Episode
Murals, Main Streets, and Hot Dogs
- Podcast
- The Valley Today
- Published
- Jun 26, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 1491
- Processing state
not_requested
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Summary
Neither of us is actually in Old Town today — but as Brady put it, we're there in spirit. On this Friends of Old Town edition of The Valley Today, host Janet Michael catches up with Brady Cloven (Executive Director, Friends of Old Town Winchester) via Zoom while he's at a tourism conference in Pennsylvania, pitching bus tours on coming to Winchester. The conversation is released just minutes before Brady cuts the ribbon on the South End Literacy Mural at the splash pad — the year-long project with United Way, the John and Janice Wyatt Foundation, and the Winchester Campaign for Grade-Level Reading that's already doing what it was designed to do (drawing kids and parents to a previously quiet end of the walking mall). Brady walks through Friends of Old Town's recent three-award sweep from Virginia Main Street — including milestone recognition for crossing 40,000 volunteer hours (about $1 million in volunteered time) and 10,000+ building projects across 40 years — plus the upcoming Friends of Old Town public art initiative at Taylor Pavilion (37 artist applications, narrowed to a top six). Then it's a full preview of the July 4th VA250 Downtown Jubilee — 12-to-10 PM with Made in Virginia vendors, two live music acts at Taylor Pavilion, the reading of the Declaration of Independence, a Cheerwine relay chug, a Snow White slider eating contest, and a laser-light show to close out the night. Plus details on the August 22 Dog Days of Summer Hot Dog Crawl, a teaser for the Monty Python pub crawl on July 17, and a friendly reminder that the parrot in the mural is wearing a pirate hat for a reason — though Janet is more than willing to take credit on Brady's behalf. EVENT LINEUP — JULY-AUGUST IN OLD TOWN WINCHESTER FIRST FRIDAY — Friday, July 3 • All That of Winchester at Taylor…