sounds & sights of summer

a season of great celebrations

By collette caprara

By the delight and exuberance of folks who hailed in the first events of this year's Sounds and Sights of Summer, this is going to be a season of great celebration.

The buzz and laughter of hundreds of delighted families, couples, and friends who strolled the streets drifted through the night air on June's First Friday, as the Free Trolley ridership soared. The pulsebeat of joy continued as Seth Casana's rambunctious walking disco pulsated through the streets and joined a host of buskers stationed along Caroline Street, including the longstanding wildly popular warblers, Peter Mealy and Laurie Rose Griffith whose voices floated out to the crowd from their spot in front of the Visitor's Center. Meanwhile, singer/songwriter Karen Jonas and guitarist Tim Bray kicked off the first of the Sounds of Summer Concerts hosted by the Fredericksburg Area Museum in Market Square to the delight of all.

On Saturday, crowds again filled the streets of the Burg to explore the vintage cars displayed along three blocks of Caroline Street for the 65th Annual Antique Auto show. Buddies peered under the yawning hoods of the classic cars to

inspect the shiny mint-conditioned engines and parts that makes things go, while some of the lady-folk thought about what life must have been at the time of those Model T's and reminisced about family outings taken in those friendly smiley sedans or the big-finned convertibles that once paraded their stuff on the streets. I thought about my high-school friends who once owned a 1950s Packard and 1960s MG. Meanwhile, a grandfather was trying to explain the snack tray affixed to the outside of a Chevy car window, saying, "No, it wasn't exactly a drive-through window." And I remembered my days as a carhop at an A&W rootbeer stand. And, as a staunch fan of road maps, as opposed to the one-turn-at-a-time GPS systems, I was pleased to meet a genuine old-time service attendant at the auto show who had a pocketful! On Monday, an excited crowd gathered in front of the Fredericksburg library for the launch of this year's Music on the Steps concert series, featuring none other than the cheereliciting loveable antics and delightful sounds of the Elby Brass Band. Brought to their feet by the irresistible beat, 60ssomething folks were clearly transformed in time to their smooth dance moves of yesteryear, while the indefatigable young'uns flailed their limbs and jumped up and down ceaselessly, and music crossed all boundaries of age or background.

O n

Tuesday, friends, families, seniors, kids, and preschoolers gathered at Memorial Park on their blankets and lawn chairs to enjoy a picnic, a performance by Karen Jonas, and each other. A g a i n , attendance for this Picnic in the Park lunch concert seemed record-breaking, as families picked up freebies and enjoyed activities provided by FXBG Parks and Rec and a host of local organizations. One crew of industrious elementary-schoolaged children organized themselves into a virtual construction crew, gathering pine needles and twigs to build a lean-to shelter attached to a tree trunk. I had a feeling this joy-filled crowd would linger even after the last note of the concert.

Yes, it was a fun-filled, uplifting weekend of the launch of the sounds and sights of summer. The delight was palpable and best expressed by the audacious, celebratory, cheer-along song of Elby Brass Band: "DTF! DTF! Downtown Fredericksburg!!!!"

Collette Caprara is a local writer and artist with Brush Strokes Gallery.

Check Calendar for July Events, Activities, & Concerts

BEGINS IN JUNE

ON THE PORCH

Tom Conway Guest Porch Editorial

Contributing Writers & Artists

Rita Allan Sally Cooney Anderson Amy Bayne Laurie Black Dianne Bachman Sonja Cantu Tom Conway Collette Caprara Janet Douberly Jenna Elizabeth Edwards Em Ford Frank Fratoe Bill Freehling Jennifer Galvin Jon Gerlach Daniel Gillison Marcia Grimsley Ralph “Tuffy” Hicks David C. Kennedy Lenora Kruk-Mullanaphy Anne-Tilley Melson Ray Mikula Vanessa Moncure Laura Moyer Pete Morelewicz Patrick Neustatter Brigid O’Leary Gerri Reid Paula Raudenbush Rob Rudick Paul T. Scott Mandy Smith Rim Vining Eddie Vernon Tina Will Norma Woodward

Front Porch Fredericksburg is a free circulation magazine published monthly by Olde Towne Publishing Co. Virginia Bigenwald Grogan, Publisher.

The mission of Front Porch Fredericksburg is to connect the diverse citizenry of Fredericksburg with lively features and informative columns of interest to our community’s greatest resource, its people.

Messages from our readers are welcome. All article submissions must be received by e-mail by the 16th & calendar items the 19th of the month preceding publication.

Writers / Artists / Photographers are welcome to request Guidelines and query the Publisher by e-mail.

it’s not just a river...

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Copyright 2022 Front Porch Fredericksburg Magazine All rights reserved.

by tom conway

... It's Literally in Our Blood the Rappahannock.

Three hundred years ago, when George Washington was growing up a half dollar's throw from Fredericksburg, life revolved around the river. Everything that moved in or out of Fredericksburg, for the most part, traveled via the Rappahannock.

By the mid-1800s, that began to change. Transportation options, in the form of improved roads and trains, improved drastically, so the Rappahannock Canal, which was originally constructed to move the goods and materials upstream, was converted to providing fastrunning water to turn millwheels for textile making and grain processing. By the early 20th century, the primary use of that running water became generating electrical power for the city from the Embrey Power Plant, which still stands, derelict and ghostly, on the banks of the river at the northern end of town.

But as other forms of energy became more readily available and cars and highways became the dominant modes of shipping and transportation, the river ceased to be as vital to the city. "The city turned its back on the river," said Tippett. The focus, instead, was directed to Route 1, which for much of the 20th century entered town from the north along Princess Anne Street and exited along Lafayette Boulevard on its way to Richmond. It brought a steady flow of tourists through downtown, who often stayed to take in the colonial and Civil War history. Hotels, restaurants, gas stations, and shops were created to serve the tourists. Meanwhile, people from the surrounding area, with no Spotsylvania Towne Center or Central Park to rely on, came to Fredericksburg to do their shopping. All of the major retailers were located downtown, including J. C. Penney, Sears, Peoples Drug, Montgomery Ward, Woolworth, A&P, and Safeway. By the 1980's, though, the Route 1 bypass and I-95 had moved traffic away from the city. All of the big businesses relocated to places accessible mainly by car. The neglected river flowed silently through a sleepy, quiet, somewhat empty city.

The text from my friend John came at 5:25 pm on Thursday night.

"Hey, Tom, I'm going tubing @ 6 or 6:30. Would you like to join me?"

My first thought: "Seriously? Are you nuts? That's only an hour from now."

The thing is, I didn't have anything pressing to do, so within an hour I was floating gently down the river, cool water on my back, the sun shining down on my face, the sparkling water guiding me over small rapids and past rocks, and the geese watching curiously as I glided by. I wondered: "Why don't I do this more often?"

Recently, it seems like the whole city is having that same realization. Over the last ten years, we've created a multiuse trail along the banks of the river and the Rappahannock Canal. We've also created Riverfront Park, in the heart of downtown, where there used to be nothing but parking lots. There are plans, going forward, to build another trail from Riverfront Park to City Dock Park and ultimately have that hook up with a network of multi-u use trails that will cover much of the city.

"The city is trying very hard to enhance our connection to the river," said John, "and it's led to an increase in recreation and awareness of what the river has to offer." He should know. John Tippett was the Executive Director of Friends of the Rappahannock from 1995 to 2014 and is now an adjunct professor of earth and environmental sciences at the University of Mary Washington. He has spent the majority of his working life on That, however, is changing. "There seems to be a boom in river recreation," said Tippett. "I think the river will play a much bigger role in recreation and quality of life from here on out. It may not have the same level of economic importance, but it's part of the city's identity. As long as people enjoy the river in a sustainable and safe way, the increase in recreation is a great thing."

Possibly the most significant part of this is that the character of the river will never change. The banks of the river are owned by the city and protected as a deeded conservation easement for 31 miles upstream from Fredericksburg, and they cannot be developed. This means that the river that George Washington knew as a child will be preserved for all time. Floating down the river, peacefully letting the current guide me along, this seemed incredibly important. It's something for us all to be grateful for as we sit by our beautiful river and read Front Porch from cover to cover.

Tom Conway is a local writer who teaches English at James Monroe High School and is currently working on a Master of Fine Arts in writing from Savannah College of Art and Design. Photo by Tom Conway