Street Fest attendees play Keep-Up with a large red balloon, as they listen to music performed on the main stage this past summer. Tabitha Johnston

SHEPHERDSTOWN — On Dec. 12, the monthly Town Council meeting was held in Town Hall.

The meeting ranged through a variety of subjects related to the town, including the possibility of it becoming a Bee City USA and the return of the town’s most popular festival, Street Fest.

Street Fest WV, Inc. organizer John Meeker was the first visitor to speak, during the meeting, requesting the Town Council’s permission to hold the festival this coming year, on June 29.

“We want to do Street Fest again next year. One of the changes will be that it will have different musicians,” Meeker said, before noting an organizational change that he might also make to the event. “We’re looking at swapping which side of the block the library stage is on, putting the library stage on New Street. It would give us a little bit more space to consolidate the beer delivery hubs [around the Market House area]. It’s just an idea we’re kicking around.”

Town Council member Chris Stroech agreed that this might be a worthwhile change.

Cars drive down Route 480, during the detour onto the route from Harpers Ferry Road. Tabitha Johnston

“It seems to me that the area [around the library stage] gets really crowded,” Stroech said.

Master Gardener and West Virginia Eastern Panhandle Bee Association Vice President Linda Layne then took to the podium, to share information on the Bee City USA approval process.

“It’s an initiative by the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation. It was established in 1971, because the Xerces butterfly became extinct when they were building San Francisco — their habitat was destroyed.

Xerces uses advocacy, education and applied research to conserve invertebrates and their habitats,” Layne said. “The idea is to bring communities together to save native pollinators and, in particularly, the more than 3,600 species of bees in this country. Communities commit to increasing an abundance of plants, provide nest sites and to reduce pesticide use.”

Layne noted that she hopes to see Shepherd University follow Shepherdstown’s example and become a Bee Campus USA, just like it did, in becoming a Tree Campus USA after Shepherdstown became a Tree City USA.

The Town Council unanimously agreed for the town to pursue earning a Bee City USA status.

Mayor Jim Auxer shared an update on the Market House restoration, that the town had two inspectors come in to view the space, recently, prior to taking bids on completion of the project.

Auxer also announced some much anticipated news.

“The traffic detour is complete! There’s no longer a detour,” Auxer said, referring to the detour onto Route 480 necessitated by work on Harpers Ferry Road. “And they did it on time — that’s great!”