Printed using recycled fiber
Middleburg’s Community Newspaper Volume 13 Issue 7
B E L O CA L Albert’s Corner Page 40 BUY LOCAL
Y OP LOCALL ITY AND SH R COMMUN OU T OR PP SU
www.mbecc.com
November 17 ~ December 15, 2016
Hill School Arboretum Receives Smithsonian Recognition Page 4
Christmas in Middleburg ! Middleburg Town Council Report
O
Dan Morrow
2016 Orange County Hounds Team Chase Piedmont P.J.’s and Hayley (Piedmont Fox Hounds): Hayley Alcock on Encounter the Judge, Chiara Pejacsevich on Wyklyns First Knight, Tatiana Pejacsevich on Soup of the Day Photo by Nancy Kleck
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rganizers, supporters, Town Council members and Police all indicate that this year’s Christmas in Middleburg festivities should well be counted among the best ever. The Annual Tree Lighting Ceremonies were scheduled for Friday, December 2 at the Town’s Tourist Information Center, the “Pink Box,” located at 12 N Madison St. On Saturday, December 3, at 11 AM hunters, horses and hounds were set for the Christmas Hunt Parade down Washington Street, also know as Route 50 or, for shoppers, Middleburg’s Main Street. Three hours after the Hunt Parade, at 2:00 PM on Saturday, Middleburg was set to welcome Santa and formally kick off the holiday shopping season with it’s annual and wildly popular Christmas Parade. For many this year’s festivities will be their first experience of Middleburg’s “new” pedestrian and (at long last) traffic-friendly Washington Street, with new brick sidewalks, crosswalks, lighting, signage, and meterless parking. Police Chief A.J. Panebianco has been working with his colleagues in law enforcement from across the county to ensure traffic control that is safer and more efficient than ever. New tools to manage the spectator experience have also been put in place, including measures designed to ensure that those watching the parade are kept safe, and those participating in the parade itself are protected from onlookers crowding into the parade route itself, endangering themselves and impeding the parade. Long-serving Chistmas-in-Middleburg Chairman Jim Herbert, working with a host of volunteers, Town Staff, friends and Council members has been especially delighted with preparations. Every year is different, but THIS year will be extra special. Middleburg and the Fire and Rescue Property The Middleburg Volunteer Fire Department, which evolved over time into Middleburg Volunteer Fire and Rescue, was founded in 1936. In July 2015 it was officially restructured as part of the Loudoun County fire and rescue system, and staffed with paid professional fire and rescue personnel. At that time the Middleburg Volunteer Fire Company, transferred ownership of its fire station property located on the north side of Route 50, on the western edge of Town, to the County On November 10 Town Council conditionally approved a provision of the “Deed of Gift” between the Fire Company and the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors guaranteeing that the property would become the property of the Town of Middleburg “should the County cease to use the property for a fire and rescue facility.” Town Financial Audit Town Treasurer Ashley Bott and Town Administrator Semmes worked with the Town’s auditors to produce what Semmes described as “a clean audit with no concerning issues identified. Progress was also noted on one of the Town’s longstanding revenue issues: a gap between the number of gallons of water purified and pumped out by the Town’s systems and the number of gallons billed and paid for by the Town’s water consumers. Leakage in some of the town’s older pipes has long been considered a major source of the “gap.”
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