Fredericksburg

Rain kept Fredericksburg’s Kathmandu sister-city vigil off the Downtown Library steps Thursday night and moved the candlelight gathering inside, where tea lights closed a VA250 sister-city program built around Nepal’s floods and a long diplomatic friendship.

Sue Henderson, a Stafford County resident and founding member of the Fredericksburg Sister City Association, put the night’s meaning plainly after the lectures and indoor vigil.


Features

From a free inclusive festival at the Fredericksburg Fairgrounds and Oktoberfest at 2 Silos in Manassas to a free outdoor band concert in Woodbridge and Friday night music in Market Square, here are things to do Friday evening through Sunday.

According to the disAbility Resource Center, the Fall Family Festival is Saturday, Sept. 19, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Fredericksburg Fairgrounds. A Weekend Roundup Tips media advisory from the center says admission and parking are free, and Deputy Director Seth Whitten said more than 2,700 people attended last year. The festival page promotes a family-friendly day with 80-plus vendors, live music and entertainment, and free family activities.


Opinion

EDITOR’S NOTE: Question 1 on the Nov. 3 ballot is officially titled a “Right to Reproductive Freedom” amendment. If approved, it would write a constitutional right to abortion into the Virginia Constitution (codifying abortion in Virginia’s constitution), while allowing the state to restrict abortion in the third trimester except when a physician judges it necessary to protect the pregnant person’s life or physical or mental health, or when the fetus is not viable. Early voting begins Friday, Sept. 18.

Early voting starts Friday. On the November ballot, Virginians will decide whether to write a right to abortion into the state constitution.


Fredericksburg

The Fredericksburg Nationals’ 2026 season ended Thursday night at Virginia Credit Union Stadium.

Fayetteville completed a two-game sweep of the Carolina League North Division Series with an 8-1 win in Game 2, after taking Game 1 on the road Sept. 8, 4-2. The Woodpeckers advance to the league championship series against Charleston.


Fredericksburg

Dog Krazy has leased a second downtown Fredericksburg building for corporate headquarters and franchise training, founder Nancy Guinn said, while stressing that the William Street retail store is not moving.

The company is already in at 1600 Princess Anne St. Guinn said in an on-the-record email Sept. 6 that the space will house corporate offices, training for new franchise owners and their teams, product and vendor sessions, and systems used across Dog Krazy stores. It is not a retail shop.


Fredericksburg

Fredericksburg Main Street’s signature fundraiser is sold out, and executive director Chris Allen says that one night on Charles Street is how the rest of the downtown year gets paid for.

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Fredericksburg

From a free all-day arts festival in Manassas and Bat Boy at the Workhouse in Lorton to a Slave Dwelling Project weekend in Fredericksburg and WWII living history in Woodbridge, here are things to do Friday evening through Sunday.

According to the Hylton Performing Arts Center, Arts Alive! runs Saturday, Sept. 12, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. across the Manassas campus at 10960 George Mason Circle, with free admission and no tickets required.


Traffic

The Fredericksburg Area Metropolitan Planning Organization is running a small microsimulation study to test whether punching a half-road through near Mall Court — the short commercial stub on the south side of Route 3 that lines up with Carl D. Silver Parkway — can improve access around Central Park and Spotsylvania Towne Centre without fouling I-95 off-ramps or nearby Route 3 intersections.

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Fredericksburg

The University of Mary Washington will host a public debate for Virginia’s 7th Congressional District on Tuesday, Sept. 15, at 7 p.m. in Dodd Auditorium.

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Fredericksburg

Fredericksburg City Council treated the Technology Overlay District as a political promise, not just a zoning map, when it voted 7-0 after midnight to keep a data center off the Hylton tract.

The Aug. 25-26 votes denied a rezoning and a height permit for 1500 Gateway along Interstate 95, between Plank Road and Cowan Boulevard. Council did not say the overlay text itself banned the site. Members who passed the TOD in 2025, and one who was not on the dais then, said they had already told residents where data centers would go.


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