Stay with me here, this is kind of a long story: One of the things that Manassas has never been able to generate is a serious tourism industry. In theory, we should be able to capitalize on the stunning amount of history that put Manassas on the map. When I was a kid the City went so far as to setup a trolley that ran from OTM to the battlefield! Other things have been tried but they’ve never worked. The canyon of strip malls and retail between here and the battlefield makes it difficult to get people to make the transition.
So, I was talking to a buddy of mine about events in OTM and we were kicking around the problem of associating the City with the battlefield when the answer became clear: we needed to bring the Battle to Manassas, not the people to the battlefield. After that, I called probably the only dude I know that could make it happen: Creston Owens. Creston is, among other things, the Chairman of Historic Manassas, Inc (HMI). HMI puts on the vast majority of the events in OTM and are the experts on events in OTM. Creston, myself and several others had an informal sit-down and I told him “Creston, I want a fight in OTM. I want Civil war era soldiers, guns, shooting and a big fight right in the heart of the city”. Now, anyone who knows Creston would agree that the one thing you can never accuse him of is thinking small.
From that conversation, Creston and a band of conspirators have rolled up my quaint little notion of a battle in OTM and linked it with the 150th anniversary of the First battle of Manassas. The 150th anniversary is a huge statewide effort that really isn’t doing all that much in the way of events but we’re working with them. This local effort is looking to include a re-enactment of the battle with thousands of soldiers, a blue and grey ball on Battle Street, breakfast with the generals and on and on. This looks like it’s going to be a semi-regular event in our town. The 150th anniversary of the first battle is 2011 and the second battle is a couple of years past that.
I’m really excited about this – Creston and some of his board members will be presenting Monday night to the Council. They do need some seed money to get started and we’ll leverage that with some money from the County and the State. It’s a tough call in a tough time but if we get a tourism initiative going, it will help the City for a long time. Gettysburg brings tens of millions of dollars a year and we bring but a small fraction of that. It’s the one industry that we should naturally benefit from but we’ve never taken a serious swing at the idea. Now’s the time. If you want more information it’s here and here.
I’m very excited about this
November 8, 2009 at 12:13 pm
Andy – One reason that Gettysburg has brought in so much is that an American icon, Abraham Lincoln, gave one of the best speeches in our history on that site during a dedication of cemetery. It would be very hard to compete with that. If anyone knows something along those lines that occurred at our battlefield, I would love to hear about it.
That said, I’m looking forward to what Mr. Owens does. Our great town certainly could use the publicity. I think if people were to visit our fair city, and see what a great place it is, we may draw a few more residents.
November 8, 2009 at 4:10 pm
Chris,
Do you know about the 50th anniversary Peace Jubilee that took place in 1911 at Manassas? President Taft came and spoke at it. We should have another one in 2011. I know the Sons of Union Veterans are holding their reunion here, and as a member of a local Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp, we want to participate in as many events as possible and would love to take part in a reenactment of the Jubilee.
Andy is right, it’s takes effort and money, but we are very fortunate to live in an area that played a major role in the War.
Andy,
Does the City have a committee working on the anniversary, or is one planned? I’d love to volunteer for it if there is one. I’ve reenacted for 15 years, and have experience in setting up Memorial events, etc.
I’ll plan to be at the meeting Monday.
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=2469
November 8, 2009 at 5:49 pm
Andy, all I am going to say about this as a City resident and taxpayer is I do not think that this is a prudent choice to give tax dollars over to an unknown entity of private business people. This may be a great idea, but with all of the hard budget choices coming up in the City government for 2011, this may not have been the best time to be giving out money. I think if more taxpayers knew about this commitment that the City Council is going to make, they might be a little upset. Unfortunately, most won’t. I really think Council should think twice before handing out tax money to private businessmen who want to play Event Coordinators. I have said my peace.
November 8, 2009 at 7:04 pm
Mary Ann: Reading the webpage, calling Mr. Owens and his board a bunch of unknowns is a bit of an insult. At least one is a former Council member and the rest are pretty well known citizens of the City and County. They have accomplished an incredible thing on a volunteer basis. As to the funds: we have to allocate our scarce resources where they will make the most impact and we have a rare chance here to take advantage of our history.
COM: Contact Creston or one of the other board members on Monday. If you miss ’em, let me know and I’ll put you in contact with them. I’m sure that they would love to have your help.
November 8, 2009 at 7:38 pm
Andy, just don’t like my tax dollars being used in this way.
November 9, 2009 at 11:16 am
The point of events like this is to showcase the City. We have since those fatefuls days in 1861 and 1862 been tied to the battlefield. In 1911, the veterans of the battles came together to memoralize their efforts to heal the nation after a long and bloody war. We have the same duty to remember and rededicate ourself to those ends. We need people to visit the city and the surrounding communities. If spending the money to promote our heritage is a bad thing then we have lost something that made this community great. The long term gains outweigh the short term costs. To miss this event in our history would be like passing on the Fourth of July. This is just not an event being coordinated but a memorial to the bloody first battle of the war and the Peace Jubilee. In the course of the ten years, we have gone through several events locally and nationally which have reminded us of our vulnerabilities and the basic outstanding resilience of of the American spirit. Let us remember a time that the players came together and celebrated the peace and healing of time.
November 9, 2009 at 1:40 pm
Scott,
I agree with all you wrote. Our City motto is tied to our history, we have “historic” old Town, etc. It make more then perfect sense to take advantage of our local history to attract more visitors. Just like the effect Ken Burns’ series had on the interest I’d like to see other ways to raise money too, not just have us pay for it in tax money, but also with fund raisers etc. My only concern for all of this is that both sides of the story is given, and that political correctness not get in the way. We must not forget the way the North treated the local citizens after the Confederates left the area. The local citizens were subjected to very harsh treatement, homes, stock, etc was taken at will and people were treated very poorly.
November 9, 2009 at 1:44 pm
In 1911 the Manassas used the Jubilee as a major marketing tool. Just go to the Bull Run Regional Library and look at the Messenger on microfilm during the week of the jubilee. Several editions were printed with “the pretty houses of Manassas.” Photos of essentially all the houses in old town were included. Something like 30,000 people came to visit. President Taft spoke on the old courthouse lawn, and then had lunch at Judge Thorton’s resident, on Grant Ave. by the corner of Grant and Mosby (the current Wilson residence).
November 9, 2009 at 3:19 pm
Councilman- This $100,000 for the Civil War event, is it coming from the museums budget? I’m concerned about spending extra dollars when the City has laid off staff. I also have a concern about our Fire Department. A friend mentioned to me that we need to spend over $1,000,000 for a new truck! How can that be?
November 9, 2009 at 4:02 pm
Com is right “We must not forget the way the North treated the local citizens after the Confederates left the area”. But we also must remember how the local citizens treated our black brothers for so many years; rape, murder, bondage, beatings, separation of familys and list goes on and on. So councilman, how sure are you that we will re-coup our investment and how soon? I trust your judgement.
November 9, 2009 at 5:07 pm
Although I’m not a resident of Manassas, I would suggest that funding a new 11 grand line item for something that I would perceive as a want and not a need, will be the epitaph on your political headstone. Its the wrong time, wrong economy and quite frankly smells just a bit.
November 9, 2009 at 5:08 pm
oops, 100 grand.
BTW, Creston, good luck getting a quarter of a million from the county, I am a resident there and will bury any supervisor who signs on to such a notion.
November 9, 2009 at 6:49 pm
Andy, Creston, thank God for people of vision!
Who do we send donations to?
CAPAC, an arts group based out of Woodbridge has produced an excellent play based on the life of Jennie Dean. It was written by Lawrence Dulin. I would love to see that play as part of any commemoration in 2011 or beyond. The cast of teenage actresses and the dance choreography was phenomenal. They performed a scene as part of a commemoration event at Harpers Ferry.
November 10, 2009 at 6:59 am
Also, you can seek out corporate sponsors as community partners in this. Norfolk Southern’s predecessor company owned the railroad that brought Longstreet’s soldiers from Delaplane to Manassas for the first battle. NS and companies like them may want to play a role.
November 10, 2009 at 7:04 am
confused, et.al.: the money for this is not coming from the museum budget. I don’t know enough to characterize the museum’s role in this but they are somewhat engaged. As to the risk of the event; this event is being created by the same group that brings you the big events in old town. There were 50k people in OTM for a very well organized and executed Fall Jubilee. Is there risk? sure but these guys have a pretty damn good record….
November 10, 2009 at 8:30 am
Sounds a lot like the rationalization of an admitted risk at a time when local jurisdictions have little margin for error.
November 10, 2009 at 9:06 am
Another word for “rationalization” is “reason.” The 150th anniversary is a huge opportunity for us. We should jump on this opportunity and milk it for all it is worth. Our town is inextricably tied to the civil war. It (and old town and the railroad) is an essential part of our DNA. We need to play this up for all the obvious reasons.
As to risk, a few few perhaps trite observations: No risk, no reward; There is also risk in terms of missed opportunity. This is an opportunity we must not miss. I prefer a proactive stance and, on a personal level, would avoid the status quo.
November 10, 2009 at 3:10 pm
The group presented a very well thought out plan last night to the Council. They have specific events planned, and are of course looking at the thousands of visitors that will be in the area that week and years to come. This is not an ongoing cost to the City, it’s a one time expense with conditions attached to the request.
They want to use the City as the focus, and not the County, which IMO is a benefit to us as well, and one we can and should take advantage of.
November 10, 2009 at 5:07 pm
Despite the negative opinions of some non City residents, I as a City resident support this effort Andy. I can only hope that my employment opportunities allow me to stay in the City long enough to see it come to fruition.
I would say that this is an opportunity with FAR more potential for long term benefit to the City than that Center for the Arts boondoggle.
November 11, 2009 at 1:42 pm
“One of the most inspiring sights ever seen in Manassas was
the long line of gray-haired and gray-clad veterans of the
Confederacy, who marched through the streets of Manassas
Tuesday as guest of the town and county for a few hours
during the reunion. Many soldier hats of Confederate gray
were decorated with narrow bands of the red, white and blue.
Their love and reverence for the Stars and Bars is warm and
strong as in the days of ’61, but their allegiance to Old Glory,
the flag of their fathers and the their flag of today, is none
the less strong and sure…. Time brings many changes, but few
of them should make us happier as a nation than the feeling
of unity which the years and events have brought to the
followers of Lee and Grant”
The Manassas Journal
(June 8,1917)
November 11, 2009 at 2:58 pm
Off topic, but cleaning out old clippings and ran across this one –
thought some of you might find it of interest.
WHAT MANASSAS NEEDS
A town hall.
A town park.
Water works.
Electric lights.
A sewer system.
A clean-up day
A night watchman
A summer chautauqua
Cement sidewalks
Better support for local athletic events
A town band
Better fire protection. The department is efficient, but the
equipment and water supply are inadequate.
The enforcement of the ordinance prohibiting the running at large
of live stock within the town limits.
Manassas Democrat (April 20, 1911)
And almost 99 years later?
November 11, 2009 at 7:26 pm
The grounds of Annaburg Manor would be perfect for that summer chautauqua, Steve. People used to gather for picnics there.
November 11, 2009 at 7:59 pm
That must have been a great sight to see the Confederate Veterans.
November 11, 2009 at 11:27 pm
Of course All these Civil War soldiers are long since gone, and it can’t be long before our last WW1 veteran departs from us too.
Frank W. Buckles of Jefferson County WV is America’s last remaining documented World War I Veteran. He attended Wednesday’s ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery. 108 years old.
Let us never forget the sacrifices of those who served.
November 12, 2009 at 8:58 am
Why dredge up the past of who did someone wrong? That seems so small, petty and non-productive. CoM, I don’t think you probably want to turn over that rock.
November 12, 2009 at 5:58 pm
Firestorm,
It was part of the war, why should it not be brought up? There are plenty of resources that look at how slaves were impacted by the war, but very few if any resources that cover exactly how the Yankees treated the local Citizens.
For example did you know Order number 11 that was issued by Yankee General, Pope, called for the arrest of “disloyal” male citizens, but did not establish exactly what was considered disloyal behavior. Those men could then be sent further South. How families were removed from their homes and left with nothing. History is not always nice, but it should be talked about nevertheless.
November 12, 2009 at 8:26 pm
What is gained from ‘the other side’ being part of the festiviites?
November 12, 2009 at 8:57 pm
Firestorm,
Because we are a united Nation now, and we should allow the Yanks to come back and spend money. ;-0
November 18, 2009 at 5:01 pm
Highly recommended (and I urge you to contribute if able):
http://www.historyanimated.com/BullRunAnimation.html
http://www.historyanimated.com/ManassasTwoAnimation.html
Seeing the entirety of both battles animated in such a way brings them to life far more than static maps in a book or on a web page!
November 27, 2009 at 6:16 pm
..]another must read source of information on this subjectis ,harrover.com,..]