It's finally here! This Saturday, Sept. 13, is the 12th annual Centreville Day celebration. Sponsored by the Centreville Community Foundation, it runs from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. and offers a fun-filled day for everyone.
Kicking off the festivities is a gala parade, with activities continuing throughout the day in three locations — Old Centreville Crossing Shopping Center, Centreville's Historic District and at Centreville's Fire Station 17.
This year's theme is "Main Street Centreville, Past and Present." The schedule includes live bands, craft vendors, business and community exhibits, contest, games and concessions — lots to do for people of all ages and interests.
"We're looking for a huge turnout," said Centreville Day chairman Jim Intihar, owner of Dulles Minuteman Press in Chantilly. "We're really excited about it — we're going to create a main-street atmosphere and feel."
AT 10 A.M., the parade begins, traveling from Centreville High along Union Mill and Old Braddock roads to Old Centreville Crossing Shopping Center. Participants should arrive at the school by 9 a.m., and children with decorated bikes, wagons, scooters, etc. are welcome to join in.
The Centreville American Legion organizes and helps stage the parade, and parade chairman Bill Judd anticipates several hundred participants. See www.centrevilleday.com for more information.
Centreville and Westfield high school marching bands will provide some rousing musical entertainment, along with perennial audience-favorite Jim Moyer's Oak View Circus Club, featuring children riding unicycles, tumbling, balancing, juggling, stilt-walking and doing acrobatics.
Other participants include the Knights of Columbus Color Corps, Cox Farms, Centreville Regional Library's Book Cart Drill Team, sheriff's office, police and fire-and-rescue personnel, Scouts and a full complement of local politicians.
Centreville Day opening ceremonies will be at 11 a.m., with parade awards and Centreville's "Citizen of the Year" presented from the Fairfax County showmobile at the shopping center. At noon, Fire Station 17 on Old Centreville Road will hold a memorial service for the New York firefighters who perished on Sept. 11. 2001.
There'll be a photo exhibit showcasing the station's 53-year history, plus games and a scavenger hunt for children. Attendees will also see a demonstration of how victims are extricated after a car crash.
Tours of the Historic District will run from noon-5 p.m., with shuttle buses ferrying visitors between there and the shopping center. Girl Scouts will provide assistance in the information booth, and people may tour the historic sites. These include Royal Oaks House, Spindle House, St. John's Episcopal Church and cemetery, Mount Gilead, Havener House and the Old Stone Church.
THERE'LL ALSO be a Bull Run Civil War Roundtable display, and Susan Gray of the Fairfax Historical Society will answer questions. At the Mount Gilead house, history professor Ted McCord and others will give tours.
At St. John's, authors of Civil War books will sell and sign their work, and Western Fairfax Christian Ministries will host a Christian rock concert at noon. Admission cost will be items for the WFCM's food pantry. And at 2 p.m. at St. John's, longtime residents Kenyon and Kathleen Davis, Claudette Ward and Rita Koch will share their personal and family stories of life in post-Civil War Centreville.
Music will also fill Old Centreville Crossing, where live bands will entertain at the showmobile between 1:30-6 p.m. Harmless Prank and Southern Xcess will perform a varied array of music from slow to fast, soft to hard, and everything in between.
Also in the shopping center, New Life Christian Church and Oliver Entertainment will provide a wide variety of fun-filled games, contests and activities. But they're not just for young children — students in middle and high school will have a good time, too.
Besides inflatable slides, moonbounces and an obstacle course, there'll be pony rides, face painting and games such as speed pitch and soccer kick. Also planned are limbo and hula hoop contests, pie-eating and watermelon-eating competitions, a water-balloon launch and a wacky sports relay. Clowns, costumed characters and sports-team mascots will also appear.
Offering food will be the Fair Lakes Rotary Club and the shopping center's restaurants. Funnel cakes and cotton candy will also be available.