Festival of Leaves, Not Just a Festival

For me, the Festival of Leaves has always been about something much bigger than a festival. It has been about community, connection, and the incredible things that can happen when people come together for something they believe in.

It’s about our local companies stepping up to be major supporters, our small businesses lending a hand, our schools and students getting involved, and generations of people coming together to celebrate the place we call home.

It’s about showing our children that community isn’t just a word we throw around at meetings or print on a banner. It’s something we build, something we nurture, and something we pass along to the next generation.

And honestly, what better way to celebrate our county, our town, and our community than to spend months preparing for one glorious Saturday when we welcome everyone to our little corner of the world?

There is something truly magical about that second Saturday in October. You roll out of bed far earlier than any sane person should on a Saturday morning, grab your coffee, and head into town. The air is crisp, the leaves are showing off, and the streets are coming alive. Vendors are unloading, tents are going up, and familiar faces are everywhere. There are greetings shouted across the street, last-minute details being handled, and probably a few people wondering why they volunteered for this in the first place.

And in the middle of all that commotion, you feel it. That feeling of belonging. Of being part of something bigger than yourself. Of knowing that hundreds of people have given their time, their energy, their money, and sometimes their sanity to make this day happen. It feels like the embrace of an old friend. The kind that reminds you that, despite all the things that divide us, we still have so much that brings us together.

This year, more than 200 vendors will once again make their way to Front Royal. The streets will fill, the crowds will gather, and another EPIC Festival of Leaves will unfold. I have no doubt it will be wonderful.

And this year, I’ll get to experience it a little differently. For the first time in a long time, I’ll be able to step back, take a breath, and simply enjoy the festival without mentally checking off a list of things that still need to be done. I might even get to drink an entire cup of coffee while it’s still hot. Now THAT would be a festival miracle!

But if I’m being honest, stepping back is bittersweet. When you pour your heart into something for years, it becomes more than a project or an event on a calendar. It becomes part of you. The planning, the conversations, the friendships, the challenges, the laughter, and even the occasional moment when you question your own judgment for ever getting involved in the first place … all of it becomes woven into your memories.

You begin to recognize that the festival isn’t just something you help organize. It becomes something you love. I wanted so much to remain a part of making it happen.

Walking away from the day-to-day work wasn’t an easy decision, because when you care deeply about something, it’s hard to imagine not being right in the middle of it. But sometimes, loving something means making room for others to carry it forward. And that may be the most beautiful part of all.

The Festival of Leaves has never belonged to one person, one committee, or one group of volunteers. It belongs to the community. It belongs to the businesses that support it, the vendors who return year after year, the students who lend their hands and learn what it means to give back, the volunteers who show up before sunrise, and the families who come downtown to make memories together.

It belongs to the people who have been attending for decades and the children who will someday bring their own children, pointing out the familiar streets and telling them how things used to be.

That is how traditions survive. Not because one person holds on forever, but because enough people care enough to keep them alive.

So this October, I’ll be walking through town with my coffee cup in hand, taking in the sights and sounds, smiling at familiar faces, and probably fighting the urge to jump in and tell somebody how I think something ought to be done. (Old habits die hard.)

But mostly, I hope I’ll take a moment to appreciate what this festival represents: a community willing to work together, celebrate together, and create something that is bigger than any one of us.

I may be stepping back, but my heart will still be right there on those streets. And if I happen to get a little misty-eyed watching it all come together, just blame it on the October air. Or the realization that the best things we leave behind aren’t things at all.

They’re traditions. They’re friendships. They’re memories. And they’re the people who will carry them forward long after we’re no longer the ones doing the work.

Here’s to another wonderful Festival of Leaves and to the community that makes it all possible!

Sue Laurence
Front Royal, VA

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