Local News
VDOT: Warren County Traffic Alert for April 29 – May 3, 2024
The following is a list of highway work that may affect traffic in Warren County during the coming weeks. Scheduled work is subject to change due to inclement weather and material supplies. Motorists are advised to watch for slow-moving tractors during mowing operations. When traveling through a work zone, be alert to periodic changes in traffic patterns and lane closures.
*NEW* or *UPDATE* indicates a new or revised entry since last week’s report.
INTERSTATE 66
*NEW* Mile marker 0 to 8, eastbound and westbound – Right shoulder closures for litter pickup operations, 12 noon to 3 p.m. Wednesday.
*UPDATE* Mile marker 9 to 7, westbound – Overnight right lane closures at Shenandoah River bridge for utility work, 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. through the night of May 9.
INTERSTATE 81
*NEW* Mile marker 299 to 300, northbound – Overnight alternating lane closures for overhead sign repairs, 8 p.m. to 4 a.m. Thursday night.
*NEW* Mile marker 299 to 300, northbound – Right shoulder closures for utility work, 7:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. through May 31.
Mile marker 299 to 300, northbound and southbound –Overnight lane closures and traffic-lane shifts as needed, 8 p.m. to 7 a.m. through December 2024. Shoulder closures 24/7. Work zone speed limit 55 miles an hour. Work is related to southbound acceleration ramp extension and bridge widening, with estimated completion in late 2024.
PRIMARY ROADS
No lane closures were reported.
SECONDARY ROADS
*NEW* Route 649 (Browntown Road) – Overnight mobile traffic control between Route 613 (Bentonville Road) and Route 340 (Stonewall Jackson Highway) for pavement marking work, 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. Wednesday night.
Route 658 (Rockland Road) – Closed to through traffic between Route 340/522 (Winchester Road) and Route 705 (Fishnet Boulevard) for the construction of a bridge over Norfolk Southern Railway. Estimated completion December 2025.
Vegetation management may take place district-wide on various routes. Motorists are reminded to use extreme caution when traveling through work zones.
Traffic alerts and traveler information can be obtained by dialing 511 or at www.511Virginia.org.
Local News
Front Royal Mayor Lori Athey Cockrell Announces Re-Election Bid
Local News
Legendary Horse Foiled Again to Celebrate 20th Birthday at Shenandoah Downs
The legendary harness horse Foiled Again will celebrate his 20th birthday this Saturday, May 11, at Shenandoah Downs. The festivities will include a “Happy Birthday” singalong, free cake and cupcakes, and a Meet & Greet with the beloved equine star, where fans can snap photos with him.
The son of Dragon Again retired six years ago after a stellar career, earning over $7.6 million — more than any other standardbred horse. His legacy includes 109 victories and 225 top-three finishes out of 331 starts, with his 104th win occurring at Shenandoah Downs on September 29, 2018.
Foiled Again has made two post-retirement appearances at Shenandoah Downs, including a lap around the half-mile track with Hall of Fame driver John Campbell in 2019. Fans can also meet Montrell Teague, the driver who piloted Foiled Again to his 105th victory. Teague will make his debut appearance at Shenandoah Downs in a promotional role.
Shenandoah Downs, located at I-81, Exit 283 between Winchester and Harrisonburg, is steeped in a 106-year harness racing tradition at the Shenandoah County Fairgrounds. Visit shenandoahdowns.com for more event details.
Community Events
Into its 5th Month, The Chester Street Tavern Focuses on Memorial Day Weekend Veterans ‘Salute to Service’ Event
Having kept an eye on the restoration of the historic Mullen-Trout House at 12 Chester Street and its opening with the New Year as The Chester Street Tavern, we spoke with Tavern owner and retired US Army veteran Jim Justice about an upcoming event he alerted us to this coming Memorial Day weekend. That event is a Veterans Awareness “Salute to Service” slated for noon to 7 p.m. Saturday, May 25th, across Chester Street in the Gazebo-anchored Village Commons town park.
“On May 25th, we’ve put together a memorial remembrance that is sponsored by the Tavern. It’s going to include a real nice live music lineup (beginning in the gazebo area), and we’ll have a number of exhibitors focused on veteran and agricultural-related support issues. They’ll be there with educational materials which will give them a platform to get exposure,” Justice began, adding a nod to the involved sponsorship team.
“We’re blessed to be doing this in partnership with Able Forces Foundation, led by ‘Skip’ and Kathy Rogers, who have become dear friends, and The Farmer-Veteran Coalition of Virginia (FarmVetCo), a national organization that does support for veterans in the farming and agricultural business. FarmVetCo is bringing their multi-band road trip show ‘Breaking Ground’ to support the entertainment at the Gazebo,” Justice said, adding that additional details are available on the Tavern website — www.ChesterStreetTavern.com — There’s a special event page for “Salute to Service” that has all the details.
“One of the things that Kathy and ‘Skip’ have coordinated is for the participation of a special guest Sam Tate, a Grammy award winning singer-songwriter who has won the Country music Song of the Year. Sam is coming up from Nashville to be our VIP entertainer guest. He is a Vietnam veteran and Purple Heart recipient, and we are honored to have him as our guest helping to support our community and this memorial,” Justice said of his musically inclined fellow veteran.
Speaking of musically inclined guests, we noted that local, even neighborhood-generated, live music has become an integral part of the Chester Street Tavern’s business model, with Justice himself sitting in on harmonica on occasion. Would that continue with this event in addition to the imported entertainment, we asked.
“Yes, I think we have five or six bands that are going to play that day. Sam Tate, Nashville CMA Songwriter of the Year, Sunny Lane & The Dirty Hippies, FarmVetCo Breaking Ground will be joined by a number of local musicians that have played and supported the Tavern, helping us launch and build the live music program we have today,” Justice assured us of what will be a mix of familiar and not so familiar faces.
Among those familiar musical faces to Tavern patrons are John Landis, whose barbershop is about four doors down from the Tavern, the Vaughan brothers Dewey and James, whose family owns the adjacent building in which John’s Barbershop and the New Creations Hair Salon are housed. Others include Shae Parker, Hank Gorecki, Ralph Fortune, Lee Cameron, Bev Williams and The Sidemen, Passage Creek Rising, Shortness of Breath, among others including relative newcomers “Captain” Rich Coon and Michelle Beall, also known as The Hobo Mariners due to their time spent at sea in their sailboat sailing into coastal ports in search of local entertainment venues from Florida to Virginia.
“Richie and Michelle are the duo that make up the Hobo Mariners, and they’re the ones who introduced us to the opportunity to do this fundraiser. Michelle and Richie have been a driving force in getting this event organized and introduced to folks we want to support, the Farmer-Veteran Coalition in particular. The Hobo Mariners have done veteran-supporting fundraising through their singing-songwriting for many years,” Justice pointed out of the duo that has become a regular part of the Tavern entertainment rotation on Thursdays in recent weeks.
With the Gazebo Park area entertainment, vendors, and informational booths slated to run from noon to 7 p.m. the Saturday before Memorial Day, we asked Justice how that would impact the Chester Street Tavern’s hours of operation and entertainment. “The Tavern will be home base for the bands, and we are blessed to be right across the street from the Gazebo. We will have an area to support their logistics because there’s a lot involved with folks setting up and rotating to play. The setup for the day of the event is 8 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., Saturday the 25th for our exhibitors and the bands – and we will have a couple of food vendors, a veteran-owned pizza company and a veteran-owned barbecue company.”
Justice noted the Chester Street Tavern’s regular open to public schedule is Thursday through Sunday, running from 3 p.m. to closing Thursday and Friday, and noon to closing Saturday and Sunday, with closing determined by when the crowd thins out.
“The Tavern will be open that day supporting everyone,” he said of the “Salute to Service” scenario. The plan is we will have an after-event party once we close down at the Gazebo,” as noted above at 7 p.m. “That week we will have our regular show on Thursday evening with the Hobo Mariners. Then on Friday we’ll open at 3 p.m. I expect with all the bands coming into town we will be doing some special stuff here at the Tavern,” Justice said of an improvised schedule of musical interactions.
Justice stressed the importance of live musical entertainment to his business model: “A lot of what I want to do here is support the live music scene” — which he has evolved to do with live music each day he is open on a weekly basis Thursday through Sunday. He traced the start of that commitment to live music to a private party hosted by the Tavern in its earliest days. “John (Landis) came down when we were having a little Friday night private party and said, ‘Hey, you mind if I set up and play for tips?’ The next thing I know the crowd is doing a sing-along. It reminded me of how important live music is to the spirit of the Tavern. I play a little harmonica, so I told John he can play as long as he includes a song I can blow harmonica to and “he better make me sound good,” Justice joked of the Tavern’s longest tenured musical relationship.
Speaking of long-tenured musical relationships, Justice acknowledged Dewey and James Vaughan and family, as noted above owners of the adjacent building to the south. “The Vaughans have become great friends of the Tavern. Dewey, James, sister Beth, and the rest of the Vaughan family have just really supported me in a lot of different ways. We are neighbors and good friends,” he said of the second of what he estimated as six to eight groupings of local musicians that have become part of the live music rotation at the Chester Street Tavern — “Just this whole, beautiful local community of musicians.”
But refocusing on what is on the horizon in his fifth month in business, that May 25th Veterans Awareness “Salute to Service”, Justice observed, “We’ll see how things flow and let people do what we always do in the Tavern, which is let folks come and spend time together. Our motto is: ‘We welcome friends old and new’ and it’s really played out that way, with new visitors socializing with a great group of locals.”
Justice also singled out Town of Front Royal Director of Community Development and Tourism Lizi Lewis for her role in bringing the Town on board with the May 25th “Salute to Service” event.
So, don’t forget to mark your calendar this month, not only for Monday, May 27, traditional Memorial Day events here, but Saturday, May 25, for the Salute to Service beginning with a noon “soft opening” in the Town of Front Royal Village Commons Park, and continuing across Chester Street at the Chester Street Tavern into the later evening hours. And if you’re mobile you can also swing by the Humane Society of Warren County Julia Wagner Animal Shelter for the also noon-convened, May 25th Salute to the Dogs of War, which ‘Skip’ Rogers will help kick off before returning to Chester Street for the 1 p.m. official Opening Ceremony of Salute to Service.
Local News
Marco Beach Breaks Track Record at Shenandoah Downs with a 1:51 4/5 Mile
Alexandra Goldin’s pacer Marco Beach not only wired the field in Sunday’s $8,000 feature at Shenandoah Downs, but he shattered the previous track record by two-fifths of a second when he crossed three lengths the best in 1:51 4/5. The track’s previous mark of 1:52 1/5 was authored by John’s Dream in 2016 — Shenandoah’s initial season — and was equaled earlier this meet by Aflame Hanover.
Eric Davis drove Goldin’s 8-year-old Somebeachsomewhere gelding and was one of four wins he had on the ten-race program. Marco Beach left from outside post five and maintained a 1½ length cushion on the front end through the first three-quarter panels, which were cut in:27 3/5, 56.0, and 1:23 4/5. Davis opened up by two at the top of the stretch and held off a rally by Cole Olsen’s Lyons Stealth, who finished second. Olsen’s Volley Ball Beach was third.
The victory was Marco Beach’s 26th lifetime score, pushing his career bankroll to $285,240. The pacer had previously won in 1:51 2 at Rosecroft in January and in 1:50 2/5, a lifetime best, at the Meadowlands last year.
Davis, who surged into third place in the driver standings behind Fern Paquet, Jr. and Corey Braden with a solid afternoon, also connected Sunday with Scott Woogen’s KJ Devil, P T Stables’s Make Some Waves and Spencer Goldin’s Lucky Streak, who won his third straight in Woodstock and fourth of the meet.
Week four competition in the U.S. Harness Drivers Club continued Saturday with a pair of races. Stacey McLenaghan, second in the overall trainer standings, maintained her lead in the Club standings with a win aboard her gelding pacer Etbauer, who prevailed for the second straight week. Reinsman Jack Mcneil took over second place in the Series with a win aboard Ben Mcneil’s I’ve Got Hootspa. Heading into action this Saturday, McLenaghan has 46 points, while McNeil is four back with 42. A series of checks will be presented to local non-profits this weekend because of the Series – where drivers donate their share of monies earned to charity.
Only two weekends remain in the Shenandoah Downs spring season. Action will continue on Saturday, May 11, and Sunday, May 12, with cards on both days at 1:05 PM. The Woodstock Oval will host Foiled Again’s 20th Birthday Party on Saturday. Join the celebration as harness racing’s richest horse turns 20 years old. Retired for six years now, the legendary son of Dragon Again bankrolled $7.6 million from a stellar career in which he won 109 races from 331 starts. Win number 104 came at Shenandoah Downs on September 29, 2018. Foiled Again will be on site, and fans can take their picture with the legend, sing Happy Birthday, and get a slice of birthday cake. Fans can also enjoy live music all afternoon with The Skillbillys. More details are at shenandoahdowns.com.
Local News
Phase II of Greening-Up Skyline High School’s Section of Greenway Complete
The Front Royal community can now enjoy 30 newly planted native trees along the greenway in front of Skyline High School. With spring in full bloom, it’s the perfect time for a walk or run while admiring the hard work of local volunteers.
Front Royal’s Advisory Committee for Environmental Sustainability (ACES) recently completed Phase II of a multi-phase plan to enhance the Royal Shenandoah Greenway. This project focuses on “greening up” unused mowed spaces to create a more enjoyable recreational experience. Recognizing the high recreational use of the Eastham Park to Skyline High School to West Criser Road loop, ACES has worked tirelessly to convert open spaces into native canopies in front of Skyline High School.
Each year, ACES includes a student member who leads a project, and this year, Skyline High senior Christina Keresztesi oversaw the planting of 30 native trees, including Sycamores, Maples, and Redbuds. Christina managed the project from tree selection to volunteer recruitment and secured funding from the Front Royal Tree Stewards and the Beautification of Front Royal Committee. She organized everything precisely, ensuring the trees were planted under perfect weather conditions.
Christina, who will soon attend UVA, acknowledged how her ACES experience helped her get accepted into college: “Participating in community service projects and leading my own really helped me get accepted.”
These new trees offer much-needed shade for walkers and runners during the hotter months while making the greenway more beautiful for everyone. As volunteers planted the trees, passersby admired their work, offering congratulations and snapping photos.
The project wouldn’t have been possible without the generous support of the Front Royal Tree Stewards, the Beautification of Front Royal Committee, the Department of Public Works, and dedicated volunteers. ACES is proud to contribute to Front Royal’s commitment to its Tree City USA designation and to create safe outdoor opportunities for the community. To learn more about ACES, visit their website or attend a monthly meeting held on the second Tuesday of each month at 5:30 p.m. at the back of Vibrissa.
Local News
Congratulations to Skyline High School Seniors – Class of 2024
Royal Examiner presents the Skyline High School Class of 2024. Congratulations to these wonderful seniors on their hard work and deserved accomplishments! We wish you the best in your next big endeavors. Photos courtesy of Victor O’Neill Studios and Tolliver Studios, LLC.
If your Skyline senior is not listed, please send in their Name and Senior Picture to news@royalexaminer.com.
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