Hi Neighbors! Last year’s Community Yard Sale was such a hit that we are going to do it the same way this year. Rather than dragging your treasures to the Triangle by 7-Eleven, you can sell your wares at your own home on the same date as all your neighbors. Please fill out this form to participate in the King’s Grant Community Yard Sale. The sale will be held on Saturday, May 4 from 8 AM to 2 PM. Your address will be added to a list of King’s Grant neighbors who will be having a yard sale on this date. A map and list with the categories you selected will be advertised to our community via the KGCL.org web site, the KGCL mailing list, KGCL Facebook Page, Nextdoor, QR codes on signs throughout the neighborhood, and posted on various yard/ garage sale websites. You would be responsible for any additional advertising and signage to your personal sale. There is no cost to participate so we hope you will join us for this fantastic neighborhood event
A meeting will be held at King’s Grant Baptist Church at 7:00 pm on Thursday, February 15th. Our guest speaker will be Ms. Julia Tomaszewski, an Intelligence Analyst with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Norfolk Field Office. Ms. Tomaszewski will speak about cyber crime with emphasis on the tactics used by criminals to target senior citizens. The FBI reports that cyber scams are always evolving so it is good to know what to look for and how to protect yourself. Whether you think of yourself as a senior or have a family member you worry about, this topic should be of interest to you.
A recent interview of Mr. Brian Dugan, Special Agent in Charge of the Norfolk Field Office, discussed the rising instances of “sextortion” in our area. This often involves young social media users – typically in ages 14-17. Ms. Tomaszewski can also address this facet of criminal activity. Do you have young folks in your home with smart phones? Pay attention.
Members and non-members (who we hope will become members) are invited to attend.
Santa is returning to Witt Park on Sunday afternoon December 16th. The King’s Grant Community League is hosting a visit by Santa in the park so that he may meet all the neighborhood boys and girls. He will arrive at 4:30 PM. We had quite a line of children waiting to see Santa last year, but don’t worry … Santa will stay to see everyone.
The KCGL will serve hot cocoa. We invite our visitors to bring a plate of their favorite cookies or another holiday treat (finger food) to share. We will have a large tent with tables to keep treats out of the weather. There will be two firepits for people to enjoy the warmth of the fires. We will bring marshmallows for those who want to toast them at the fires. (We will have a limited number of sticks for toasting marshmallows, so you may want to fashion your own stick and bring it along.) Adults without children are invited to join the fun, too.
We are excited to have a volunteer DJ at the park this year to keep us entertained with holiday music, so don’t miss this fun family event.
Park along Kings Grant Rd or on one of the nearby streets.
The King’s Grant Independence Day Parade and Picnic is Tuesday July 4th beginning at 11:00am. You do not need to RSVP … just show up ready to have some family fun. Last year’s turnout was great, so let’s keep the momentum. Everything is centered around Witt Park on King’s Grant Rd. It starts with a parade around the lake. Prizes will be awarded in three age groups for the best patriotic decor bicycle. There will also be a single award for the best decorated vehicle that is not a bike (stroller, golf cart, lawn mower, wagon, etc.). The effort given to decorate bicycles for the parade is always amazing. We’d love to have more vintage/collectible/dressed up vehicles, too. After the parade, we will picnic in the park with hot dogs, pizza donated by Marco’s, watermelon, and whatever our neighbors can bring to share (dessert or salad). There will be several competitions (i.e. watermelon seed spitting, water balloon toss, bubblegum blowing). A coupon for a free Slurpie from 7-Eleven will be given to every child who participates in the parade. All the details are in the flyer posted on the KGCL Facebook page (www.facebook.com/KGCL.org). This is also where we will keep everyone up to date if there are any last minute changes.
The King’s Grant Community League (KGCL) is coordinating a neighborhood-wide yard sale event on Saturday, May 6th. If you live in King’s Grant and are thinking of having a yard sale to give your unwanted or unneeded items a new purpose, then read on. If you are the type of person who enjoys visiting yard sales, then read on.
We are doing our spring yard sale event differently this year. You set up in your yard, driveway, or garage. Your sale will be coordinated with numerous others in the neighborhood. The KGCL will provide an on-line map showing each participating home’s address and location along with a short statement of what type of goods are for sale. Our neighborhood event will be advertised on our KGCL social media and other outlets. There is no charge to join in. All you need to do is complete the information sheet (which asks for your address and a summary of what you plan to sell) and return it to the KGCL. We will get a link to that form posted shortly. Participation is limited to homes within the boundaries of King’s Grant. If you receive our fall newsletter, then you are within our boundaries. If you are not sure, then contact us.
This event replaces the community yard sale that we held on the open lawn in front of the King’s Grant 7-Eleven and Exxon (the “Triangle”) for the past dozen years. We know that transporting large quantities of stuff to the Triangle was a burden that deterred many potential participants. So, now you can set up at your place and know that your sale has visibility to potential shoppers.
In the event of inclement weather, there will be no make-up date. You can decide how you want to hold your sale. The KGCL will still produce the map for all who are participating.
Sidenote: The Middle Plantation neighborhood will also be holding their annual yard sale day on May 6 using the same “at home” model. That should result in even more bargain hunters in the community.
Due to a schedule conflict, District 8 City Councilman Chris Taylor is unable to attend our February 16, 2023 meeting as was noted in our winter newsletter. We are very pleased that newly elected District 8 School Board Member David Culpepper will be our guest. He has graciously stepped up on short notice and offered to make remarks and take our questions. There is a lot of news involving the public schools in our region, and Virginia Beach is no exception. Learning standards, course curricula, building security, student safety, library books, and teacher recruiting/retention are among the topics we regularly see in the news. Whether you are a parent of school age children, a parent of grown children wondering what is going on, a supporter of our teachers, a taxpayer wondering where the money goes, or all of these; there should be something here for you. Our meeting begins at 7:00 PM at King’s Grant Baptist Church. Please enter the church building near the rear of the parking lot on the side that is opposite the Fire Station next door (the same lot where the farmers’ market sets up). There will be some signs to direct you but they can be hard to see after dark. Come join for a good session…maybe you can coax a TOPGUN story from him, too, because “he’s been there and done that”.
David Culpepper was elected to the Virginia Beach School Board in November 2022 and assumed office last month. He represents District 8 which encompasses all of the Little Neck peninsula.
Mr. Culpper spent most of the last 35 years wearing a Navy uniform. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy with a degree in Aeronautical Engineering and served as a Naval Aviator for most of his career. He was stationed at NAS Oceana after initial flight training and flew the F-14 Tomcat. Through subsequent duty assignments and deployments, Virginia Beach was home and the place where he would return with his family to live whenever duty assignments permitted. His daughter is a senior in our city’s public schools.
He is a former TOPGUN instructor, a period he calls, “The single greatest flying experience of my career.” Other notable experiences are command of an F/A-18 Hornet squadron in Japan, and later command of the Naval Station at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Our fall newsletter summarized the project that we are in partnership with the City of Virginia Beach and the Lynnhaven Heritage Garden Club to replace trees in a portion of the median of Kings Grant Rd. The graphic shows where the city will be replacing trees in the coming months and what varieties will be planted.
Please join us for our fall meeting on Thursday evening, October 20th at 7pm. We will be at King’s Grant Baptist Church (873 Little Neck Rd). Look for signs that will direct you to the meeting room near the back of the church building. Our guest speaker this month will be from the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). So, you wonder why this is relevant to you … good question. Actually, this topic was suggested by one of our members. We probably all know someone – family, neighbor, co-worker, friend – who struggles with some aspect of mental illness. Many people find it difficult to know how to approach persons that exhibit signs of illness. Our speaker from NAMI will touch on topics that include:
Myths & truths about mental illness
Signs to look for in loved ones
Helpful conversations to have
Suicide – what to watch for, what to do
Stigma – how to combat it
NAMI’s free programs for people living with a mental health condition and their family members
We will also present our budget for the year. It includes a contribution to the tree replacement project in a portion of the median of King’s Grant Rd. Come to find out more. If you have not been to one of our meetings, please come and meet your volunteer Officers and Directors. And, we’d like to meet you!
The King’s Grant 4th of July parade and picnic is back this year. We missed the last two years because of COVID gathering restrictions imposed on public events, but not this year. We have a limited number of small give-aways for the kids (patriotic pinwheels, beads, and kazoos). Prizes will be awarded for the best decorated vehicles (bicycles, golf carts, strollers, wagons, etc.) with judging handled by our roving judges just before the start of the parade. Local stores have plenty of patriotic bling on the shelves to dress up bicycles, golf carts, lawn mowers, strollers, vintage cars, motorcycles, and whatever else walks, rides or rolls. Don’t wait too long!
The parade starts at Witt Park at 11:00AM and loops around the lake. It is a leisurely walk or ride of about 1 1/4 miles, ending back where we started. Participants will assemble in the Blue Ridge Court cul-de-sac beginning at 10:45. Vintage automobiles, decorated automobiles and motorcycles, and riding lawn mowers are welcome. We expect to be led by the fire truck from Station 20 of the VBFD. Come … make some noise … celebrate our nation’s Independence Day. Participating vehicles (cars, trucks, motorcycles) should line up northbound along the curb of King’s Grant Rd just short of Witt Park and NOT go into Blue Ridge Ct. Golf carts are OK in Blue Ridge Ct.
The parade will be followed with some food and children’s games in the park. The KGCL will provide hot dogs, watermelon, chips, and water. Marco’s pizza is donating 20 pizzas (if prior events are a good predictor, the pizza will go fast). Although it is not necessary, adults are asked to bring something simple to share – cookies, chips and dip, etc. The participants will appreciate your generosity. Included in the picnic agenda is raising the Star Spangled Banner at the park while the national anthem is played. Persons with kazoos are welcome to help belt out the national anthem.
Prizes will be awarded to champions of the children’s competitions. These include a bubblegum blowing contest and a watermelon seed spitting contest.
We need several “traffic monitors” to guard the intersections as our parade passes. If you live along our route and can just pull a traffic cone (that we supply) into the road as the parade approaches and remove it when it has passed, then you are the perfect candidate. Seriously, though, we do need a few helping hands and the work will not distract from your viewing of the parade as it passes. We can also use more judges for the contests. It’s a great way to interact with the kids. If you can help, please call Steve Nimitz (757-348-7920).
The KGCL is meeting this Thursday, May 19th, at 7PM. We will meet at King’s Grant Baptist Church. Why not come to the Farmers Market and then slide right inside for our meeting?
We have two guests who will fill you in with all sorts of useful information. First up is Captain Wilkerson, Commanding Officer of the Third Precinct of the VBPD. There is some information floating around on social media about reduced police patrols in our area. Captain Wilkerson will give you the real story, and I am sure he will take other questions and comments that you have been itching to make. We don’t often get an opportunity for the Precinct Captain to come to our meeting.
Our second guest is Mr. Vince Bowhers. He is the Landscape & Living Shoreline Coordinator for Lynnhaven River Now. LRNow occasionally offers free rain barrels, landscaping assistance, and other programs to homeowners in the Lynnhaven River watershed. He will tell you how to get in on the action and how/why LRNow is investing in our community. There are some good deals here but, when offered, they don’t last long. You do not need to live on the waterfront to take advantage of these programs.
We hope our members received their spring KGCL newsletter in the mail two weeks ago. I offer my special thanks to those who cannot attend the meeting who returned a signed proxy. I still need a dozen more to reach the quorum requirement to conduct our routine business. So ….. if you cannot attend, please return your proxy before Thursday. The simplest way is to complete the form, scan it, and email it back (board@kgcl.org). Or you can take a photo of the completed proxy and text it to me at 757-348-7920.
On last thing: Because the Farmers Market will be winding down as guests for the meeting arrive, the church asked us to use the entrance closest to the fire station. Park on that side, too. There will be some small signs directing you to the correct entrance.
