By Rebecca Adcock
“Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall.” ~ F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Fall is my favorite time of year. The crisp air, football, a cup of tea or cider, apples, corn mazes, pumpkins and Halloween! But before we celebrate all things fall, let’s reflect on the month of August.
August was busy. The chamber didn’t slow down in the heat and humidity of the month. We started the month off with an open house at the Family Preservation Services, which has a new office located to serve Patrick County Office in Stuart. That was followed by the ribbon cutting for the newly renovated Stuart Communications, U.S. Cellular authorized agent. The middle of the month picked up with the Healthy Patrick County Initiative. This initiative is led by the West Piedmont Health Department. Their goal is help address several health needs in our community.
The 32nd annual Virginia State Peach Festival was held mid-month. It was a great evening spent at Dehart Park listening to Sunset Drive. The Peach Pit Spit Contest was well attended, and the new Cobbler Eating Contest, provided some great entertainment as well. Thank you to all the sponsors, volunteers and attendees that made this festival successful.
As summer winds down, the chamber was excited to see the ribbon cutting for the new Mechatronics classroom at the renovated Stuart Fire Department Building (former Food Lion building). This new classroom will bring more opportunity to residents of Patrick County. We ended the month with several events for the Labor Day weekend.
Looking toward fall and September, the Patrick County Agricultural Fair is the big event for the month. The chamber will spend the month getting ready for the festivals and events to finish out the year. We hope you will participate in one or many of them. We are assisting the Patrick County Young Professionals with Stuart Spooktacular and working with WHEO Radio and the Tourism Office on Hometown Christmas.
The chamber is also partnering with the Reynolds Homestead for the Art to Market program. This 4-session program will help makers bring their work from concept and design into selling as a business. The chamber will also host another ‘Grow with Google’ livestream at noon on October 17. Contact the chamber for additional information about that or any of the other programs/events.
New businesses welcomed this month are New Naturals Organics and Village Trim; Bennett’s Baskets and Bows also is a returning member.
