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A Friday, October 10th evening of “Dancing Downtown” powered forward by guest band Cazhmiere set the stage for Saturday’s annual Festival of the Leaves celebration of the arrival of the Fall tourism-attracting changing of the leaves season in Front Royal and Warren County.

We reached out to Festival organizers Sue Lawrence and Craig Laird who lauded this year’s Festival featuring perfect, clear Fall weather, well over 200 vendors lining Chester and East Main Streets and the Gazebo-anchored Village Commons Park, and a rousing day-long crowd who helped a number of those food vendors sell out before the festival’s closing time of 6 p.m. And that’s not even to mention all the food and other downtown business options always available there.

1A BEST Cazhmiere singer scaled

Vocalist Tina leads Cazhmiere into another number at Friday evening’s Dancing Downtown. Below, Tina and bandmates Mitch, Josh, Scott, and Dave launch into another crowd pleaser leading both the young and old to get on the good foot. Royal Examiner Photos Roger Bianchini

1B Cazhmiere whole BAND scaled

1C young dancers scaled

1D older dancers 1 scaled

You know, the ever-wise “they” say a picture is worth a thousand words. So, this is about to turn into a 28,000 word story — without the words past here.

2 A Fest sign unpainted scaled

On Friday evening this Festival of Leaves sign was black & white. But after the festival’s start Saturday festival goers with an impulse toward the artistic helped beautify the sign.

2 B filling in sign scaled

3a Vendors scaled

The Village Commons Park area was loaded with its share of the 200-plus vendors that showed up to market their products. Vendors set up along both Chester and East Main Streets as well.

3b vendors scaled
3c vendors scaled
3d Honey vendor shot replacement scaled
3e vendors up Chester St scaled
3f vendor crowd overview scaled

4a kids fun angle 1 scaled

The park area also featured entertainment for the kids, especially those who felt like bouncing around a bit between food, crafts, and entertainment breaks.

4b lids fun angle 2 scaled

The park area also featured entertainment for the kids, especially those who felt like bouncing around a bit between food, crafts, and entertainment breaks.

5a SwingOrch sign scaled

The ‘Yesterday Swing Orchestra’ presented some musical nostalgia for some of us older festival goers. Last shot we give the upright bassist some since he was cut out of the long group shot.

5b Swing orch closest minus bass scaled

5c swing bass player side shot scaled

6a Souled Out longer scaled

‘Souled Out’ took the musical baton from the Swing Orchestra and added several decades to the festival’s musical backdrop.

6b all 4 Souled Out CLOSER scaled

7a best 5 of a Kind scaled

And ‘5 of a Kind’ took their turn with a bluegrass influence, even though we counted only 4 on stage. And the Gazebo proved a prime spot for either listening or dancing to what was going on.

7b live music seating scaled
7c or Gazebo area dancing scaled

8a Uh Oh Stilts arrives scaled

And attracted by the music and dancing, stilt-walker BlissNinja made a not-so-subtle entrance to the Festival goings on. Her impact was mixed, from fearful it would seem in the first 2 photos – ‘Dance this way and don’t look behind you,’ one parent may be coaching their child – to mesmerized by her unusual social graces. In final shot BlissNinja heads across the park to seek a more positive social interaction and perhaps a daring dance partner.

8b dance this way dont look behind U scaled
8c BlissNinjah best close scaled
8d BlissNinjah dances scaled
8e BlissNinjah stood up scaled

THE END