Christmas in Middleburg Faces a $20,000 Gap, Five Weeks Out

Five weeks before the horses and hounds step off down Washington Street, the organizers of Christmas in Middleburg are still looking for the presenting sponsor that usually anchors the day.

"Currently, we do not have a presenting sponsor. Which leaves us at an approximate $20,000 shortfall," Doug Myers told Town Council on September 24. Sponsorships were running at "about half of the usual," he said, and "without significant financial support, this event is in real risk of ending."

A month later, the gap is not yet closed. "I am in active talks with a potential sponsor that will fill the gap, but no confirmation yet," Michelle Myers, who organizes the event with her husband, Doug, told the Eccentric in writing on October 28. The organizers "will plan on returning to the council in November should that be required," she said.

The parade itself is set. Christmas in Middleburg will be held Saturday, December 5. The Middleburg Hunt's horses and hounds lead off at 11 a.m., and the community Christmas parade follows at 2 p.m., with carolers and a kids' zone at the Middleburg Community Center in between.

## What it costs

Christmas in Middleburg is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that runs with a small advisory board, Michelle Myers said. She told Council last year that "we have a board in place and they're very good at keeping me on the rails." Its books are part of the public record: the organizers file a budget and a statement of activity with Town Council each year, attached to the meeting agenda.

Those filings show an event that costs about $150,000 to put on. For 2025, the nonprofit reported $151,529 in income against roughly the same in expenses, finishing about even. The largest single cost was buses to shuttle visitors from parking lots outside the village: a $39,000 contract, Michelle Myers said, and $40,857 in all last year, according to the filing. The buses became even more important when the Town closed in-town street parking to parade visitors after the event returned from its 2020 COVID cancellation, she said. The Town has also asked the organizers to cap parking at 1,000 cars. Barricades and portable toilets ran about $15,000, insurance about $6,000. The nonprofit gave $13,923, nearly 10 percent of its spending, to local schools, churches and charities, including the Hill School, Foxcroft, Middleburg FISH and the Middleburg Hunt. It also pays for Loudoun County Sheriff's deputies to direct traffic off Route 50 and buses out of Mickie Gordon Park, Michelle Myers said, and donates to the Aldie Ruritans, who help run the parking there.

Most of the money comes from visitors. In 2025, parking brought in $53,400 and VIP parking, seating and viewing another $33,025. Sponsorships brought in $27,300, and the Town of Middleburg contributed a $10,000 grant. "80% of our incoming revenue is parking and VIP offers in town. Only 20% is raised by sponsorships," Michelle Myers said.

That is a much bigger operation than it used to be. When the Eccentric reported the 2016 parade's finances, the event had $78,000 in income, including $9,000 from the Town. Michelle Myers told Council last October that costs rise "5 to 7% every year," and that 2025 "was a little light on sponsorships." The filings bear that out: the 2025 budget counted on $57,000 from sponsors, including $35,000 from a presenting sponsor. Sponsors actually gave $27,300. Individual donations and VIP sales made up most of the difference.

PenFed, the federal credit union, was presenting sponsor in 2024 and 2025, she said. So far this year, no company has taken its place.

## The reserve

The nonprofit isn't broke, but its cushion is thinner than it looks. Its Statement of Financial Position, filed with Council in February, showed $79,180 in the bank as of February 23, 2026, and no debts. Michelle Myers said that money is what gets each year's event off the ground. "The $66,000 is our operating account and we start paying vendors as early as July to secure our placement in their calendar," she said. "We spend anywhere from $40,000 to $60,000 in advance payments before we start selling parking in September." The rest, about $11,900, sits in a separate donation account that, she said, "funds the production of our ornament and pays out donations to any charitable organization that we've chosen for that year." Take $40,000 to $60,000 out of the $66,000 before the first parking pass is sold, and the cushion left to absorb a missing $20,000 sponsor is somewhere between $6,000 and $26,000.

## Why sponsors are hard to find

"The economy is uncertain, and the public opinions of the event can be difficult for potential sponsors," Michelle Myers said.

The organizers are cutting back. "We will move out of our office space at the end of 2026, we will cut back on social outreach and admin support," she said.

The Town's role is set out in a memorandum of understanding Council approved unanimously in July 2025. The nonprofit is responsible for "All financial and contractual obligations, including fundraising and sponsorships." The Town provides police and staff, and money "only as approved and appropriated by the Town Council." The Middleburg Police chief sets the parade route and has the final word on whether it goes on. This year the Town has budgeted a $12,000 sponsorship, up from $10,000, along with police overtime, officers from other jurisdictions and public works help, Interim Town Manager Will Moore said. Michelle Myers said the Town's grant is built into the event's budget, and that the Town provides in-town police support, as the memorandum of understanding requires.

At the September meeting, Mayor Bridge Littleton suggested the Middleburg Business and Professional Association ask its members to "chip in 200 bucks" each, and Council member Pam Curran pointed the organizers to the Middleburg Charitable Foundation, which takes grant applications in October.

## Forty-six years

The tradition dates to 1979, when Mayor Loyal McMillin suggested the town needed a Christmas celebration, and to 1980, when Dudley and Cissy Bunn and Tyler Gore put together the first modern parade, according to the Eccentric's own coverage at the time. For years the Middleburg Business and Professional Association ran it, with co-chairs including Reggie Dawson, Dee Dee Hubbard and Sheila Johnson. Jim Herbert led it through the 2010s and made it a nonprofit in 2011.

Michelle and Doug Myers began volunteering with the event in 2018, Michelle Myers said, and became its part-time co-organizers in 2022. Both run businesses of their own, which she said they put on hold for the four weeks before the parade to answer thousands of emails, calls and texts from families, participants and visitors.

## How to help

Sponsorship options are on the Christmas in Middleburg website, and the organizers can be reached at organizer@christmasinmiddleburg.org. They recently added family sponsorships. "We can take sponsorship help all year round," Michelle Myers said.

Editor's note: Eccentric editor Jay Hubbard is the son of Dee Dee Hubbard, who founded this newspaper and co-chaired the parade in the 2000s.