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First night canceled in Leesburg | LoudounTimes.com

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First night canceled in Leesburg

Monday, Dec. 5, 2011 by Laura Peters | 10 comments | Email this story

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The yearly festival, First Night in Leesburg, will not be welcoming in the year 2012. The Town of Leesburg and the Bluemont Concert Series announced that they regret the cancellation of the 2011 First Night Leesburg celebration. The popular event has been going on for the past 25 years and brings out thousands of families and visitors to Historic Downtown Leesburg to welcome in the New Year. The news was first announced during the Leesburg Town Councils work session on Nov. 28 when Town Manager John Wells explained that after 25 years, Bluemonts production of First Night Leesburg is taking a break this New Years Eve due to unforeseeable circumstances beyond control. We are certainly not happy about this decision but we are convinced it is the right one under the circumstances, First Night Leesburg Posse Chairman and member of the Bluemont Board of Directors, Bob Sevila said in a release. An unfortunate combination of factors has led to our decision to cancel, including persistent financial uncertainties and the untimely injury and slow recovery of key Bluemont staff leaders. The event has been held since 1986 and has included various preformances and activities scattered around Historic Downtown. The indoor/outdoor events occur between 6 p.m. and midnight and last year brought out almost 4,000 people along with 45 artists and 92 performances. The event is a non-profit Bluemont community project that brings out more than 120 volunteers that work more than 750 hours preparing, presenting and cleaning up the event. The First Nights Midnight Grand Illumination finales also brought in hundreds of residents to the center of downtown to usher in the New Year with a candle-lit sing along and countdown on the Loudoun County Courthouse lawn. Again, none of us are happy with the cancellation of 2011s First Night Leesburg, Bluemont President, Peter Dunning said in a release. We do however want to thank you all for your good help in building Bluemont and First Night Leesburg. We will be working over the next months on a transition plan to assure the future of Bluemonts programs in the community. If youd like to help, please contact us at transitionplan@bluemont.org. Wells said in a release that the Bluemont Concert Series thanks the Leesburg community for their support and also looks forward to future events and celebrations.
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