showing up on the internet yet.
21st Presidents day Government closed, the rest of us work.

March

8th Fat Tuesday, some local parties no events listed
9th Ash Wednesday Catholic Church and Methodist church used to have a joint meeting and put ashes on their foreheads...not sure if that still happens.
Daylight Savings time 14th
17th St Patrick's day local parties no events.


April

1st April Fool's Day or Government decision day as I like to call it.
17th Palm Sunday, several churches meet at the courthouse then process through the town to services...starts at 10:30
22nd Good Friday Government likely closes since they rarely work.
23rd Saturday before Easter various churches have easter egg hunts and programs

24th Easter

May

5th Cinco de Mayo various local parties and event at Mexican Rest. In Daleville.
8th Mothers Day Churches have special services, everyone in the world goes out to eat.
30st Memorial day, no one in Fincastle cares about the veterans...no event

June

14th Flag Day sparadic flags flying around town.
19th Father's Day the town still doesn't care...no event
21 First day of Summer and Huckleberry's Birthday Summer Solstice no event but everyone should go to Natural Bridge and hang out at Foamhenge!

July

4th Fireworks at Breckinridge Elementary School, no real other activity, historically there were games, bands, food, and other events.  It is actually a pretty good fireworks show. You can sit very close to the action, just pay attention, sometimes they come into the crowd.

August

Everyones on vacation, no events
School sometimes starts during August.

September

5th Labor day, the town doesn't like laborers either...no event.

October

10th Columbus day, you guessed it Government off again, we work.
15th Annual Bank of Fincastle 5k/10k, this one is a big surprise to most newcomers since they close the roads for two hours on a Saturday morning and you can't get in or out or through town. Great event for the kids 500 to 1000 participants!
31st Halloween parade and candy exchange, bring an unopened bag of candy, parade up and down the street in costume, then get candy back. A good time is had by all. Trick or treating around town is also occurs.  If you live in town and are home...have 200 peices of candy or more.

November

11th Veterans Day, another Govt holiday no event.
24th Thanksgiving, some years there are dinner events for single, but nothing in the last few years.

December

22nd Winter Solstice...Foamhenge!
24th Community Christmas Service rotates between three churches.
25h Christmas, sometimes Christmas services.
31st, New Years Eve, big event at Courthouse Corner, Bells in churches and courthouse rung, people in the streets public drinking ignored, new year rung in. Must see if you are a resident.

Comment if you  want me to add events.

No water in Fincastle this morning? Who screwed up?

The water was out so I rode around and saw no leaks or crews working. I did see a water authority truck and then it came back on. Wasn't cold enough to freeze the system.

Perhaps while we were all working Friday and many of us on Monday, our water workers got a four day weekend! They forgot to check the pumps and the old tank ran dry. Anyone want to bet me that they got double time to fix their own error?

Don't you just love government efficiency?

Is the Fincastle Town Manager on the job yet?

I just noticed that many flags were at half mast for the tragety in Arizona, but not the town office flag.  Were we not concerned or was it an oversight?

It sure was quiet in Fincastle on Friday!

Plenty of parking places, no one wandering about town for hours getting the mail. Why? Lee Jackson day is a paid holiday for our local government employees.  Anyone else get that?  The bank was open.  The post office was open.  All the stores were open.  Strange that Botetourt county employees got a paid holiday.  No wonder the county is always tryng to increase our real estate taxes and fees.  They need all that money so they can take extra days off.

New Years Celebration Recap.

Downtown Fincastle was once again alive with celebration at midnight last night!  The crowd looked to be around 100 people.  I've seen anywhere from 50 to 500 people crowded onto the corner in the last 25 or so years we have been around. 

This year continued the trend of fewer people that has been occurring over the last several years.  I think that Drunk Driving enforcement as well as a reduction in the number parties in town has caused the drop in attendance.  Many of the folks who used to have big new years parties has passed on.  The Club on Roanoke St. is now owned by a church so there are no longer parties there.  I didn't notice if the Boltons Store location had an event, but that was another traditional location for parties on new years. 

Another reason is the lack of any type of advance notice to folks in the area about what is going on in Fincastle.  The attitude of many people is that newcomers should automatically know what is going on or perhaps they feel like it should be a private party for those "in the know".

I forgot to mention in yesterday's post that the ringing of the bells in the various locations is a tradition passed down from family member to family member.  Each church has a family that has taken on the responsibility of being there every year to make sure the bells ring.  This tradition has gone on for many years...I don't really know how many but I do know that three or four generations in some families have rung the bells.  The Baptist church is in private hands so they could be ringing or perhaps letting whoever the Baptist family ringers ring.

That might be a good article later about who's doing it now.

New Years Eve in Fincastle

Fincastle has an interesting way of ringing in the new year.  Actually, they do "ring" in the new year!

There are four churches and the courthouse with bell towers that ring the village.  Folks go up in each of the towers and as the new year approaches, they ring the bell in each tower one by one every 12 seconds or so.  It goes in the same order until the stroke of midnight when the bell on the courthouse rings out the old year.

This year the ring pattern will be:
2    two rings
0    ten rings
1    one ring
10  ten rings

Then they will play taps and ring in the new year:
2    two rings
0    ten rings
1    one ring
1    one ring

The crowd usually gets a little antsy during this and doesn't pay proper attention to the details.

Next a guy fires off a shotgun and all the bells at all the places ring for 15 minutes or so.  sometimes there are fireworks as well, just a couple of blasts to bring in the new year.  This all happens a block from the sheriffs office so the pyrotecnics need to be discreet or hit and run.

Beverages people carry to the corner are ignored for the most part by the local constabulary, I've never seen anyone arrested at the event.

Latest Sign Alert for Fincastle!

Post about the new signs warning us about a sign in Fincastle.

http://shitthatpissesmeoff-huckleberry.blogspot.com/2010/12/signs-that-inform-you-about-signs.html