Edinburg

Newsletter

EDINBURG NEWSLETTER

September 2025
110th Edition

GREETINGS FROM THE MAYOR
AND TOWN COUNCIL

I hope this finds you enjoying summer as it winds down. It’s hard to believe that school has started and the County Fair is quickly becoming a memory. While we definitely didn’t have a shortage of 90 plus degree days; this has been the first year in a while that we weren’t in a severe drought going into the fall. The temperature is only in the 70’s as I write this and that is warm enough for me; although, I believe it is due to warm up again.

The warm temperatures did bring folks out to the Town Pool this year. Once school is back in session we are forced to cut the Pool hours to just weekends due to a lack of lifeguards. The Pool will be closed for the season on Tuesday, September 2nd.  It will open one last time on Saturday, September 6th for the annual Paws in the Pool from 10 am to 2 pm. This popular Shenandoah County Parks and Recreation event allows our four-legged friends to cool off and enjoy some doggy paddling in the Pool.  It’s great fun for everyone.

Last year at this time we were looking for someone to assist us with signage for the Disc Golf Course at the Town Park. Town resident Patrick Craig stepped up and did an incredible job of putting together an explanation of the Course and Rules of the sport. He even created a map of the Course that players can refer to as they navigate through the Pine trees to the 18 different tee locations. I definitely want to thank Pat for his help on this and apologize for it taking so long to get the signs up. The signs were made to be mounted on a decorative metal frame that ended up causing some issues with locating a post that would work. We finally opted for something less than desired and hope that we have gotten the sign and map in place by the time you are reading this..

Once again it seems like the year has flown by and we will soon be celebrating the 44th Edinburg Ole Time Festival on September 19, 20 and 21. The Opening Ceremony will be Friday, the 19th at 5:30 PM in St. John’s United Methodist Church on S. High Street; then stick around after the Opening for the Sing Along.

Plan to start Saturday, September 20th with a Pioneer Breakfast at the St. Paul’s Heritage Center at 106 S. High Street.  After breakfast go out and explore the Town. As always, there will be crafters, food vendors, entertainment and demonstrations around the areas of the Edinburg Mill, in the old bank parking lot on Main St, in front of the Charterhouse School and all points in between.

There will be Civil War related events including lectures at the Heritage Center and a living history encampment at the Mill. Take a ride on a hay wagon or in an antique taxi and check out everything without walking your legs off.

Don’t miss the “March Through Town” Parade on Saturday at 1:00, and Saturday evening will find everyone at a Party in the Park with Food, Beer and Wine with Jump Alley providing the music. The Party is from 6:00 PM to 9:30 PM. Check out the Festival schedule for things like the OLE TIMER’S BASEBALL GAME, the BED RACE and don’t forget to buy your DUCK RACE tickets. There is so much more that will be happening that weekend; no matter what you like to do, there is sure to be something at this year’s Ole Time Festival for you to enjoy.  Learn more at: edinburgoletimefestival.org

Some of our more popular residents, the Ducks at the Edinburg Mill, usually make a quick exit during Festival Time. They do love it when everyone comes down to the Mill to feed them, but the crowds, the music and the sound of Civil War muskets tends to be a little too much for them. Don’t worry they will be back on hand when things quiet down.

Although you might miss the Ducks when visiting the Mill, we hope you will stop in to see a special exhibit that will be there during the Festival. Give Me Liberty: Virginia & the Forging of a Nation is the signature exhibition of Virginia’s 250th Commission as we prepare to celebrate the 250th anniversary of our Country next year. It was organized in partnership by the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation and the Virginia Museum of History & Culture. The exhibit came to the Mill on August 17th and will be there until September 27th.

The Exhibit will explore the unique and essential Virginia people, events, and sites that helped bring liberty and democracy to a nation. As I write about the exhibit, I am drawn to words that are from the brochure I originally received on this exhibit. “In 2026, the United States of America will mark it’s 250th anniversary. We must embrace this historic moment, extraordinary in our lifetimes, and act upon it by together renewing our commitment to the unfinished pursuit of A More Perfect Union, to reflect deeply on our past and invest with great purpose in our future. While the focus is on 2026,

I chose to have this exhibit in 2025 because I believe much is to be learned by looking at what was happening in 1775. We have a follow-up exhibit planned for next year.

In addition to the Give Me Liberty exhibit we will have a collection of uniforms from 1876. Edinburg Heritage Foundation Board Member Juanita Leisch is providing a selection of parade uniforms that were actually worn during the 1876 celebration of the 100th anniversary of the United States.

I’m sure you have noticed the planters around Town; Kim Green and Tabatha Dellinger, along with the assistance of the Central High School Horticulture students, have done a great job with the planters along Main Street and out Stony Creek Blvd. Generous donations from Residents, Local Businesses, the Festival Committee, Edinburg Heritage Foundation and the Town have allowed us to continue this program.  Thank you to all those that have assisted to make this happen; I’m looking forward to what the fall displays might bring this year.

Regrettably we have learned that one piece of greenery around Town will have to be removed. The large Catalpa Tree in front of the Edinburg Mill is dying. This type of tree has a rather short life span of 50-70 years and we started noticing some issues about 10 years ago. At that time we had the 2 main trunks cabled together to guard against one of the large trunks crashing to the ground.

This past winter we noticed that the trunk on the Rt. 11 side had turned slightly and has moved much closer to our museum’s sign. When we had the tree inspected it was found to be rotting at base in the fork of the trunks and one of the trunks is hollowing out. To look at the tree’s canopy it looks full and green, but it has become a safety hazard. The tree service feels that the cable we installed is probably what has allowed it to continue standing.

We expect the work to be done on September 1st & 2nd; we know the tree will be missed by many. Especially those that sought its shade during events like the Yard Crawl and Ole Time Festival. No plan has been discussed yet about a replacement, but I would not rule one out. The Tree Service did give us a great idea for the large stump that will be left behind. They will cut the stump off as level as possible and we plan to use the hollowed out fork as a large planter to add more seasonal color along  Main Street. There was a suggestion about making something like cutting boards from the tree’s wood to sell in the Museum’s gift shop. I plan to look into this, and hopefully we can have items made out of the wood that will benefit the Mill.

I forgot to mention the Tennis Courts earlier while talking about the Pool and Disc Golf. You might have noticed that the Courts have sort of a parking lot vibe lately. We had the asphalt replaced last year and are waiting on the contractor to resurface the two courts any day. We have picked out the color scheme and yes both courts will also be lined for Pickle Ball.

While we are on the subject of things being redone; work has begun on updating the Town’s website. Mandy and Mary in the Town Office are working with TLCWebHosting to make our website more informative and user friendly. They have been reviewing changes and making suggestions as to what they think will work best for Edinburg.

Councilwomen, Tabitha Dellinger, also had a suggestion for something not so high tech as a website, but still very informative. She dropped off the annual event brochure from one of the neighboring towns and suggested Edinburg think about doing one next.year. With the Festival Committee now doing a couple “Party in the Park” events, Skyline Street Rods, June Car Show, Yard Crawl at the Mill, the Mason’s BBQ Cook-off, the Doggy Paddle, the Ole Time Festival, and Christmas Events, we just might have enough to put out an annual schedule.

But like everything, doing so will require people interested in working on it each year. I haven’t discussed anything with the Town Council yet, but I believe the Town would be willing to fund the cost of printing an annual Rack Card of events if a committee or similar group of residents would like to take on the project of assembling the information each year. Let the Town Office know if there is interest in forming this type of committee.

Now let’s fast forward to December 13th when we will be again participating in the WREATHS across AMERICA program at Cedarwood Cemetery. This event was a great success last year. The only  comment I heard was from someone who lives outside of Edinburg and doesn’t receive our Newsletter. They didn’t know that they should inform the Town Office of their desire to place the Wreath on a family member’s grave. When they arrived at the cemetery a volunteer had already done so. If you know of someone in this situation, please pass on the information.

The plan will be to again divide the Cemetery into 3 sections and have the wreaths set up in 3 locations, one for each section. From those 3 locations we will hand out a wreath along with a printed postcard identifying the Veteran and the location of the headstone. The hope is always that we will have a family member or a friend on hand to place the wreath on the appropriate grave. To that end, we do ask that you contact the Town Office (540) 984-8521 if you have a specific Veteran you would like to place the wreath for. We will send out more details with our fall newsletter.

That’s it for now, see you at the Ole Time Festival!
Your Mayor, Dan Harshman