FREDERICKSBURG, Va. â On the album cover of Karen Jonas' "The Rise and Fall of American Kitsch," released in August 2024, Karen is depicted holding a drink and a bottle of liquor, sporting a neutral expression and a few tattoos here and there. Throw in a 1960s floor-model television set, an ashtray, a religious statue, and an electric guitar, and it all screams "kitsch," from the day when it was hip to be kitsch.
Jonas and a photographer tossed around a couple of ideas before settling on the art for the cover. âWe were thinking about it for a couple of months, it was fun,â she said.
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FREDERICKSBURG, Va. â At one time, the Fredericksburg Visitorsâ Center at the corner of Charlotte and Caroline Streets and the little parking lot next door were an adequate place for visitors to park. Last year, the Visitorâs Center relocated to a larger space a block away. The parking lot is now under new ownership, and access to the lot has been restricted. However, not everyone received the notice, so parking enforcement rolls in, which some see as unwarranted.
âI have heard of people being towed,â said Simon Jones, who called the signs âvery unclear.â He had a latte from âAnitaâs CafĂ©â next door to the lot, and the owner, Anita Crossfield, agrees that the signage needs to be clearer. Sheâs seen cars being towed from the lot, especially on holidays. âItâs not clear,â she said, and an updated version of the sign needs to be included. The new owners should do that, Anita said.
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The Fredericksburg Film Festival runs through Sunday, with screenings and workshops taking place at various venues across the city. Each film block typically begins with a hands-on workshop, followed by a Q&A session with the filmmaker, offering audiences a deeper look into the creative process.
Highlights of this yearâs lineup include:-
Skategoat â A young boy dreams of becoming a professional skateboarder while escaping the grip of gang life in Venice Beach.
500 Fireflies â A single father and his daughter relocate and rebuild their lives in a new town.
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At Old Mill Park along the Rappahannock River, there are spots where the mowers can’t reach, and to send a landscape professional in there with a weed whacker could be dangerous, so Fredericksburg has sent in the goats.
They munch the weeds until the job is done, leave a bit of organic fertilizer, and then jump on the truck to the next job, clearing invasive species at the following location.
It’s a win-win for everybody.
The goats are from The Good Steward Farm, a place in Stafford County that raises goats for this purpose. This eco-friendly initiative aims to reduce the use of heavy equipment and chemicals in our city while managing vegetation.
Shawn Phillips owns Good Steward Farm with his wife in Stafford County. They have a couple of teams of goats that go out and eat the weeds and shrubbery that are getting out of control. Sometimes, they go to residential areas, too, said Phillips.
âWe have a second team that weâre about to start using on private areas,â he said.
Goat waste breaks down more efficiently than cow or horse waste, so goats are ideal. Their farm in Stafford County is a five-acre farm, but Phillips also uses land on a friend’s farm to graze the goats. If the goats arenât rotated regularly, they will worry about parasites on some land. The farm also specializes in goat milk.
According to “Goats on the Go,” another goat mowing specialty organization, goats go where people can’t, eat what most animals won’t, and leave behind nothing but fertilizer. Their selling points include:
- Managed goats eat problem vegetation with little damage to desirable plants
- Goats eliminate the need for poisonous herbicides and CO2-spewing machines
- Light-footed goats work in rough terrain with little risk of erosion
- Seeds are not typically viable after being eaten by goats
- Valuable fertilizer is the only by-product
The goats are at Old Mill Park until the end of April. The city is looking to expand this practice. âWe will evaluate the goats’ effectiveness at Old Mill Park before moving forward with any additional locations,â said City of Fredericksburg public information officer Caitlyn M. McGhee.
The cold temperatures in February took their toll on area roads, and now the drivers are playing dodgeball with the potholes. When dodging isnât successful, there can be a flat tire, a bent rim, or even worse for area drivers.
Daniel Martinez writes up the repair tickets all day at Power Tire on LaFayette Boulevard in Fredericksburg.
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The paint job on an antique ambulance that roams the streets of Fredericksburg hints that a story behind this truck is waiting to be told. Was it part of the British Royal Air Force stationed in Lossiemouth, Scotland? Was it connected to Prince Harry?
Did it see time in the Falkland Islands war in the early 1980s?
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Many newly graduated college alumni like the familiarity of the college town, so they stick around after they get the degree for one reason or another. Itâs still known as âhome,â making escaping hard.
âI love this area,â said Katie Ambrosini, a senior at the University of Mary Washington who is graduating in a few weeks with an English degree and currently works at a nearby Starbucks. I want to try to get a full-time job if I can,â she said, putting her degree to work.
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Multiple agencies gathered at Walker-Grant Middle School in Fredericksburg for a semiannual exercise on Friday, March 7, but the doors were closed to keep plans from reaching the wrong eyes.
âIt was a matter of security,â said Jack McGovern, the exercise director with the Fredericksburg Fire Department. âThat was spelled out for media,â he added.
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In mid-February, Peter Mealy headed to the Walker Grant Middle School PTA meeting in Fredericksburg to speak about his latest venture teaching guitar to students after school at Walker Grant and hopefully enlarging the program in one form or another.
Mealy is a well-known musician around Fredericksburg, and if he can use the guitar in a positive fashion then so can students who learn it in middle or high school. âThen they have a skill for life,â he said, stressing that itâs not going to cost the school system a huge chunk of money for something that might deliver a huge chunk of benefits for the students.Â
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This combination of musicians is called "Big Fat Doug Belford Experience," they rocked out a healthy list of covers for the appreciative crowd. The band was a combo of three members of a band called âBig Fat Daddy,â featuring Meri Schaefer, Brian Curtiss, John David Coppola on bass, and three others from Doug Belford Experience, which featured Doug Belford, Meri Schaefer, and Brian Curtiss. Meri Schaefer and Brian Curtiss play in both bands.
Sure, some of the songs are well-known covers from the heyday of rock and roll, but people dig those songs anyway. A beer or two feeds that love the staples in their rock list, including âManeaterâ from Hall and Oates, âPsycho Killerâ by the Talking Heads, and âCinnamon Girlâ by Neil Young. The tempo of the night stretched far and wide.
