Yard sale

…well, not exactly.

This is a light-hearted way of announcing that this is my last week covering Fredericksburg city government for The Free Lance-Star, and my last week authoring the City Beat Blog. In a little more than four years, the 1,035 posts I’ve made to this blog have garnered 1,024 (and counting) comments, by more than 300 different aliases.

I’m stepping away from the city beat to take care of my daughter while she’s still a baby, but before I leave, I’ve gotta clean out my desk. Five and a half years of city government coverage will load you down with what we’ll call “valuable mementos.”

Here are a few I don’t seem to have room for at home, and am offering up to the first takers:

Press passes from the McCain/Palin, Obama/Biden and Mark Warner Senate campaigns. Package also includes a White House press pool pass from the George W. Bush administration.

Post cards — an inch-thick stack of them — from former Fredericksburg City Council candidate John Moss, who I believe has since moved out of state. They feature pictures of Historic Fredericksburg and assorted shots of river trash and roadkill, along with witty messages with no relevance to anything whatsoever.

Tape recordings (remember tapes?) of interviews with candidates in the 2006 City Council ward races, including Marvin Dixon, John Harris and … wait for it … Matt Kelly. I am shocked that the Library of Congress has not requested these yet.

Bumper sticker. This is from the 2008 mayoral election, but who knows? It could come in handy next year if Clay Jones pulls the sloth out of retirement.

Vintage government documents! Quite compelling.

Memorabilia from the Obama inauguration, including a letter to the president from a city resident whose handwriting some readers of this blog probably recognize. The writer closes the letter with, “Good luck, dude, I’ll try to write more later.”

Saltines of unknown age.

In all seriousness, thank you all for reading this blog over the years. I have enjoyed having a more direct way to interact with my readers, and I have appreciated your comments and questions. I’ll continue to post updates on city matters through the end of this week.

After that, I’ll be devoting the time I have for work to building up the Front Burner blog, which started recently. I hope to make this an interactive, useful home for news about local farmers markets, cooks and other food news, and I welcome your suggestions. Look for updates there in the coming days, and some new features as the area farmers markets open.

I promise, no stale Saltines.

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