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Middleburg business group reports growth, asks council to keep 2025 promotion funding level
Summary
The Middleburg Business and Professional Association told the council it has expanded event promotion and digital reach and asked the town to match prior-year funding for 2025.
Miss Lee, representing the Middleburg Business and Professional Association, told the Town Council the group has kept annual membership between 25 and 130 over the past decade and has expanded public-facing promotions.
“The Middleburg Business and Professional Association started back in the sixties and has had definite highs and lows. But over the past 10 years, it has maintained 25 to 130 members annually,” Miss Lee said during the council meeting.
Katie Carter, who presented social-media and web metrics, said the association’s digital audience grew in 2024. “We had a gain of almost 800 followers to our Facebook page last year compared to 2023,” Carter said, and added Instagram growth of “just over a thousand new followers.” Carter said the MBPA’s website, middleburgva.com, recorded about 99,000 active users last year, with a strong seasonal spike in October through December.
The association listed the events, programs and promotional tools it runs or supports: monthly “biz buzz” gatherings (average attendance 65–80), an annual event card and monthly calendar cards with QR links to the online events calendar, a duty-officer phone card for businesses, kids’ coat drives, National Night Out, four seasonal sales, classic-car gatherings, Juneteenth brunch, Small Business Saturday, the town tree lighting and Dickens Christmas events, carriage rides, and community hospitality efforts such as free hot chocolate weekends. The MBPA also plans to add a Middleburg Chili Bowl contest in September 2025, with a mayor’s choice and people’s choice award.
MBPA presenters named board members and town partners, including Eugene LaCouture (Emmanuel), Tammy Erickson (7 Loaves), Robin Klombers (Posh Pixies), Carrie Bowman (Salamander Resort), Natalie Femia (Los Beryl), Jefferson Van Allen (Goodstone), Deb Roswell (town resident representative) and Ali from town staff.
Miss Lee closed the presentation by thanking the council for prior financial support and asking the council to “do the same amount of financial support for 2025.” Council members responded with praise for the group’s volunteer work and its role in drawing visitors and supporting small businesses.
The presentation had no formal vote attached; MBPA representatives said they would return for follow-up if the council wanted more detail about specific line items.
Looking ahead, Carter said the MBPA will continue to promote weekday visits and professional-service businesses in addition to retail and dining, and will keep using the QR-enabled events calendar to update visitors when events change.
The council heard the MBPA report during the public presentation portion of the meeting and asked follow-up questions about promotions and event support.
