About the Bluemont Citizens Association
Who We Are
Initiated in 1955, the Bluemont Citizens Association (BCA) is structured as a neighborhood association, dedicated to the betterment of the Bluemont community, namely the protection, celebration, and preservation of our rural heritage and character. As an unincorporated village, Bluemont collects no municipal taxes.
The Bluemont Fair
The BCA is the rock that supports the Bluemont Fair, held annually during the third weekend in September. The all-volunteer-organized fair began in 1970, and generates funding for all BCA projects, including many charitable activities. Proceeds from the Fair also fund Bluemont’s modest but essential infrastructure, including sidewalks, streetlights, and the maintenance of the E.E. Lake Store. Cynthia Morris and Jen Stone have ably chaired the Bluemont Fair since 2016.
The Bluemont Citizens Association
The BCA is a 501(c)4 organization that serves mainly residents of the Bluemont zip code (20135 in Loudoun, Clarke, and Jefferson Counties) or with a 540-554-xxxx telephone number. Community meetings are held the first Wednesday of the month at 7:00 pm at the Bluemont Community Center, 33846 Snickersville Turnpike. All are welcome to attend and give their input. The monthly BCA meeting is a good place to air an idea—and often, to get support for it.
The current (2021) elected BCA officers are:
President Peter Weeks
Vice-
President Lisa Seeberger
Treasurer Dave Ewald
Secretary Michelle Condon
Trustees Charley Billman, John Constant, John Sullivan
The BCA Serves Bluemont in Many Ways
As an unincorporated area, Bluemont operates through the volunteer tradition. There are many local organizations, and most are in touch with the BCA in one way or another.
In 2014, the BCA backed the idea of a free party for Bluemonters—the Bluemont Spring Fling—which has now become an annual event.
The local historical association, the Friends of Bluemont, has received considerable support from the BCA for its project to restore the Snickersville Academy (1825), Bluemont’s first school and church. Friends of Bluemont functions under the title Bluemont Heritage.
Partnering with Loudoun County, the BCA has obtained several grants, mostly public funding, to preserve the historic E. E. Lake Store. The county holds the property title, while Bluemont Heritage plays a managerial role.
The BCA has taken formal positions on issues that impact our community—for example, petitioning the Loudoun Zoning Board to waive a requirement that would have forced the Village Montessori School (then preparing to open) to install an asphalt walkway all along the front of its property. (This requirement would have sacrificed several mature trees and old stone walls.) More recently, BCA lobbied the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors to fund speed-readout cameras for the village.
Until he passed away, Henry Plaster—Chairman of the Snickersville Turnpike Association (STA)—was a regular at BCA meetings who acts as watchdog and advocate with the Virginia Department of Transportation (V-DOT) for Bluemont road maintenance. In recent years, the BCA helped fund the STA-spearheaded historical markers placed from Aldie to Bluemont on the historic turnpike.
Jen Stone manages the Bluemont area email list. To be included on the list, email jenclark [@] stonefrog.com.
The BCA also organizes local road trash cleanup under the auspices of Keep Loudoun Beautiful (KLB) every April and October. The BCA has been awarded an “Adopt-a-Highway” certificate as a result of these volunteer efforts.
The BCA purchases the bedding plants for the village flower barrels in spring, which are set out and watered during dry spells through volunteer efforts, refreshing them with colorful fall chrysanthemums just in time for the Bluemont Fair.
The BCA sponsors local community forums with members of the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors and planning and zoning staff.
The Bluemont Citizens Association performs much charitable work. The BCA supports neighbors in need of assistance, providing Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners, giving Christmas presents to children of local families in difficult circumstances, making donations to local food banks, supporting the Volunteer Fire Department, donating two chairs at the Franklin Park Arts Center, and responding to special requests for assistance for day care children at the Community Center.
The Association also awards scholarships to local graduating seniors—more than $11,000.00 was distributed in 2023. To qualify, seniors must live within the 20135 zip code or have a 554- phone prefix, and have demonstrated some interest and pride in their hometown—for example, volunteering to help with the Spring Fling, Bluemont Fair, or litter pick-ups.
To find out what’s going on in Bluemont, to propose a civic project, to get buy-in for your own pet project, to make an announcement, to work with people on local affairs, or to simply meet your neighbors—come to one of the monthly BCA meetings.