Jeff Taylor

2024 has been a spectacular year for night skywatchers. We’ve had the greatest shows of the aurora borealis in at leasta generation. For me, growing up in Tacoma, I had never seen them before in my 50 years on this planet. We have had amazing meteor showers and now we have a comet visiting us for the first time since Hale Bopp in 1997. However, for so many of us, the ability to see these phenomena have been obscured by our neighbors and our community who have not been paying attention or who fail to see the value of dark skies.

Belle Grove Plantation south of Middletown will be open for free tours of the Manor House in conjunction with the Battle of Cedar Creek commemoration from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

Ravenwood Faire volunteer Sophia Ralls strikes a distressed pose with a large dragon at the Frederick County Fairgrounds in Clear Brook on Friday as the Ravenwood Faire presented by the Ravenwood Foundation gets underway for the weekend. The medieval fair will also be held Oct. 25-27. Hours are Friday from 3-9 p.m., Saturday from 10 a.m.-7 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. For more information visit https://ravenwoodfaire.us/.

A bright, large moon hangs in the western sky Monday morning and looks like it's going to be swallowed by a mooing cow sign at Cloverdale Farms, home of the Cloverdale Barn wedding venue, at 2368 Cedar Creek Grade in Frederick County.

Winchester's popular pickleball courts were busy in the pleasant fall weather Thursday morning, with all of the six courts in Jim Barnett Park in use. The courts opened on Sept. 25. Pickleball has been deemed the fastest-growing participant sport in America by the Sports and Fitness Industry Association for the past three years.

ABOVE: A squirrel dines on fresh pumpkin for breakfast courtesy a front yard jack-o’-lantern off Handley Avenue in Winchester Wednesday morning. LEFT: A crocodile skeleton devours a pumpkin on the front porch of a South Braddock Street home.

Click here to view this article from winchesterstar.

Click here to view this article from winchesterstar.

In one of the few swing states this election, the GOP is nominating people who "rock the boat and punch a hole in the boat every day." Why?

Eric Chrisman (left), vice chairman of the Winchester Electoral Board, and Bret Barton, an employee with the City of Winchester Facilities Maintenance Department, load polling place items into the back of a truck at the Winchester registrar’s office on North East Lane on Monday in preparation for Election Day, which is today. Polling places in Virginia will be open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. The Winchester Star plans to publish election results online tonight, if available. It’s unlikely that results will be received in time for Wednesday’s print edition.