By Drew Gallagher, ADVANCE COLUMNIST
THE FXBG ADVANCE SUNDAY 8/30/26 MIDDAY READ
Statement from the owners of Belvedere Plantation:
To Our Belvedere Family: We’ve heard from many of you these past few weeks, and we want you to hear from us directly. The Fall Harvest Festival opens September 12, just like it has for decades, and the family is committed to the future operation of the festival going forward. Nothing about the festival changes this year and we look forward to welcoming you all as we have done for 44 years. The decision about our farm’s future was made around our dining table, including now the fifth generation, and it was not made lightly. This land has been in our family’s life since 1968. Every memory you’ve made here, we’ve made too. We have begun working with a very reputable organization that is looking to properly site a technology campus on this property. When there is more to share, we will, directly and honestly. For now, we hope you’ll come see us this fall like always. We’ll be in the pumpkin patch.
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To Our Kingswood Subdivision Family,
We’ve heard from many of you these past few weeks and want you to hear from us directly.
The Fall Harvest Festival is NOT opening in our backyard this September the same as it never has, and the family is committed to making certain the Fall Harvest Festival never opens in our backyard because that would mean we would have to mow the grass, buy pumpkins unseasonably early, and invest in a barrel train to drive kids around in a very small circle in our backyard until they get dizzy and throw up.
Nothing about this Non-Festival and our complete lack of desire to host one is changing, just as it hasn’t in the past 22 years.
Just to be clear, the decision to not host the Fall Harvest Festival has nothing to do with the “technology campus” for which we just leased a portion of our backyard, and everything to do with little kids crying because our version of the Fall Harvest Festival would absolutely suck because we live in a subdivision and our barrel train space is less than half an acre. This decision was made by our family around our dining room table, including now the second generation, and it was not made lightly or with our son present because he lives in Newport News, but he did join us by Zoom while he waited for his Chick-fil-A order. This backyard has been in our family’s life since 2004. Every memory you’ve not made here is just like Dad’s and his neighbor Tyrone’s after they decided to drink Falcon Smash instead of Bud Light at patio Happy Hour that one time.
We should also let you know that we’ve begun working with a very reputable organization that is looking to properly site a technology campus on the property (calling it a campus is being generous but it’s still bigger than the campus at the University of Phoenix). When there is more to share, we will, directly and honestly. And actually, there is more to share right now.
Some overly nosy neighbors have expressed concern that a technology campus in our backyard will detract from the overall curb appeal in our neighborhood and would be in violation of our HOA covenants. Because we want to be good neighbors and stewards of the land, we have consulted with legal counsel, and they said that we can tell those neighbors to go eff themselves. Legal counsel also noted that the Swains down the street didn’t repaint their window shutters in the same original shade, and one house on Kingswood Boulevard has a car parked in the driveway with an expired state inspection sticker, so we should be fine building a data center technology campus on our lot. It’s apparently a by-right thing, which means we can do whatever we want with our property and the rest of you can go to hell.
Some anonymous neighbors outside of Kingswood—we know it’s you Idlewild; we saw you on our doorbell camera—have expressed concern that a technology campus would be a drain on local water resources, specifically the scenic Hazel Run. To that, we respond that Hazel Run is a degraded hazard that almost killed dear old Dad one time when he tried to jump on a slick rock on his way to the VCR Trail and slipped and fell into the creek and damaged his cell phone. We also intend to honor Hazel Run if our court-approved technology campus does suck it dry within a few days of opening. Dad’s maternal grandmother was a Hazel, and we’re planning to name the rezoned land in our backyard the “Hazel Brownmiller Technology Campus,” stream or no stream.
And for those of you complaining about noise pollution, we’ve lived next to Ralph for nearly 20 years, and put up with him blowing leaves well before 8 in the morning and sometimes in winter when there aren’t any leaves on the ground, so the least the rest of you can do is handle a little high-decibel, 24-7, brain-cell-killing whine from our technology center, interrupted only occasionally by the deafening roar of back-up diesel generators. (Our beloved daughter asked that we add the part about Ralph and his ungodly leaf blower. Her words, not ours.)
For now, we hope you’ll not come see us this fall because there are going to be a lot of large trucks and spools of cable parked around the house so I’m pretty sure Kingswood Boulevard will be impassable for the near future. We swear we’ll at least be thinking about a pumpkin patch, while we sip Dom Perignon while cashing fat checks and wearing noise-cancelling HiFiMan headphones.
The Gallagher Family
