Speaking Before the Warren County Board of Supervisors About the Royal Visit

Today, during public comment before the Warren County Board of Supervisors, I briefly spoke about the April 30, 2026, Royal Visit by King Charles III and Queen Camilla and suggested that some form of annual recognition or remembrance might be worth exploring in the future.

My comment itself was intentionally very short. I only had three minutes total and had originally attended the meeting to speak about unrelated county issues involving airport hangars, loans, and the delayed audit. Before shifting to those topics, however, I wanted to take a moment to publicly acknowledge the Royal Visit and thank the Sheriff’s Office, public safety personnel, organizers, volunteers, and everyone else involved in coordinating an event that brought extraordinary attention and energy to Front Royal and Warren County.

I also suggested an annual recognition tied to the visit, potentially involving both the town and the county, and recognizing the locations visited throughout the region.

The responses afterward from Supervisors Tony Carter and Cheryl Cullers were encouraging. Supervisor Carter acknowledged the positive publicity generated by the event and noted that discussions about annual recognition were already continuing. Supervisor Cullers expressed support for some form of yearly remembrance and mentioned looking forward to working with “all the powers that be” to explore possibilities.

What has fascinated me most over the past several days is how many different perspectives have emerged as this conversation has spread throughout the community.

Some people strongly believe any future event should remain tightly focused on the Royal Visit itself and specifically tied to April 30th each year. Others envision something broader involving heritage tourism, local history, cultural programming, and partnerships throughout Warren County and Front Royal. Some people imagine a large festival. Others believe a parade would make more sense. Some suggest permanent memorials, such as plaques, trees, historical markers, or exhibits, instead of annual events altogether.

Interestingly, one of the most common themes I continue hearing from people is that the event worked because it felt unique. Many residents have emphasized that Front Royal is the only American town where the King and Queen participated in such a direct public block-party-style visit during the Virginia 250 events. Several people have compared the situation to other communities that became nationally known for singular traditions or annual commemorations tied to memorable moments in local history.

At the same time, practical concerns continue surfacing as well. Business owners and residents have pointed out the realities of scheduling events in springtime, overlap with existing regional festivals, Main Street closures, parking limitations, costs, and volunteer coordination. Others have emphasized that the county and town should work together cooperatively rather than competing over ownership of the idea itself.

One former supervisor commented online that tourists generally do not recognize municipal boundaries and that the event should involve both the town and county because “we really are one.” That observation has stayed with me because it reflects something I have increasingly noticed myself doing in these conversations.

One thing I deliberately chose not to mention during public comment was the petition itself. While the petition has continued to grow steadily and generate considerable discussion online and in person, the raw number of signatures still did not feel significant enough to formally present as evidence of overwhelming public momentum before the Board of Supervisors. At the moment, what feels more important than the numbers themselves is the level of genuine public discussion around the idea.

In many ways, the petition has already succeeded in doing what I originally hoped it would accomplish: getting people talking.

I continue to hear from business owners, local residents, tourism advocates, historians, nonprofit organizations, elected officials, and community groups who all seem to recognize that the Royal Visit was unusual for the area. The challenge now is determining whether any long-term ideas should emerge from that moment and, if so, what form they should realistically take.

Yesterday evening, before the Front Royal Town Council work session, I also sent an email thanking the Town for the enormous amount of work that clearly went into helping coordinate the Royal Visit and expressing appreciation for the positive visibility it brought to the community. Although the work session agenda itself did not include a discussion of the visit, one council member responded shortly before the meeting began, thanking me for expressing gratitude and acknowledging the message personally.

That response may seem small, but moments like that have helped reinforce something I continue noticing throughout this entire process: people are listening.

Whether this ultimately becomes an annual parade, a heritage event, a commemorative marker, a preservation project, a tourism initiative, or simply an important historical memory that the community continues discussing for years to come, it is clear that the Royal Visit left a lasting impression on many people throughout Front Royal and Warren County.

For now, the conversations continue.

Transcript (auto-generated)

Lewis Moten Public Comment

Good afternoon.

My name is Lewis Moten of North River District. First off, thank you for this support with the sheriff’s office, police, everybody from April 30th with the royal visit. I would like some kind of official recognition of that event, preferably annually, maybe something with an event involving the whole county as well as the town with everywhere that they visited. Thank you.

Supervisor Tony Carter Response

I thought the town did a very good job. They did a great job keeping it under wraps for as long as they did. It really was well attended. We got a lot of good press out of it and I know there’s some discussion on what to do with something like this on an annual basis. So those uh discussions will continue

Supervisor Cheryl Cullers Response

and I do like your idea of some kind of a yearly remembrance of that. And so look forward to working with all the powers that be to see how we can do