The Shadow
CLIFTON FORGE, Va. (VR) – The rescheduled March 2025 Clifton Forge Community Gathering will be held on Thursday, March 20, 2025 in the Historic Masonic Theatre Auditorium from 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm. The February Community Gathering was rescheduled because of weather.
The featured speaker will be Aaron Arnett of the Arnett Muldrow company. He will be discussing Community Branding and Marketing and how other communities across Virginia have used branding to tell their unique stories. He will include the reasons why a community needs to establish a brand and how its brand overlaps with tourism promotion, economic development, and local communication. Aaron will also share the elements of community branding, the creative process for establishing a brand, and successful brands in communities similar to Clifton Forge. Aaron Arnett has created economic development strategic plans and market studies for communities across the country, and has worked extensively on downtown
master plans, comprehensive planning, tourism development, and marketing plans. His company, Arnett Muldrow, has created more brand systems for downtown, cities, counties and regions than any other firm in the world. His firm works closely with Hill Studios.
The second part of the gathering program will be a State of the Town update by Town Manager Chuck Unroe, and introduction of Maria Saxton, the newly hired Economic Development Director for Clifton Forge. The hire of Maria Saxton is a result of a recent action by the Clifton Forge Town Council. As Economic Development Director, Maria will be involved in Clifton Forge’s revitalization efforts, assisting existing businesses and organizations, attracting new businesses, and securing grant funds and other resources. Maria will talk about some of the town projects that she is working on and will explain her area of responsibilities.
Refreshments and networking will follow the meeting.
The Clifton Forge Community Gatherings are held monthly to provide a forum for citizens. All residents, businesses, and others interested in a dynamic future for Clifton Forge are encouraged to attend. Attendees are welcomed and encouraged to share ideas and strategies to make Clifton Forge a better place to live, work, play and do business. For additional information contact Clifton Forge Main Street at (540)862-2000.
