Welcome, Louise Keeton!

Downtown Ashland Association is proud to announce our new Marketing Director, Louise Keeton, will join the team on March 20, 2023. Keeton is an Ashland native, communications professional, and founder of Whistle Stop Theatre Company. She will lead efforts to organize community events and attract visitors.

 Keeton is a communications professional specializing in digital strategies to promote local engagement. She was part of an award-winning team at Virginia Public Media and presented at PBS Tech Con.

 In addition, Keeton is the founder of Ashland’s own Whistle Stop Theatre Company, a non-profit, family run, community theatre group.  Since 2012, she and her team have provided quality entertainment that empowers, educates, and inspires audiences to develop their skills in empathy, literature, history, and imagination.

 For her work in communications and theatre, Louise Keeton was named one of the 2018 Women in the Arts by Richmond’s Style Weekly.

 We welcome Louise Keeton to the team at Downtown Ashland Association with all the fanfare of a homecoming! You can reach her at lou@ashlandvirginia.com.

Stories from the Center of the Universe

Host Paul Gilman speaks with entrepreneur Eddie Martinez-Cunion for ‘Stories from the Center of the Universe’ podcast.

Looking back at 2022, we celebrate Stories from the Center of the Universe podcast as a highlight! The podcast featured Downtown Ashland Association businesses in August 2022.

Each interviews tells the business’s story from founding to today. In conversation with host and Ashland native Paul Gilman, we learn some of the behind-the-scenes stories that make Downtown Ashland quaint and quirky.

 

LISTEN NOW

The 2022 Downtown Ashland Association podcast series spans Episodes 174 to 180 of Stories from the Center of the Universe.

 

The Downtown Ashland Association podcast series of 2021 serves as a prequel to these interviews, including seven entrepreneurs and the Association’s executive director.

 

THE SHOW

Stories from the Center of the Universe is available for free download on all major podcast outlets, including Apple, Spotify, and Google.

The podcast introduces its audience to each guest’s life story with reflection on their past, present, and future. The interviews demonstrate that people around us are more than what they seem, and the recordings preserve the mini autobiographies for future family and oral history.

Of course, the podcast’s name is adopted from the nickname for Ashland, Virginia, where in-person recording takes place. There is no measurable Center of the Universe, so it is nowhere and everywhere at once, and we feel free to claim the title.

2022 Special Offer

To thank our community for a wonderful year, Downtown Ashland Association will give away commemorative holiday ornaments to all donors December 15 through December 31, 2022!

The projects and programs of Downtown Ashland Association are made possible by investments from dedicated people like you. Please make a donation today, and we will offer you a free gift!

Our new holiday ornaments were custom designed by local artist Derek Wooden. The designs commemorate Light Up the Tracks as a signature annual event series hosted in the trackside historic district of Downtown Ashland.

If you did not purchase an ornament at one of our in-person events this year, the unique designs are only available through this special offer.

A very limited number of the silver 2022 commemorative design were produced. The ornaments feature six historic storefronts on the 100 Block of South Railroad Avenue—Caboose Market & Café, Bell Book & Candle, Tinder Guest House, Origin Beer Lab, and Tiny Tim’s Trains & Toys. Get them before they’re gone!

2022 brought new businesses, new neighbors, and new events to our town. We celebrate with you by offering our Light Up the Tracks ornaments as a free gift to all donors December 15 through December 31, 2022.

We appreciate all donations in support of Downtown Ashland Association’s year-round programming. The Association receives approximately 40% funding from the Town of Ashland, and relies on donations from neighbors and businesses to fulfill our budget. In short, the Town keeps our office open, while donors make the events and programs possible.

Hopefully, you’ve enjoyed Untold Stories, Ashland Train Day, Ashland Fourth Fridays, Ashland Halloween, and Light Up the Tracks with us in 2022. We look forward to continuing these free community events in 2023, thanks to your generous support!


Business Survey

We want your input! All business owners--big, small, new, old, part-time, and full-time--please take the five-minute online survey to help us improve support for entrepreneurs in Hanover County, VA.

Go to bit.ly/HanoverBiz to answer 12 questions.

Our goal is to help businesses in our community excel. Please take five minutes to help us better serve you. Based on your feedback, we will create workshops, write grants, and launch programs for small business owners.

Downtown Ashland Association is hosting this survey to learn more about the entrepreneurs in our community and how we can support business growth. Thanks to our partners the Richmond Federal Reserve, Dominion Energy Innovation Center, Hanover Chamber, the Town of Ashland, and Hanover County Economic Development for contributing to the project.

Our goal is to create an ecosystem in Ashland and Hanover County that encourages ALL entrepreneurs to succeed. Our first step is to solicit input from the whole community via the survey. The results will identify strengths and weaknesses in existing business support systems and point us toward more efficient and equitable programming for the future.

Survey responses are anonymous, but all participants have the option to provide their email in order to receive the survey results and information on future programs.

The survey will be open from November 29 to December 9, 2022. Please share the link with friends, family, and colleagues!

James River Nurseries spruces up England Street

James River Nurseries supports Downtown Ashland Association and the community. Owner Mike Hildebrand served on the Association’s board of directors until 2021, and donated the twelve planters along England Street to help unify the streetscape between Ashland Theatre and nearby businesses.  Recently, he donated plants and flowers from James River Nurseries farm on Ashland Road to replenish the planters. 

Pictured below: James River Nurseries’ horticulture specialists bringing the streetscape back to life on Friday, November 18, 2022.

“I love Ashland, it’s a great place” says Hildebrand. “There is so much going on, and things are really changing. Downtown is headed in a great direction, and I’m proud that we could help out a little bit.”

Hildebrand founded James River Nurseries in 1983. The company continues to be a family-owned landscape design and horticulture business, located on Ashland Road outside of the Town of Ashland in Hanover County. James River Nurseries grows all of its trees, shrubs, and plants here and on a nearby farm in Montpelier.

The company’s landscape designs include hardscapes for patios, walls, outdoor kitchens, driveways and walkways forboth residential and commercial customers. James River Nurseries provides turnkey service with designs that transform outdoor spaces.

Hildebrand explains the company’s customer-focused approach, 

“We will work with you one-on-one. We will update you and keep you part of the process from the initial meeting all the way until we finish the project. We will answer all questions regarding future maintenance. We stand behind you and our work, as we only use quality materials that have helped us build our customer loyalty and dependable reputation.”

James River Nurseries serves many commercial business customers. You’ll find their horticulture at Randolph-Macon College, Innsbrook, Windham, Wellesley, Hanover Airport, Virginia Capitol Square, and Dominion Energy’s headquarters in downtown Richmond. James River Nurseries takes pride in nearly 40 years of customer service that has brought many repeat customers.

Hildebrand is a well-known horticulturist across Virginia. He is recognized as a leader by Virginia Tech, Virginia Cooperative Extension, and the Virginia Agribusiness Council. A native of Winchester, Virginia, Hildebrand studied horticulture at Virginia Tech and is a leader in the agricultural community across the state.

Downtown Ashland Association is fortunate to have the support of Mike Hildebrand and James River Nurseries. Mike’s expertise has shaped the vision of Downtown Ashland, and we are fortunate to have his ongoing support.