Violet Sanderson, Administrator for the Town of Afton, called into the Weekday Wakeup on Thursday, November 6 for the town’s monthly report. Sanderson detailed the upcoming Parade of Lights on Thanksgiving weekend, discussed town projects that have wrapped up, and touched on the importance of the local business community and shopping locally this holiday season.

(0:00) Joining me live over the phone this morning is Violet Sanderson, (0:03) Afton Town Administrator. Violet, good morning. How are you today? (0:07) I’m great.

Thanks for having me, Duke. (0:08) Hey, absolutely. Appreciate your time.

Well, you know, we head into November and it’s an exciting (0:12) time with the holidays on the horizon up and around the corner. And Afton always does such (0:17) a great job with the town and partnership with the Main Street Alliance and also the (0:22) Tourism Board and things like that. And the Light Parade, I guess, is the big event this year, right? (0:28) Yeah, our Parade of Lights.

We’ve historically done that annually for the past few years where (0:34) we’ve started lighting the arch and we do the countdown and then we have the fun parade. The (0:39) last couple of years, working in conjunction with the Afton Main Street Board, we have tried to (0:46) encourage a different theme every year. This year, our theme is the 12 Days of Christmas.

So we’re (0:52) encouraging any participants to decorate their floats in kind of a way that represents that (1:00) theme. So we’re excited about that. We already have a couple of entries or a few entries for (1:06) our parade and links to the parade registration form, I believe, are on our social media as well (1:14) as our website.

We also have, obviously, the parade forms available at Town Hall. We would (1:20) like everybody to pre-register so we can be a little bit more organized in our lineup and then (1:26) also in announcing the parade. So that way, as people come through downtown, we’re able to, (1:30) you know, tell their story a little bit as a business or as an entity or a group or whatever (1:35) it is that they’re trying to showcase on their float for the parade.

I will say the announcer (1:40) really does appreciate that. So for what it’s worth… Yeah, I’m sure he does. Absolutely.

(1:46) For those that may not know, it will be Duke Dance. So yeah, please pre-register for me, (1:50) will ya? Absolutely. You can find all that information again with the Town of Afton on (1:55) your social media town website.

It’s also on SBI News events pages as well. Violet Sanderson, (2:00) this morning. Anything else as far as holiday event-wise you’d like to mention this morning, (2:04) Violet? I believe that the Afton Main Street board is also sending out information to the local (2:12) businesses for like a window dressing contest as well.

Just trying to get everybody together to be (2:20) a little bit more festive this holiday season. We did see a little bit of that last year and (2:24) the year before, and I just think it adds to the character of Main Street and the invite, (2:29) you know, and the welcoming nature that it creates to residents and those visiting as well. (2:36) And obviously, the day of the Parade of Lights is that Saturday after Thanksgiving.

(2:40) Um, usually it’s really well attended because people have their family in town for Thanksgiving. (2:45) And that Saturday also happens to be Small Business Saturday. And so we encourage people (2:50) to come down and show some love to our local businesses.

These kind of events and things (2:56) where we’re drawing people in and coming downtown really does help our local businesses. I don’t (3:02) think the local residents understand how important it is to shop locally and to support our local (3:08) businesses. You know, I’m a strong believer that we don’t have a town if we don’t have businesses.

(3:13) That is, you know, how our tax base is formed when it comes to sales tax. And our sales tax (3:18) dollars really make up and generate, you know, about probably 85% of our annual budget is the (3:24) Town of Afton. And so I would really encourage people to come down, support our local businesses, (3:28) because not only does it help, you know, foster the tax dollars needed so we can operate and (3:33) provide the continuation of existing services, but it’s to, you know, show up and show out for (3:40) those locally.

You’ve dedicated, you know, their time, their effort, created their, you know, (3:45) livelihood to offer services and, you know, amenities and things to us as residents and (3:53) those visiting as well. But, you know, just shop local. If you’re getting a Christmas gift for a (3:59) friend, shop local.

If you’re going to be buying Christmas gifts for family, stocking stuffers, (4:03) anything like that, it would just be really awesome to shop local this year. Absolutely. Well said (4:09) Afton Town Administrator Violet Sanderson on the weekday wake up this morning.

Violet, what else is (4:13) happening right now in the Town of Afton that’s worth mentioning today? So we finally cleared, (4:19) you know, we finally finished all of our projects, our streets, our sewage expansion, (4:23) our 97,000 gallon keg retrofit. So we’re really excited that we got that all wrapped up. (4:27) I don’t know that, you know, snow is not flying in Afton today, but it has been seen already this (4:34) year.

So just a reminder that it’s that time of year we need to ensure that people are not parking (4:39) in the right of ways on the streets overnight. So that way we can ensure the streets are clear (4:46) for proper snow removal. It helps our staff out and keeps things safe for everybody.

I’d also (4:51) remind people that the no dig order is now in place in the right of way. So you can’t be digging near (4:57) around the right of way that would be close to our infrastructure. So just a couple shouts out (5:04) there, housekeeping items, so to speak.

And I do want to also say that we are the Afton Tourism (5:12) Board and the Afton Nature Alliance Board. We are getting together to co-host a business roundtable (5:17) discussion on Monday the 10th from 530 to 730 at the Civic Center. So we have invited all the (5:25) business owners in the town.

We would just love to hear from them, love to learn what has been (5:30) working in some of the programs that we’ve implemented and activities that we have been (5:33) supporting in the town, what could be done better for them. Like I said, we don’t have a town without (5:40) businesses. And so it’s really important that we hear from them to figure out how we can support (5:45) them best because that’s what, you know, these couple of boards that have been appointed with (5:50) the town of Afton are there for.

Obviously tourism is mainly for marketing and promotion of the town (5:57) and to bring people in that maybe don’t know about us or what we’re able to provide. And then the (6:03) Main Street Alliance Board is really to find ways that we can continue to support the local (6:08) businesses. So I would encourage any businesses to attend that meeting.

It’s really going to be, (6:13) you know, less formal. Hopefully it’s not going to be intimidating for anybody. They can just come (6:19) give us their two cents because it’s really important that we hear from them because a lot (6:23) of the things that we’re looking to implement in the future as far as events and whatnot is going (6:27) to be crucial for them, especially going into the winter season when we see a little bit less (6:32) traffic on Main Street.

Excellent. So again, that’s this upcoming Monday the 10th, correct? (6:37) Give us the time and location for that again. Correct.

Time and location for that is 530 to (6:42) 730 and it’s going to be at the Civic Center on Main Street and Aftus. Violet Sanderson, (6:47) Afton Town Administrator this morning on The Weekday Wake Up. Violet, anything we missed (6:51) you’d like to bring up this morning? I’m sure there’s something due but I can’t think.

(6:56) Always more happening. Always more. I appreciate you letting us give a spot here to remind people (7:02) what we’re doing and what we’re up to.

Absolutely. That’s Town of Afton Administrator (7:05) Violet Sander this morning. It’s all part of The Weekday Wake Up on SVI Radio.