MANASSAS — Manassas City Councilman Ian Lovejoy wants to help businesses recoup lost revenue this upcoming weekend.
City officials on Aug. 18 canceled the annual Civil War Weekend, a three-day living history event filled with re-enactors, out of an abundance of caution following deadly protests in Charlottesville on Aug. 12. Lovejoy said he’s now working city promoter Historic Manassas, Inc. (HMI) to make a “quick and dirty” First Friday-like pop-up event scheduled for this Friday, Aug. 25.
The city regularly hosts events on the first Friday of each month to draw crowds to its downtown.
Lovejoy asked small shop owners to stay open later to offer discounts to attract crowds. In return, the councilman and HMI will work to advertise the last-minute event on social media channels in hopes to attract shoppers to the city that might otherwise not have come after city officials announced the cancellation of this year’s Civil War Weekend.
Newly opened business Popcorn Monkey on the corner of Center and Main streets will stay open two hours later than normal on Friday, closing at 9 p.m. Husband and wife shop owners Mikey and Delton Moore will offer discounts on a variety of their old-timey flavored soda as part of the event.
They said the city made the right call to cancel Civil War Weekend in light of the violence in Charlottesville and recent protests over Confederate monuments.
“They should take some time, let things cool off, regroup, and plan to hold the event next year,” said Mickey Moore.
No specific threat led to the cancellation of the event. No group applied for a permit to protest, either.
We’re told by multiple sources, including Lovejoy, that some of the re-enactors feared for their safety and asked what if anything the city would do to step-up their protection during the event.
On a typical year, the city provides those re-enactors with notes with cash value to spend at downtown restaurants and shops during the three-day weekend event. It won’t this year, and that’s part of the reason Lovejoy wants to help.
“We’re not looking to have as many people out here as we would if it were a normal Civil War Weekend, but we think it will be as good as any other summer weekend,” he said.
For the record, Lovejoy, who was out of town when the decision was made, said he wouldn’t have canceled the event. Rather, he would have tried to pare back some of the events over the course of three days for public safety reasons.
Albeit one of the smaller ones, Civil War Weekend is a signature event in Downtown Manassas. Others include the Railway Heritage Festival, Wine and Jazz Festival, Bands and Brews, and the annual Christmas Tree lighting at the city’s museum.
