Andrew Hollins

Mar 7, 2025 | dailyprogress.com | Andrew Hollins

Our modern Hallowe’en has its roots in the Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced “SAH-wen”), the biggest of the four yearly fire festivals. It marks the end of the harvest and the beginning of the darkest quarter of the year. While it’s somehow survived Puritanism, the Inquisition, and even the “satanic panic” of the 1980’s but not without its share of changes. In the 5th Century, the Pope tried to move it to mid-May, but it didn’t stick.

Mar 7, 2025 | dailyprogress.com | Andrew Hollins

To celebrate the 150th Anniversary of the Incorporation of the Town of Orange, local historian and documentarian, Phil Audibert, has spent the better part of the past year working on “Unqualified Promise,” a film about the history of Orange County. If the name sounds familiar, it’s because Audibert was featured heavily in the October 25 editorial about Edna Lewis.

Mar 7, 2025 | dailyprogress.com | Andrew Hollins

Spanberger managed to stave off the expected “red wave” last week, winning her third term as a U.S. House Representative with a larger margin than both of her previous elections combined. With 52% of the vote, Spanberger will continue to serve the newly redrawn 7th District in Congress in spite of fierce competition from Prince William County Supervisor Yesli Vega.

Mar 7, 2025 | dailyprogress.com | Andrew Hollins

The seventh annual Quad County Business Summit went off without a hitch last week at Louisa’s Shenandoah Crossings Resort, just over the Orange County line, near Gordonsville, with Louisa’s Southern Revere brewery and winery coming away as the winner of “QuadTank,” a localized version of “Shark Tank.”The half-day event on Oct.

Mar 7, 2025 | dailyprogress.com | Andrew Hollins

Last week’s Board of Supervisors meeting featured a mixed report from Jeff Mendonca, president of the Volunteer Fire Chiefs Association, who listed inflation and supply chain issues as well as red tape and bureaucracy as problems that were affecting county fire and rescue operations. First was the good news: volunteer numbers were reported last quarter at 144, and this year had climbed to 156.