First Newtown Heritage Festival reimagined Stephens City

According to Tootie Rinker, this is how the Newtown Heritage Festival came to fruition. Stephens City had a sister city relationship with Appomatox, Virginia. The town council members had been invited to visit Appomattox to experience their Railroad Festival, first established in 1972. Ronald Bowers and several council members who attended, returned home with the idea of establishing a similar local festival that would celebrate and acknowledge the historical heritage of Stephens City in the Shenandoah Valley.

"Town Council invited some folks to come and meet to begin the planning. Bowers and Lee Janow were both part of that discussion and led it. That group met three or four times and we hammered out the scope of what would be a festival. Janow dropped out before the first festival meeting was held. I was asked to Chair the festival during those meetings and we opened the committee up to the community and the dicussions about hosting a festival began. We did not have a name or logo when we first met," Rinker said.

"It was representatives of the Town Council who brought citizens together to talk about the possibility of a festival. Ronald Bowers stayed on as a volunteer and was the second president of the Festival. He has always been a great supporter and contributed so much to the Festival. Truth be told it was his idea and I am very proud to say that I had a part in making his vision a reality."

The Newtown Heritage Festival, whose organizers had hoped to begin in May, 1992, had to wait to make their festival debut in 1993 because the town government then required at least three months of advance notice for the issuance of a parade permit by VDOT. VDOT maintains Main Street (Route 11) right-of-way. Town officials also had to determine whether special liability insurance was needed for the Event, so Stephens City festival planners decided to delay the celebration tentatively planned for May 30 1992.

Tootie Rinker agreed to become chairmen of the festival committee in April, 1992. Planning for the town-wide celebration continued throughout 1992, and took place Memorial Day weekend in 1993.

Rinker scheduled her first festival meeting on April 20, 1992 at Town Hall. All of three people attended. At that point Rinker was ready to go to the Stephens City Town Council and recommend canceling the event for lack of support. It was only after some door-to-door around-the-neighborhood talking during the summer months that the festival committee found enough volunteer help.

On July 8, 1992, Stephens City approved the name for the annual festival thanks to a group of Bass Hoover Elementary School students. The town’s festival committee adopted Hope Brim’s fifth-grade class suggestion of “Newtown Heritage Festival,” as the official name of the weekend celebration.

Rinker’s ever-present optimism led the festival committee to solicit enough sponsors to establish a real heritage festival. “Not a carnival with amusement park rides and cotton candy stands,” Rinker said.

Former Stephens City town manager, Mike Kehoe (1981-2015), shares his memories of the first festival. "What I recall is the entire town and outlying community came together. Something that brought a lot of enthusiasm to the first festival were the weekly publications of a new newspaper in the town that had begun distribution in the few months that led up to the festival. It was called the Newtown News and was published by a young couple who left the papers all over the community, free of charge. It was paid for by advertising. The Newtown News interviewed the old timers still around and popularized the name Newtown once more with weekly stories about the history of the town that many newcomers to the area had never heard."

Kehoe continues. "It coincided with another newspaper office in downtown Stephens City that was an insert to the Winchester Star promoting local human-interest stories. Soon the two editions became competitive. Linda McCarty was the editor of that section of the Star, then the Northern Virginia Daily got on board and Stephens City (Newtown) received lots of coverage."

"Community pride and awareness became very evident as the date of the first festival approached. Painting, cleaning, and fixing were never so contagious and Stephens City never looked so good. The town office was never so busy with inquiries and worked hand in hand with the festival committee. What was to become the Town Commons, which was private property at the time, became the focal point of the event. Dennis Clem of Clem's Garage built a temporary stage there, and it never came down."

"The first festival turned out to be a great and joyful success, and was perhaps the largest of the festivals and parades to be held. It definitely was the most enthusiastic. A big wagon rally was held at the commons after the parade and old farm wagons of all sorts were on review over the Memorial Day weekend. It was one big homecoming for the people who had attended the old Stephens City school and returned to the town they fondly remembered," Kehoe concluded.

In May 1993, Robert E. Aylor Middle School student Mark Stinnett received recognition for designing the festival trademark logo, a Conestoga wagon, which was approved for display on T-shirts, hats, and pins. It is still in use today.

Winchester Star article, Newtown Festival Attracts Thousands, by Michele Studebaker, dated June 1, 1993, cites “State and Stephens City police estimated the crowd at between 7,000 and 10,000 on Saturday with a smaller turnout on Sunday. Stephens City, once known as Newtown, vied with Winchester for many years as the areas center of commerce. It was a haven for wagon builders and once had thirteen such craftsmen in town.”

The first festival included a craft show at the Old Stephens City School, Civil War Living History at Applegate Antiques, Stone House Museum at 5438 Main, Newtown Museum at 5337 Main, Old Time Apple Growers at 5405 Main, Bingo at the Stephens City Fire Hall, Mayfest, pony rides at Main and Barley Drive, historic self-guided walking tours, German Cuisine at Trinity Lutheran Church, Old Country Supper served all day at the Stephens City UMC, Lions Club Concert at the Town Hall grounds, Ronald McDonald Kiddie Carnival, Childrens Fun Fair at First American Bank at Jamesway Plaza, and a grave marking ceremony for Civil War soldier Colonel James Drake at the old Lutheran cemetery.

There was free parking and transportation to and from Jamesway Plaza and the Abundant Life Church on Aylor Road to the festival kiosk on Fairfax and Main. A bus ran every half hour.

A May 31, 1994 article by Studebaker cites, “The history that shaped the present town was on display for more than 10,000 visitors on Saturday and Sunday during the Newtown Heritage Festival.”

Stephens City Fire and Rescue sponsored the first parade on Main Street. Plaques are now awarded for the Adrian O’Connor Best Display of Heritage, Best in Originality and Best Overall Appearance. The heritage award was renamed last year in honor of the late Mr. O’Connor who served many years as festival president, and parade judge, and was always appreciative of all heritage-based units.

Please come out and experience our exciting town festival on Friday and Saturday, May 24-25.