Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading.
We have used your information to see if you have a subscription with us, but did not find one. Please use the button below to verify an existing account or to purchase a new subscription.
Your current subscription does not provide access to this content. Please use the button below to manage your account.
Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading.
Please purchase a subscription to continue reading.
Your current subscription does not provide access to this content.
Bedford seems to be taking positive economic steps forward.
The old Little Caesar’s building is apparently going to be a Dunkin’ Doughnut shop. Bedford has no doughnut shop. There are some of us who would prefer a Krispy Kreme shop, but that may be a Southern thing. A Dunkin’ Doughnut shop will be a welcome addition. That spot looks like a good location, a high traffic spot on the major east-west highway going though Bedford. If the place has good management, then it should prosper.
We finally have development going in Harmony. Royal Farms, a gas station/food service combo, will be pumping gas and frying chicken next year. It appears to be something on the order of Sheetz, but it has a different food focus. Besides, the two nearest Sheetz stores a quite a distance away. Again, it is in a high traffic area, right on U. S. 460, so it should prosper.
Centerfest seems to be rolling right along and is getting bigger. This year’s edition looks like it will be the biggest ever. There are going to be 150 vendors this year and the Central Virginia Business Coalition is careful to make sure it doesn’t bring in vendors that will compete directly with Centertown business. For instance, there are no vendors that offer pizza. If you want pizza, you need to step into Domino’s. Or, walk a little way and step into Bella Italia. Blue Lady offers something totally different than the food trucks, including the opportunity to have a meal in a bank vault.
Actually, every Centertown business ought to be open that day. Those that are are glad they opened. The owner of Zimmerman’s A Little Bit of Everything says the day brings him a lot of extra business as people step off the street to see what’s in the place, and buy something. Jim Messier, at Arthurs, says people come in and look around. They don’t necessarily buy that day, but many come back.
Of course there is work to be done in Centertown. There are too many vacant store fronts and losing Peoples was a blow. But maybe things like the new business class hotel will help. People at the hotel for a conference will almost assuredly want to visit the National D-Day Memorial. That may lead many of them to check out the Bedford Boys Tribute Center. Then, some may look around town.
Like any town, Bedford has challenges, but it has a lot of positives. It sits right in the middle of one of the most beautiful places in America. The town, itself is nice and, if you are interested in history, then this is the place for you. There is the D-Day Memorial, which is awesome. There is the Bedford Boys Tribute Center, which helps reinforce the idea that freedom isn’t free. There is Avenel, a beautifully restored antebellum plantation house. Go in the living room, look up at the ceiling and you are looking at the moldings in the original 1838 vintage plaster.
Not far away, you have Poplar Forest, the second home of America’s third president and principal author of the Declaration of independence. When you look at the front, it looks like a mini-Monticello. Jefferson had it built while he was in the White House and spent much of his time there. It’s been restored to look like it did when he lived there.
Many spots in the Bedford area also offer dark skies at night. There are places where you can see the Milky Way, stretching across the sky in all its twinkling glory. That’s a sight no big city can offer you.
And, on top of it, the people here are really nice.
