The Warrenton Board of Aldermen on Aug. 5 approved road closures for the Warrenton High School homecoming parade on Oct. 5, 2025, and for the Fall Festival on Sept. 20, 2025.
Board members said the parade will use the same route as previous years. An alderman asked organizers to meet briefly with police ahead of the parade to prevent traffic backups after a previous event where new fair members blocked traffic flow. “I can have them contact the chief of police,” an alderman said when requesting pre‑event coordination.
On the Fall Festival, staff described an approximate street‑closure window tied to stage setup and tear‑down and noted that the festival will reopen streets once the stage is removed. The staff schedule shows early morning closure for setup and reopening overnight after teardown. Performers announced for the festival at the meeting included Jodi Messina, Butch Wax and Alex Bay.
Funding and attendance: City staff clarified that the Fall Festival is funded by tourism (hotel/motel) tax revenues rather than the city’s general sales tax and noted that tourism funds have restrictions on eligible spending. One board member asked that the board revisit the rules for tourism‑funded events in a future work session. The board also asked staff to consult the tourism committee so members understand allowable uses and priorities.
Attendance data: When asked for attendance figures for the previous five years, staff said the city does not track gate counts for the open festival and cannot provide accurate historic attendance numbers; a board member offered a rough estimate of 2,000–3,000 attendees, but staff cautioned that was only a guess.
Car show and programming: Board discussion included whether to bring back a car show; members discussed scaling award categories and potentially contracting with a dedicated car‑show organizer if space and vendor counts allow. The board approved both road closure requests on roll call votes (parade and fall festival each approved 6–0).
Next steps: Staff will coordinate with police and event organizers to confirm routes, flow, and staging and will bring tourism‑fund rules to the board in a future workshop as requested.