When the Town Wins, the County Wins: A Call for One Community Vision

Whether you’re enjoying a meal downtown or hiking the beautiful trails just a few miles out, you’re still in our community.

Our festivals, shops, food, and experiences don’t belong to just a town or a county. They belong to all of us.

Ah, and if only it were as simple as pie charts and graphs to figure out how to make it all work. But it’s not.

A kind, knowledgeable man stopped in today and mentioned that his friends from across the pond had a wonderful visit to our area this past weekend. We were all so busy with the Festival of Leaves that I didn’t get a chance to meet them. But in that short conversation this afternoon, I mentioned that I’ve always thought of this festival as a County festival. A community festival.

“Oh no,” he says. “The revenue from food and beverages all goes to the town.” And in my head, I stop and think… damn, that’s true. And therein lies a problem. So how do we change that?

Easy answer: We can’t.

Hard answer: Years of convincing 40,000+ people that town and county should be seen as one and the same.

But then, if revenue sharing were the magic solution, why hasn’t it happened already?

There’s no red line tourists cross that says they’ve exited “the town” and entered “the county.” But behind the scenes, those lines are very real – in budget spreadsheets, tax codes, and political jurisdictions. And those lines determine who gets what… and who pays for it.

The thing is, I do think our town council and county supervisors are pulling in the same general direction – trying to boost our local economy through events and shared experiences. But they’re doing it under different banners.

What we need is a shared strategy and a shared story that makes one thing clear: When the town wins, the county wins. And vice versa.

Town, County, or just passing through—this is all part of the experience.

Welcome to where we all come together.

Sue Laurence
Warren County, VA