Features

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.

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Features

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 “Big Fat Daddy,” 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 “Maneater” from Hall and Oates, “Psycho Killer” by the Talking Heads, and “Cinnamon Girl” by Neil Young. The tempo of the night stretched far and wide.


Fredericksburg

Fredericksburg is taking another step forward to become a more walkable community with the recent start of construction off LaFayette Boulevard, which is part of the city’s Twin Lake Drive and Kensington Pedestrian Connector project.

This $2.4 million project includes extending a 10-foot wide paved shared-use path along the north side of Lafayette Boulevard between Twin Lake Drive and St. Paul Street in the City of Fredericksburg. The path will be accessible, with ramps and crosswalks built where the route intersects with Twin Lakes Drive, Springwood Drive, Kensington Place, and St. Paul Street.

The project includes a paved access point to the Virginia Central Railway Trail from the cul-de-sac of Springwood Drive, and a bike repair station will be installed at Alum Spring Park.

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Business

When the toilet gets clogged, or the pipe springs a leak, it might be time to call Mr. Rooter, the newest plumbing place in Fredericksburg, to fix the problem.

Officials gathered on Thursday, January 30, 2025, to cut the ribbon on the new Westwood Center office just east of I-95.

“When we started Mr. Rooter here in Fredericksburg, we set out to create not just another plumbing service, but a local business that our community can trust — whether it is for routine plumbing repair, an emergency fix, or a major installation,” said Gilbert Mwenedata, owner of Mr. Rooter Plumbing of Fredericksburg. “We’re proud to be part of this wonderful community, and we look forward to building lasting relationships with our neighbors, customers, and other local businesses,” he said.

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Features

“I saw on the Ring doorbell, a guy with a big check and flowers,” said Shelly’s daughter Vicky. They are now $10,000 richer.

Shelly entered the Publishers Clearing House a few times before and won small prizes but continued to enter their drawing. This time it paid off – hefty, $10,000. However, PCH has given away bigger prizes in the past and continues to have drawings in the millions. 


Features

For 11 years, Fredericksburg marked the new year by dropping a six-foot paper mâché pear from a spot above Caroline Street.

The drop-off platform was a building or the raised ladders of a fire truck. Still, it was a celebratory moment that the partiers in Fredericksburg celebrated at midnight on December 31.


Fredericksburg

“We have gotten concerns about the speed,” said Thomas Ruff, a traffic engineer with Timmons Group, working with city officials to look at the one-way streets in neighborhoods right outside the business district.

The study intended to evaluate the feasibility and potential impacts of converting select one-way streets to two-way streets in a downtown area, as described in their description. Bike lanes, traffic calming measures intended to slow drivers, and proposed pedestrian improvements were part of the discussion.


Features

“Fredericksburg Toyland” was the theme of this year’s parade, and this paved the way for creativity in the form of lighted floats and energetic teens. Some may have been staying active just to keep warm on this frigid night. Just about every family gathered on the curbside had a few blankets draped over everyone.

“My face is frozen,” said one man on Caroline Street, but it seemed there were lots of vendors handing out hot chocolate, including the Christian Motorcyclists Association who were up on Princess Anne Street handing out free hot chocolate. This year wasn’t their first parade. “We’ve been doing this for a whole lot of years,” said one of the members.


Features

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Fredericksburg

Fredericksburg officials used map boards and statistics to present potential plans for another bridge across the Rappahannock River at a public meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 20.

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