250th anniversary volunteers receive recognition, awards

Donors, staff and committee members honored for efforts with celebration events

By Kaitlin Mayhew -- kmayhew@nvdaily.com

STRASBURG -- More than 20 people were recognized with Pride of Strasburg awards at a Town Council meeting Tuesday for their volunteer efforts on behalf of the 250th anniversary celebration events.

Leila Orndorff, committee chairwoman for the 250th anniversary committee, made a presentation thanking volunteers, donors and members of the town staff who helped with the yearlong celebration.

"We actually started the preparations about three years ago," she said. "It was a long process with a lot of people involved."

The committee members were honored with certificates and bags of 250th anniversary memorabilia.

Orndorff also presented the town staff with a commemorative 250th anniversary pot that was handmade by a local artist.

"We saved pot number 250 for the town," she said.

Anniversary events were held each month during 2011. One of the events, the Geocache, will actually now be extended for the entire year, according to Mayor Tim Taylor.

"It takes a whole community to pull off something like this," said Taylor.

Town Manager Judson Rex reported at the meeting that the next council work session scheduled for Tuesday will be a joint meeting with the Planning Commission to discuss the community plan.

He said he hopes to do an unveiling and open house showcasing the plan to the public sometime in February.

Assistant Town Manager Greg Martin mentioned several goals for the year in his report, with downtown revitalization being of paramount importance.

He said he plans to begin working on a business market study with a group from James Madison University.

Martin also said that the Strasburg visitors center saw more than 200 visitors during the month of December, and more than 1,500 for the whole year.

"That's about 17 visitors a day," he said. "The numbers aren't stellar yet, but we'll continue to watch that visitation grow hopefully."