On May 8th, 1979 the Lucketts Ruritan Club held its first official meeting. 39 years later, the Club is still working to make Lucketts a better place to live through good will, fellowship and community service. To mark this 39th Anniversary, the Club invited local leaders from every community organization, as well as leaders from the various non-profits supported by the Club, to Sip & Socialize on the evening of May 8th this year at Fabbioli Cellars.

Fabbioli Cellars provided their great wines, Vanish brought their local beer and the Ladies of Furnace Mountain Church (led by Linda Hobbie and her family) created an amazing array of appetizers. Since it was the 39th birthday, Baked Out Cakes provided an appropriate confection to mark the event. Carl Siebentritt, who lives in Lucketts and who is the oldest member of the Club, was on hand to cut the birthday cake with Dylan Price – one of the Club’s youngest members.

Dylan was President of the Lucketts Elementary Rudy Juniors Club during this past school year and was one of that Club’s founding members in 2015.
Lucketts has changed a great deal in 39 years and the Club wanted to take this moment to gather community feedback on what would make Lucketts even better than it is today. Guests attending the event were asked to complete a short questionnaire to share their “bright ideas” about what would do just that. In addition, the Club surveyed guests on what volunteer opportunities they would find most appealing.

In 1979, Lucketts was primarily a rural and agricultural community. Today it is a mixture of rural and suburban with large housing developments like Village Green, Selma Estates, and Falconaire bringing young, two income families to the community. Not everyone goes to Lucketts Elementary, but everyone still goes back and forth to and from Leesburg to access most of what they need outside of their home. Amazon Prime and Internet shopping are great new options, but their use reduces the frequency of “bumping into” your neighbors while navigating weekly errands at a local store. Activities for school age children are typically not based in Lucketts, but rather in Leesburg or Ashburn. The family farm is now a rural enterprise supporting the County’s growing tourism and hospitality industry. The sites used back in the 80’s for extended family picnics are now often morphed into elaborate event and wedding venues. Yin and Yang are right…change brings opportunity.