Mayfest 2013

Monique Hough and her daughter Kenasyn, 7, of Strasburg, dance to the music of the band Souled Out during the Mayfest Street Dance held Friday evening. Mayfest activities resume Saturday starting at 9 a.m. The parade begins at 3 p.m. Rich Cooley/Daily

Winchester celebrates pedestrian mall renovation

The Old Town Development Board and the City of Winchester are celebrating the completion of the Loudoun Street Mall renovation project.

Framed

A horse is framed inside this fence off Morgan Ford Road in Warren County on Monday. Rich Cooley/Daily

Hydrant flushing under way in Front Royal

Chris Riley, a line technician with the Front Royal Water and Sewer Department, flushes a fire hydrant at the corner of Cloud and Jackson streets on Wednesday. Riley was performing a flush and inspection of the town's hydrants. The inspections will take crews several weeks to do. Rich Cooley/Daily

Sprucing up Strasburg

Laurie Winkelmann, left, a member of the Massanutten Garden Club, gives Evan Davis, 15, right, a Strasburg High School agriculture student, instructions on planting a group of annuals in this pot along King and Queen streets in Strasburg on Tuesday. Hometown Strasburg Inc. enlisted the help of the agriculture class to complete the planting of 38 pots. Rich Cooley/Daily

Painting under gray skies

Shaun Calver of Front Royal primes his fence outside his home at the corner of Blue Ridge Avenue and Prospect Street recently. Calver has been dodging the weather in hopes of finishing the fence with paint this week. The weather forecast includes a freeze warning for early Tuesday, but temperatures will be warming up into the 80s by Wednesday. Rain is expected Wednesday through Friday. Rich Cooley/Daily

Soggy feast

A horse grazes in a wet field off Swan Drive east of Edinburg. Rich Cooley/Daily

Enjoying the foul weather

A duck rests along the banks of Stony Creek in Edinburg as rain drops on a soggy afternoon. Rich Cooley/Daily

Floodwaters rise

Glenn Hall of Fredericksburg looks at the flooding along Passage Creek in Fort Valley this morning. Hall was enroute to a house he owns in Fort Valley, but was stopped due to Fort Valley Road being covered by water. Rich Cooley/Daily

The Grand Feature Parade

Shenandoah Apple Blossom President Lou Ann Thompson rides on the back of a car along Cork Street during the Grand Feature Parade on Saturday in Winchester. Brad Fauber/Daily

Fun at the Bloomers Luncheon

Kristy Rodriguez, left, 38, and her sister Cindy Davet, right, 39, both of Winchester, dance at the Bloomers Luncheon on Friday during the Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival. Rich Cooley/Daily

Pink and green time

Apple blooms fill the air off Orndorff Road west of Strasburg recently. The annual Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival is under way this week, with a number of events, including the coronation of Queen Shenandoah LXXXVI and the Firefighters Parade, occurring today. For information about the festival, visit www.bloom.com Rich Cooley/Daily

Easy listening

Billy Pearson, 20, of Front Royal listens to music while sitting outside the gazebo along East Main Street in Front Royal on a spring afternoon. Rich Cooley/Daily

A day for fishing

Evan Stevenson, 9, of Hedgesville, W. Va., checks his bait while fishing along the South Fork of the Shenandoah River off Luray Avenue in Front Royal on Friday. Rich Cooley/Daily

Correction

The name of Floyd Bradd, founder of Skyline Family Pracitice in Front Royal, was left out of a story on Friday due to an editing error.

A spectacular sight

A rainbow illuminates the sky behind Riverview Cemetery in Strasburg after an evening rain shower recently. Rich Cooley/Daily

Spring swinging

Eric Smith, 12, gives Olivia Sine, 6, a push on this tire swing near their home in Toms Brook recently. Rich Cooley/Daily

Front Royal school locked down during nearby domestic dispute

FRONT ROYAL - Police took a suspect into custody today after fielding reports of a domestic dispte involving a supect who was armed

Zipping along

Craig Ard, 13, rides his scooter along this stretch of Villa Avenue in Front Royal near his home on a spring afternoon. Rich Cooley/Daily

Daily wins sweepstakes award in Virginia Press Association contest

NORFOLK - The Northern Virginia Daily is among the winners of the annual Virginia Press Association's sweepstakes awards, which were presented on Saturday in Norfolk.

A lovely time at the cotillion

Massanutten Military Academy cadets Damoni Gunter, 16, left, and Ian Bauer, 18, right, escort Greenfield of Woodstock resident Beatrice Sherry, 89, during the assisted living facility's spring cotillion. Nine cadets from the academy served as escorts and community volunteers assisted with hair, makeup and flowers for the spring social event enjoyed by 35 Greenfield residents. Rich Cooley/Daily

Progress 2013: 2013 the year of growth, investment

The Northern Shenandoah Valley has seen several area businesses prepare to shut down in the past year - Federal Mogul, Henkel Harris, Impressions Plus and C.E. Thompson & Sons, among them. But, many area industries are reporting promising growth.

Progress 2013: Many small businesses thriving in valley

The Northern Shenandoah Valley is home to a vast array of small and mid-sized businesses that have managed to survive - and, in some cases, thrive - in a down economy.

Correction

A headline in Tuesday's paper regarding the retirment of Glenn R. Williamson incorrectly identified him as the Winchester commonwealth's attorney. He is the Frederick County commonwealth's attorney.

Va's biggest, costliest election in voters' hands

RICHMOND -- Virginia's biggest, most expensive political season with unprecedented attention from presidential candidates is drawing long lines of voters to polling places across the state, but concerns about the state's new voter ID law appeared overblown.

Sandy leaves death, damp and darkness in wake

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Superstorm Sandy slammed into the New Jersey coastline with 80 mph winds Monday night and hurled an unprecedented 13-foot surge of seawater at New York City, threatening its subways and the electrical system that powers Wall Street. At least 10 U.S. deaths were blamed on the storm, which brought the presidential campaign to a halt a week before Election Day.

Fall cleaning

Barbara Kesser sweeps the sidewalk alongside flowering begonias outside her antique shop on South Main Street in Woodstock. Rich Cooley/Daily

Clarification (for print only)

In a story on Tuesday, Wanda Darr, the mother of motorcycle crash victim Larry E. Darr, had said the family is not asking for fund-raisers. On Tuesday, she said she had not been aware that some fundraisers had already been approved by another member of the family.

2011 Firefighters' Parade

View a slideshow of this year's Firefighters' Parade by Daily photographer Dennis Grundman

*Officials assessing storm damage across Shenandoah County

MT. JACKSON -- National Weather Service officials were inspecting damage in southern Shenandoah County Thursday morning, where an apparent tornado touched down hours earlier and caused severe damage.

Apple Blossom schedule

Here is a listing of events for the 84th annual Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival

* Flood watch in effect through Saturday morning

A flood watch is in effect today through Saturday morning for portions of the northern Shenandoah Valley and the eastern West Virginia Panhandle.

*Flash flood watch issued for Friday

The National Weather Service in Sterling, Va., has issued a flood watch for Friday for portions of the Northern Shenandoah Valley and West Virginia's eastern Panhandle.

* Afternoon forecast: Breezy, chance of thunderstorms

This afternoon's weather forecast calls for a breezy day with sunshine and a high of 80, but there is a chance that a cold front moving through the Mid-Atlantic states could bring scattered thunderstorms, some severe, to our area.

* Doo Dah Day king, queen are crowned

WINCHESTER -- Jim and Kim Stutzman donned the crowns as king and queen of the 21st annual Doo Dah Day on Friday.

* Hundreds evacuated due to fires

Hundreds of residences were evacuated on Blue Mountain in Warren County after high winds spread a house fire to surrounding acreage Saturday afternoon.

* Missing Boyce resident found safe at Vermont ski resort

KILLINGTON, Vt. (AP) -- Vermont State Police say a skier who went missing at Killington ski resort after skiing out of bounds has been found safe.

* Barking dog alerts Warren County woman to house fire

FRONT ROYAL -- A barking dog is credited with alerting a resident to a fire in her Warren County home early this morning.

* Va. groups ask for K-12 reinvestment

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- Virginia education groups and local governments are asking the General Assembly to restore public-education funding as many districts grapple with declining property-tax collections and more students, including non-English speakers and those with special needs.

*Bond granted for ex-prosecutor, assistant in tampering case

HARRISONBURG -- A federal judge granted bond to former Winchester Commonwealth's Attorney Paul Thomson and his assistant on witness tampering charges Thursday in U.S. District Court.