Thankfully, the weather forecast bodes well this weekend for Western Tidewater. That’s especially welcome news because two major cultural events are happening.

The first activity is the ongoing Isle of Wight County Fair, which lasts through Sunday. This is an event that Chairman Mike Stephens says is the largest agricultural fair in eastern Virginia. Out of pride for this region, we’re not going to challenge him on that claim. In fact, if memory serves, agriculture is indeed a major part of the event, whether or not it’s the biggest in the district.

The second activity is the annual Heritage Day in Courtland. Agriculture is – surprise, surprise – another important facet to this celebration of the county’s history.

As you undoubtedly expected, we’re encouraging residents to attend both events if feasible.

But our motivation isn’t just to encourage economic growth with the buying of books, crafts, food, tickets and so on. Much of the money, we suppose, will remain local.

No, what we really hope is that many people will attend to have a good time and even learn a few things about the area’s culture and history.

Western Tidewater doesn’t have the sophistication of Norfolk, with its many centers for the fine arts. But our area does have a strongly dedicated force of people who want to share the wealth of their knowledge and experience. Milton Futrell’s life, as told by Merle Monahan on B1 in today’s edition, immediately comes to mind. Thankfully, he’s documented his years in an easily accessible book. History is again preserved.

What more is there to say than to ask that residents to explore what makes our area so unique.