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.
Friday, December 31, 2010
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
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
http://shitthatpissesmeoff-huckleberry.blogspot.com/2010/12/signs-that-inform-you-about-signs.html
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Fincastle Christmas Parade, how did it turn out?
The parade was greeted by a nice snowfall this year. Not enough to effect the events but enough to make it look great and get everyone in the Christmas Spirit.
Interestingly enough, the Grand Marshall of the Parade was Voldemort...wait I mean Mayor Critzer, who has more than a passing resemblance to the evil one both in appearance and demeanor. I guess the barrel has been completely scraped!
The parade got stuck at the return to Main St. per my prediction. The delay seemed to last longer than usual but was eventually worked out. There was a Jeep Club and Corvette Club in the parade as well as the usual groups.
We had libations, food, and good fellowship while we watched and joked and talked with the participants.
A good time was had by all.
Interestingly enough, the Grand Marshall of the Parade was Voldemort...wait I mean Mayor Critzer, who has more than a passing resemblance to the evil one both in appearance and demeanor. I guess the barrel has been completely scraped!
The parade got stuck at the return to Main St. per my prediction. The delay seemed to last longer than usual but was eventually worked out. There was a Jeep Club and Corvette Club in the parade as well as the usual groups.
We had libations, food, and good fellowship while we watched and joked and talked with the participants.
A good time was had by all.
Friday, December 3, 2010
Fincastle Christmas Parade, the real story.
Fincastle Virginia will have their annual Christmas parade on Saturday December 4th at 2pm. The line up is at 1pm at Breckenridge Elementary School. If you are running late to the lineup, you need to come in the back way from Springwood or the back road to the middle school or you will not be able to get to Breckenridge.
The Parade traditionally consists of lots of fire trucks, ambulances and church floats. There are also some cute kids groups that march or have floats, look for the Fincastle Preschool float...it will be the one with the parents completely surrounding it to the point that you can't really see the kids. It happens every year, kind of funny, guess we did it a couple of years ourselves, long ago.
The parade comes into town from the school turns on Main St. then turns onto Church St. From there it proceeds up to Academy St. and over to Roanoke St. where it heads back to main. Every year, when it heads back down main, it meets the tail end of the parade at Church St. The parade then stops until someone figures out it's stuck and walks backwards down the route telling all the participants to close ranks until the parade can continue. Not too sure why no one else seems to remember this year to year to attempt to fix the problem.
One other thing to watch for is every couple of years a new entry with a tractor trailer will fail to make the turn from Main to Church St. There is a strategically located telephone pole that has seen damages ranging from rubs to complete removal. A bonus to watching in that area is that you get to see the parade twice! The judges traditionally sit in front of the old Baptist Church, now a residence.
There are usually some folks selling hot chocolate and so forth along the parade route and this year Charades Nostalgia Grill is supposed to open for the parade.
Afterwards, Santa shows up at the school to take orders from the local children.
The Parade traditionally consists of lots of fire trucks, ambulances and church floats. There are also some cute kids groups that march or have floats, look for the Fincastle Preschool float...it will be the one with the parents completely surrounding it to the point that you can't really see the kids. It happens every year, kind of funny, guess we did it a couple of years ourselves, long ago.
The parade comes into town from the school turns on Main St. then turns onto Church St. From there it proceeds up to Academy St. and over to Roanoke St. where it heads back to main. Every year, when it heads back down main, it meets the tail end of the parade at Church St. The parade then stops until someone figures out it's stuck and walks backwards down the route telling all the participants to close ranks until the parade can continue. Not too sure why no one else seems to remember this year to year to attempt to fix the problem.
One other thing to watch for is every couple of years a new entry with a tractor trailer will fail to make the turn from Main to Church St. There is a strategically located telephone pole that has seen damages ranging from rubs to complete removal. A bonus to watching in that area is that you get to see the parade twice! The judges traditionally sit in front of the old Baptist Church, now a residence.
There are usually some folks selling hot chocolate and so forth along the parade route and this year Charades Nostalgia Grill is supposed to open for the parade.
Afterwards, Santa shows up at the school to take orders from the local children.
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