The Warsaw Richmond County Chamber of Commerce and the Warsaw Fest 2026 Committee are proud to announce Tonya Murray as the Grand Marshal for the 2026 Grand Parade, taking place Saturday, October 10, 2026, at 2 p.m. The Chamber is excited to recognize her hard work, dedication, and unwavering commitment to the animals and citizens of Richmond County. Registration is now open for the 2026 Warsaw Fest Parade. Click the link to get all the details and sign up. Parade entry is FREE!

The Warsaw Richmond Chamber of Commerce is excited to invite local employers to a special evening of networking, great food, and valuable business resources on Friday, August 14, 2026, at 6:00 PM at Anna's Italian Restaurant & Pizza. We're pleased to welcome Jacob McCaleb, Business Services Representative for the Bay Consortium Workforce Development Board. Jacob is a tremendous resource for employers throughout the region and will be sharing updates on the many services the Bay Consortium Workforce Development Board offers to support local businesses. During the presentation, attendees will learn about workforce development programs, employer services, hiring resources, training opportunities, and new ways to strengthen partnerships between the Bay WIB team and our local business community. Whether you're looking to recruit employees, develop your current workforce, or simply learn about available resources, this session offers valuable information you can put to work for your business. This event is FREE and open to all local employers. Whether you're a Chamber member or not, we encourage you to attend and take advantage of this opportunity to connect with other business leaders while learning about programs designed to help your business succeed. We'll have food and beverages available for everyone. While alcoholic beverages will not be provided, guests are welcome to purchase their own if they wish. Event Details Date: Friday, August 14, 2026 Time: 6:00 PM Location: Anna's Italian Restaurant & Pizza Cost: FREE for all local employers We hope you'll join us for an informative and enjoyable evening. Bring your questions, network with fellow employers, and discover resources that can help your business grow. We look forward to seeing you there!

Just a few more days until the Summer Solstice and the first day of summer! Here are our June meeting updates: Taylor Mitchell from the Richmond County Fair Association joined us and shared lots of great ideas. Sara will be attending the next Fair meeting to discuss some fun partnership ideas! We approved donations for: $500 for the Richmond County-Essex Fireworks Committee $250 for a Wine & Whisker's Sponsorship. Contact @Karen Peterson for info on how you can be a sponsor or purchase tickets. We canceled our June networking event but have begun to plan our August Speaker series. Bay Workforce Investment Board will be presenting. Please be on the lookout for more information! We approved funding to maintain and continue our website with Directnic & WIX. A huge shoutout to @Deborah Newman for helping us keep costs down! We are also in the process of creating a quick questionnaire for members to fill out so we can make sure we properly recognize you on our website. Be on the lookout! Christmas is July is back! Registration will open on July 1st. The grant will be open for applications from July 1, 2026 thru July 31, 2026. We want to focus on our members and what you need by providing a Christmas in July Grant program. We are going to be offering up to $2000 in matching grant funding to members for related business "improvement" expenses (furniture, equipment, signage, etc), excluding payroll and operating expenses (utilities, rent/mortgage, etc). The expense cannot have been purchased/paid for prior to January 1, 2026. If you have already purchased the item, please include a receipt. If the item has not been purchased, please include a cost estimate. We will only approve up to half of the expense. Board Members are not eligible for the Christmas in July Grant. The grant will be open for applications from July 1, 2026 thru July 31, 2026. Grant winners will be chosen at the WRC Chamber of Commerce Board meeting in August. See the attached flyer or go to www.wrccoc.com/christmas-in-july for more information. Please make sure you have updated your membership for 2026. Join or renew here today: wrccoc.com/join-or-renew-now We have received memberships from the following businesses: Member 2026 List Al. Pugh Distributing Co., Inc. Alderman's Saw Shop, Inc AmeriCare Plus, LLC. Atlantic Union Bank Barbour Printing Services, Inc. Bay Consortium Workforce Investment Board Big City Chuckwagon Blue Ridge Bank Bowles Law Group, PLLC Boys & Girls Club of the Northern Neck Colonial Collectibles Cralle Insurance Agency Inc. Cuddlebugs Child Development Center Davenport & Company, LLC Dominion Energy DRP Collision DuPuy Poodles Feather Your Nest Garfield's Rescue, Inc Haven Shelter & Services Healthy Harvest Food Bank I Spy Boutique & Consignments Jean Light Julie Stanley @ Home Printing Kimberly A King Photography Menokin Napier Utilities Construction Naylors Beach & Campgrounds NNK Tax and Accounting LLC Northern Neck Electric Cooperative Northern Neck Senior Care Community Patrick Stone State Farm Petite Taway Inc Piney Grove Family Medicine Rainbow Self Storage Real Media, Inc. Relish Restaurant & Bar Rice-Packett Real Estate Agency Richmond County Richmond County Family YMCA Rise & Set Provisions Roy Rogers Stella-Jones Corp. The Beauty Bungalow LLC Town of Warsaw Warsaw Animal Clinic Warsaw Realty Warsaw-Richmond County Main Street Program Welch Funeral Home Willow Stitch Wynkoop Insurance Agency, LLC We have Warsaw Fest sponsorships from the following businesses. If you are still looking to sponsor and are not a member- consider joining and sponsoring in one easy payment through our membership renewal! Help sponsor Warsaw Fest here: wrccoc.com/sponsorship-opportunities. Sponsor 2026 List Alderman's Saw Shop, Inc AmeriCare Plus, LLC At Home Printing Bay Consortium Workforce Investment Board Colonial Collectibles Cralle Insurance Agency Inc. Cuddlebugs Child Development Center Dominion Energy DRP Collision Essex House Assisted Living Menokin Foundation Patrick Stone State Farm Real Media,Inc.- WRAR/WNNT Richmond County Roy Rogers Builders Stella-Jones Corp. The Highlander Studios/Keepsake Images Town of Warsaw W.C. Lowery, Inc. As always- if you have any questions, concern, or would like to join us for meeting, please feel free to contact us or join us for a meeting on the 2nd Monday of each month. Our next meeting is scheduled for July 13th at 6pm. We hope to see you there! Have a great month! Sara Carroll President Warsaw Richmond County Chamber of Commerce

Christmas is July is back! Registration will open on July 1st. The grant will be open for applications from July 1, 2026 thru July 31, 2026. We want to focus on our members and what you need by providing a Christmas in July Grant program. We are going to be offering up to $2000 in matching grant funding to members for related business "improvement" expenses (furniture, equipment, signage, etc), excluding payroll and operating expenses (utilities, rent/mortgage, etc). The expense cannot have been purchased/paid for prior to January 1, 2026. If you have already purchased the item, please include a receipt. If the item has not been purchased, please include a cost estimate. We will only approve up to half of the expense. Board Members are not eligible for the Christmas in July Grant. The grant will be open for applications from July 1, 2026 thru July 31, 2026. Grant winners will be chosen at the WRC Chamber of Commerce Board meeting in August. See the attached flyer or go to www.wrccoc.com/christmas-in-july for more information. Please make sure you have updated your membership for 2026. Join or renew here today: wrccoc.com/join-or-renew-now We have received memberships from the following businesses:

Those April showers skipped right past us and May has been chilly. We are finally getting a little bit of rain, but we could really use some more! Our meeting was short this month but as always we have lots going on. We approved a Bronze sponsorship for the Richmond County Fair. We have cancelled our May Speaker Series event. We are looking to start planning our June After Hours. If your business is interested in helping to host our June After Hours, please let us know ASAP! Please make sure that you renew your membership with the Chamber for 2026. I have listed members below who have renewed for 2026. I also attached the pdf form or you can renew online at: https://www.wrccoc.com/join-or-renew-now We also had our monthly Warsaw Fest 2026 Planning meeting Sponsorship registration is now available online. I have listed who is already a sponsor and what level. If you are interested in adding a Warsaw Fest 2026 sponsorship to your membership you can download the pdf attached or online at: https://www.wrccoc.com/sponsorship-opportunities We have also opened up vendor registration. Please share with your friends: https://www.wrccoc.com/vendor-registration As always- if you have any questions/concerns, please don't hesitate to reach out! Sara Carroll President Warsaw Richmond County Chamber of Commerce

April Showers... wait... what showers? Mother Nature can't make up her mind what the weather should be! Our monthly meeting was Monday, April 13th and we discussed the following items: Our Quarterly Networking Event was great! The Healthy Harvest Food Bank gave everyone a wonderful tour of their facility and we got to see behind the scenes. They provide so much for our community and we are so thankful to have them right here in Warsaw! Our next Speaker Series event will be in May- details TBD 🙂 Our membership drive is moving right along. We have mailed the Membership renewal Newsletters to those that have not already renewed their membership. Below is a current list of 2026 Members. I have attached the Newsletter above and the online link to reregister is at: https://www.wrccoc.com/join-or-renew-now After the Board meeting we met to discuss Warsaw Fest 2026. We confirmed a few details and will meet again next month after the next Board meeting on May 11, 2026. Have a great month and as always- if you have any questions or would like to learn more about joining, please don't hesitate to reach out! Sara Carroll President Warsaw Richmond County Chamber of Commerce

We had a great evening at our March After Hours hosted by Healthy Harvest Food Bank! We got a full tour of the greenhouse. The aquaponics system is amazing! The tilapia were splashing around and we even got to eat a flower! The tour of the warehouse was eye opening. We got to see where all the things are stored and learned about how they distribute everything. Please go to their website to learn more about what they do! https://www.hhfb.org/

We forgot to grab a group photo during tonight’s Warsaw Richmond Chamber Speaker Series event, but we did catch one afterward with NNK Tax and Accounting, LLC! A big thank you to Glen for an excellent presentation on 2025 taxes and what to watch for as we head into 2026. The information and insights were incredibly helpful for businesses and individuals planning ahead. And thank you to everyone who came out to join us tonight — it was a great evening of learning, conversation, and community. — at Old Rappahannock Brewing Company

This month the Warsaw Richmond County Chamber of Commerce accomplished the following items: We are donating $500 each to the RCC Scholarship Fund and RHS After Prom Our March 2026 After Hours will be held at Healthy Harvest Food Bank on Friday, March 27, 2026 at 6pm. Bring a non-perishable item to donate with you! See the attached flyer for more details! Please make sure to RSVP. https://forms.gle/6s2rRaUz1ks68WBC6 If you missed our Winter Speaker Series, you missed the fun! Glen Sydnor from NNK Tax & Accounting gave us a full run down on the 2025 Tax Season and some important things to watch for this year! We ate some delish pizza and learned some new information! Our 2026 Membership Drive has begun! Thank you to the 21 businesses/organizations that have already renewed their membership for this year! We are excited to have you on board and can't wait for another fun year! If you haven't already renewed your membership, the annual letter is attached. You can send in your payment by mail or you can submit your membership online at: https://www.wrccoc.com/join-or-renew-now ​ The Town of Warsaw Council Meeting is Thursday, March 12, 2026. WRC Main Street Program is in the process of restructuring and is working on getting some grant funding for different projects big and small in the community. Sara will be presenting our request at the County Budget Presentation Meeting on Thursday, March 12th. We welcomed Tammy Desai as a new Board Member! Welcome aboard! There are a couple more spots to fill on our Board. Please us know if you would like to join us! During our Warsaw Fest 2026 Meeting that followed the Board meeting we discussed the following items: Grand Marshal ideas... we might have a real good one, but if you have any ideas, please let us know! Kirsten will be Chairing the Parade and Baby & Beauty Pageants Patrick will be Charing the Car & Truck Show We will continue reaching out to organizations for volunteers this year. It worked out great last year and hopefully we will get even more participation! If your business/organization would like to volunteer during Warsaw Fest, please let us know- we can always trade your in-kind volunteering for a sponsorship! We will be reaching out to our regular vendors to confirm the date- Saturday, October 10, 2026. Sponsorship & Vendor forms will begin going out in April/May! We hope you have a wonderful day and we can't wait to see you at our next event! Sara Carroll President Warsaw Richmond County Chamber of Commerce 2026 Membership as of 3/11/2026 @ noon AmeriCare Plus, LLC. Angie's Strength and Style Boutique Atlantic Union Bank Colonial Collectibles DRP Collision Haven Shelter & Services Jean Light Julie Stanley @ Home Printing Kimberly A King Photography Napier Utilities Construction Naylors Beach & Campgrounds Northern Neck Electric Cooperative Piney Grove Family Medicine Rappahannock Cleaning Services Real Media, Inc. Relish Restaurant & Bar Rice-Packett Real Estate Agency Rise & Set Provisions Roy Rogers Warsaw-Richmond County Main Street Program Willow Stitch

We hope that everyone is doing well through all the ice and snow. I know I'm thankful for the warmer weather that is starting today! Here are some notes from the February Board Meeting held 2/9/26 We are donating : $550 to the Little League for a Pennant and Banner $275 to the Sherriff's Office for Educational Supplies We had a request from Amelia Academy, in Amelia, VA, regarding information on Warsaw/Richmond County for a 4th grade class doing research on Virginia. Connie from Menokin was in attendance and she will be sharing some information with them. If you have anything of note that you would like to share to help a 4th grade class do research on Virginia, please let me know and I will share the contact information provided. Our Winter Speaker Series will be Wednesday, March 4, 2026 at the Old Rappahannock Brewery, 6pm-8pm. Chamber Members can have 1 representative attend free. All other guests will be charged $15/person at the door. Pizza will be provided and a cash bar. Glen Sydnor will be speaking on important tax updates for 2025/2026. RSVP here: https://forms.gle/keKP6FrWZmzPpQBW6 Our March After Hours Networking Event will be held, Friday, March 27, 2026 at Healthy Harvest Food Bank, 6pm-8pm. We will get to tour their facility and learn about all the good they do for our community. Please bring a non-perishable food item to donate! RSVP here: https://forms.gle/v14GqDP74pz18yf17 Our 2026 Membership Drive will be starting soon! Please be on the lookout for an email and snail mail newsletter. We hope you plan to continue your support of the Warsaw Richmond County Chamber of Commerce! We have so many fun things planned! It's that time... our first Warsaw Fest 2026 Meeting will be Monday, March 9th after the Board Meeting. The Town Council Meeting in Thursday 2/12/26. WRC MSP is working on a project to bring public Wi-fi to the Town Park. It also has potential to include a web cam and weather station. If you would like more information on getting involved with the Main Street Program, contact Patrick Stone at: wrcmsp@gmail.com Sara is working on the Budget Presentation for the County. Patrick discussed the Chamber Day hosted by VA Chamber in Richmond. There are 3 big things to be watching for in the following months: Minimum wage increasing to $15 by 2028 Paid Sick Leave for nearly all employers (including small businesses) Paid Family & Medical Leave Insurance program that will affect not only small businesses, but employees as well. If you want more information on any of these items, please let me know! Brandy Kues resigned from the Board. Thank you for the time you served! Roy Rogers joined the Board. Welcome! We are always looking for new members- please reach out to us if you are interested in joining! As always, we are here to support you! If there are any business/government concerns you may have, please let us know and we will do our best to address them! We hope the remainder of your month is successful! Sara Carroll President WRCCoC In addition here is a note from the Northern Neck Tourism Commission regarding the ban on polystyrene in Virginia effective July 1, 2026: This email has particular relevance to restaurants, chambers of commerce, localities, and any food-serving businesses that utilize to-go containers. The ban on polystyrene in Virginia goes into effect July 1, 2026. Foam-free resources and information are here: https://www.cleanvirginiawaterways.org/foam-phase-out/#restaurant-and-business-outreach A virtual meeting with Zach Huntington with Clean Virginia Waterways is scheduled for Tuesday, February 24th at 1pm. Included in his presentation will be the effort to transition to implement the ban and move to foam-free containers. You can join the meeting through the link below or if you'd like a calendar invite with the meeting, please let me know. Zach Huntington with Clean Virginia Waterways on the Virginia Marine Debris Reduction PlanTuesday, February 24 · 1:00 – 2:00pmTime zone: America/New_YorkGoogle Meet joining infoVideo call link: https://meet.google.com/yqv-vsqe-qhmOr dial: ‪(US) +1 502-792-9622 PIN: ‪474 017 354#More phone numbers: https://tel.meet/yqv-vsqe-qhm?pin=5472670401855

I hope everyone is surviving the cold snap today! Thanksgiving is in a couple of weeks and Christmas follows right behind. I know Christmas season has already started for the retail businesses and I hope your open houses all went well. Our November monthly Board meeting was last night and below are the highlights: We are donating $500 to Christmas Wishes and the Salvation Army. For Giving Tuesday (December 2nd) we are going to guarantee a total of $250 to the following member non-profits, B&GCNN, Richmond County Family YMCA, Healthy Harvest Food Bank, JArt, and Menokin. When our Facebook post goes up announcing the donations, if the post gets over 200 shares, we will add an additional $250 to each non-profit. The Haven & Garfields received $250 during the Christmas in July Grant, but will be included in the additional funds. We hope that some of our businesses are willing to help our member non-profits as well this holiday season! We are still planning our December Annual Meeting. As soon as we have confirmed plans, we will let you know. Our Speaker Series starts back up in February 2026 with NNK Tax & Acccounting, Glen Sydnor, to update us on important information you need to know about this year's tax season. As soon as we have finalized plans, we will let you know! SHOP LOCAL & WIN- please make sure to respond to the Shop Local & Win Participation survey no later than Monday, November 17th. We would like to make sure everyone that wants to participate is included. https://forms.gle/FXsmfCSwnGxCfQSv7 Christmas Decorating Contest registration is due by December 11th! Judging for homes & businesses is December 12th. Enter for free today at: https://www.wrccoc.com/christmas-decorating If you are interested in joining our Board for 2026, please reach out. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Sara Carroll President WRCCOC

Congratulations to John Vontano for winning the People's Choice Award with over 100 likes on his Mustang's picture!