https://www.middleburgeccentric.com/ News from Middleburg, Virginia: the monthly Town Council Report, features and editorials. en-us https://www.middleburgeccentric.com/2026/10/everything-here-runs-on-the-wells/https://www.middleburgeccentric.com/2026/10/everything-here-runs-on-the-wells/Tue, 27 Oct 2026 12:00:00 -0400Every glass of water poured in Middleburg, every shower, every restaurant kitchen and every fire hydrant draws on a handful of wells. There is no reservoir behind them, no river and no pipe from… https://www.middleburgeccentric.com/2026/10/follow-the-sewers-middleburg-town-council-report/https://www.middleburgeccentric.com/2026/10/follow-the-sewers-middleburg-town-council-report/Mon, 26 Oct 2026 12:00:00 -0400In his State of the Town address on October 20, Mayor Bridge Littleton reported a surplus five times bigger than projected, a reserve worth more than a year of spending, and three lawsuits, all filed… https://www.middleburgeccentric.com/2026/10/if-they-didn-t-have-it-you-didn-t-need-it-the-fun-shop-1956-2023/https://www.middleburgeccentric.com/2026/10/if-they-didn-t-have-it-you-didn-t-need-it-the-fun-shop-1956-2023/Mon, 26 Oct 2026 12:00:00 -0400On July 8, 2023, The Fun Shop closed its doors on West Washington Street after 66 years, and Middleburg lost the place where it bought birthday presents, christening gifts, toys, tea towels,… https://www.middleburgeccentric.com/2026/10/pop-gordon-field-plays-ball-again-how-middleburg-saved-mickie-gordon-park/https://www.middleburgeccentric.com/2026/10/pop-gordon-field-plays-ball-again-how-middleburg-saved-mickie-gordon-park/Mon, 26 Oct 2026 12:00:00 -0400On a Saturday in June 2025, American Legion Post 295 took the field at Mickie Gordon Memorial Park for its season opener against Leesburg's Post 34. It was the first baseball game on Pop Gordon Field… https://www.middleburgeccentric.com/2026/09/real-risk-of-ending-middleburg-town-council-report/https://www.middleburgeccentric.com/2026/09/real-risk-of-ending-middleburg-town-council-report/Wed, 30 Sep 2026 12:00:00 -0400Christmas in Middleburg came to Council in September without a presenting sponsor and $20,000 short. Its organizers warned that the 46-year-old event could end. The same month the Town lost its bid… https://www.middleburgeccentric.com/2026/08/just-say-no-middleburg-town-council-report/https://www.middleburgeccentric.com/2026/08/just-say-no-middleburg-town-council-report/Mon, 31 Aug 2026 12:00:00 -0400A month after moving toward rooftop dining by permit, the Planning Commission reversed itself on August 24 after residents and a shop owner asked it to ban new ones. The Fun Shop's rooftop will still… https://www.middleburgeccentric.com/2026/07/the-answer-is-rain-middleburg-town-council-report/https://www.middleburgeccentric.com/2026/07/the-answer-is-rain-middleburg-town-council-report/Fri, 31 Jul 2026 12:00:00 -0400On July 23 Council made water conservation mandatory, starting the next day, until it votes to lift it. The wells kept dropping under voluntary limits, and the Town now has to find more water.… https://www.middleburgeccentric.com/2026/06/way-too-much-middleburg-town-council-report/https://www.middleburgeccentric.com/2026/06/way-too-much-middleburg-town-council-report/Tue, 30 Jun 2026 12:00:00 -0400Neighbors of the old Middleburg Barn on Route 50 came to Council in June about plans for a 40-room inn with a restaurant and an events barn on the site, outside town but drawing on the same… https://www.middleburgeccentric.com/2026/05/uniform-in-perpetuity-middleburg-town-council-report/https://www.middleburgeccentric.com/2026/05/uniform-in-perpetuity-middleburg-town-council-report/Sun, 31 May 2026 12:00:00 -0400After more than a year of study, Council adopted tiered water and sewer rates on May 28, over the objection of Salamander, the town's largest water user. Its lawyer argued that a 2005 agreement… https://www.middleburgeccentric.com/2026/04/seven-and-a-half-years-middleburg-town-council-report/https://www.middleburgeccentric.com/2026/04/seven-and-a-half-years-middleburg-town-council-report/Thu, 30 Apr 2026 12:00:00 -0400At the end of the April 23 meeting, Town Manager Danny Davis said he was leaving. He has taken a job with Loudoun County, and his last day is June 9. Council hired a search firm the same night. April… https://www.middleburgeccentric.com/2026/03/sign-up-for-the-alerts-middleburg-town-council-report/https://www.middleburgeccentric.com/2026/03/sign-up-for-the-alerts-middleburg-town-council-report/Tue, 31 Mar 2026 12:00:00 -0400March brought the budget proposal. It includes another police officer and $1 million to help Windy Hill build affordable housing, a new water rate structure that charges heavy users more, and a… https://www.middleburgeccentric.com/2026/02/tears-of-joy-middleburg-town-council-report/https://www.middleburgeccentric.com/2026/02/tears-of-joy-middleburg-town-council-report/Sat, 28 Feb 2026 12:00:00 -0400On February 11, 160 people filled Town Hall to watch the Asbury Church oral histories, the stories of the church and of Middleburg's Black community, told by the people who lived them. The next night… https://www.middleburgeccentric.com/2026/01/two-point-four-million-middleburg-town-council-report/https://www.middleburgeccentric.com/2026/01/two-point-four-million-middleburg-town-council-report/Sat, 31 Jan 2026 12:00:00 -0400The new Council was sworn in on January 8. Two weeks later it saw the bill for the Asbury Church: $1.86 million to build, about $2.4 million all in, against the $1 million the Town set aside three… https://www.middleburgeccentric.com/2025/12/we-all-deserve-each-other-middleburg-town-council-report/https://www.middleburgeccentric.com/2025/12/we-all-deserve-each-other-middleburg-town-council-report/Wed, 31 Dec 2025 12:00:00 -0400Council's last meeting of 2025 was mostly goodbyes. Peter Leonard-Morgan and Bud Jacobs left after nearly a decade apiece, along with three committee members. The new delegate came to say he wants a… https://www.middleburgeccentric.com/2025/12/2025-in-review-counting-every-gallon/https://www.middleburgeccentric.com/2025/12/2025-in-review-counting-every-gallon/Tue, 30 Dec 2025 12:00:00 -0400In 2025 Middleburg learned to count its water. The year opened with forever chemicals in a backup well and the driest start in Loudoun's records, and by fall the Mayor was warning that one of the… https://www.middleburgeccentric.com/2025/11/eighteen-thousand-straws-middleburg-town-council-report/https://www.middleburgeccentric.com/2025/11/eighteen-thousand-straws-middleburg-town-council-report/Sun, 30 Nov 2025 12:00:00 -0400November brought an election, a second State of the Town, and some hard numbers about Western Loudoun's water. In 1990 there were about a thousand private wells west of Leesburg. Now there are about… https://www.middleburgeccentric.com/2025/10/the-first-time-we-ve-seen-this-middleburg-town-council-report/https://www.middleburgeccentric.com/2025/10/the-first-time-we-ve-seen-this-middleburg-town-council-report/Fri, 31 Oct 2025 12:00:00 -0400Middleburg is now 16.5 inches of rain behind since the start of 2024, and in October Council argued about how worried to sound. The Town Manager said the system was holding. A Councilmember said that… https://www.middleburgeccentric.com/2025/09/well-4-drops-again-middleburg-town-council-report/https://www.middleburgeccentric.com/2025/09/well-4-drops-again-middleburg-town-council-report/Tue, 30 Sep 2025 12:00:00 -0400Six weeks after Council passed its new water law, it had to use it. Well 4, freshly rebuilt and deepened, was suddenly losing up to 220 feet of water while it pumped, and on September 11 the Town… https://www.middleburgeccentric.com/2025/08/great-to-have-not-got-to-have-middleburg-town-council-report/https://www.middleburgeccentric.com/2025/08/great-to-have-not-got-to-have-middleburg-town-council-report/Sun, 31 Aug 2025 12:00:00 -0400Council's only August meeting hired the architect and the construction manager for the Asbury Church. Before the vote, the Mayor said plainly that the church is a "great to have" and not a "got to… https://www.middleburgeccentric.com/2025/07/we-don-t-have-a-checklist-middleburg-town-council-report/https://www.middleburgeccentric.com/2025/07/we-don-t-have-a-checklist-middleburg-town-council-report/Thu, 31 Jul 2025 12:00:00 -0400July brought a would-be successor to the Mille Miglia. It also brought a goodbye to the woman who scooped Middleburg's ice cream for 37 years, and, after three months of work, a water rationing law.… https://www.middleburgeccentric.com/2025/06/rain-at-last-middleburg-town-council-report/https://www.middleburgeccentric.com/2025/06/rain-at-last-middleburg-town-council-report/Mon, 30 Jun 2025 12:00:00 -0400The rain came in June, and with it the news that Loudoun County was officially out of drought. Council adopted next year's budget without a dissent, paid off the water system's short-term debt by… https://www.middleburgeccentric.com/2025/05/one-glass-many-straws-middleburg-town-council-report/https://www.middleburgeccentric.com/2025/05/one-glass-many-straws-middleburg-town-council-report/Sat, 31 May 2025 12:00:00 -0400May was about water. The first four months of 2025 were the driest start to a year in Loudoun County in 131 years of records. Last summer two of the Town's main wells came within ten feet of their… https://www.middleburgeccentric.com/2025/04/option-two-middleburg-town-council-report/https://www.middleburgeccentric.com/2025/04/option-two-middleburg-town-council-report/Wed, 30 Apr 2025 12:00:00 -0400In April the budget shrank. With meals and lodging receipts slipping, the Town Manager withdrew his own request for two more police officers and offered a leaner budget he called Option 2. Council… https://www.middleburgeccentric.com/2025/03/ninety-nine-point-nine-eight-middleburg-town-council-report/https://www.middleburgeccentric.com/2025/03/ninety-nine-point-nine-eight-middleburg-town-council-report/Mon, 31 Mar 2025 12:00:00 -0400In March the Town's police department reached full strength. Council then spent an evening deciding whether it needs two more officers. The numbers cut both ways. Across two years, Middleburg had no… https://www.middleburgeccentric.com/2025/02/one-more-season-middleburg-town-council-report/https://www.middleburgeccentric.com/2025/02/one-more-season-middleburg-town-council-report/Fri, 28 Feb 2025 12:00:00 -0400At its January retreat Council had leaned toward ending the farmers market. On February 13 it voted 4-3 to give the market another year and $40,000, and then told the four who voted yes to come back… https://www.middleburgeccentric.com/2025/01/spare-the-willow-oak-middleburg-town-council-report/https://www.middleburgeccentric.com/2025/01/spare-the-willow-oak-middleburg-town-council-report/Fri, 31 Jan 2025 12:00:00 -0400Council opened 2025 by deciding what the Asbury Church will be: a place to tell its own story, with room for small groups and no kitchen. It sent two South Madison Street trees to the chipper and… https://www.middleburgeccentric.com/2024/12/what-is-success-middleburg-town-council-report/https://www.middleburgeccentric.com/2024/12/what-is-success-middleburg-town-council-report/Tue, 31 Dec 2024 12:00:00 -0400Council's only December meeting got the Asbury Church's community report, a clean audit and two new officers first class. Then it spent half an hour asking a question it has been asking since 1996:… https://www.middleburgeccentric.com/2024/12/2024-in-review-the-year-middleburg-set-limits/https://www.middleburgeccentric.com/2024/12/2024-in-review-the-year-middleburg-set-limits/Mon, 30 Dec 2024 12:00:00 -0400In 2024 Middleburg drew lines. Council capped how often a house in the Residences at Salamander could be rented by the night, how big a new house in Ridgeview could grow, how fast a car could drive… https://www.middleburgeccentric.com/2024/11/twelve-million-in-the-bank-middleburg-town-council-report/https://www.middleburgeccentric.com/2024/11/twelve-million-in-the-bank-middleburg-town-council-report/Sat, 30 Nov 2024 12:00:00 -0400Council held one short business meeting in November and turned down a request for $17,000 to throw a Scottish dance in January. The bigger news came five days later, when Mayor Bridge Littleton gave… https://www.middleburgeccentric.com/2024/10/middleburg-shows-up-middleburg-town-council-report/https://www.middleburgeccentric.com/2024/10/middleburg-shows-up-middleburg-town-council-report/Thu, 31 Oct 2024 12:00:00 -0400On October 10 the Mayor warned that the County's plan for Mickie Gordon Park was in trouble and asked the town to turn out one more time. Six days later the Board of Supervisors voted to put the…