Saturday, January 15, 2011
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.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
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.
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.
Friday, December 31, 2010
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.
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.
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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