Home Care In Purcellville, VA

The Virginia Valley Vipers professional basketball team, which moved to Purcellville last fall, tips off its first game of season Saturday night at Patrick Henry College.

The team is part of The Basketball League, the third largest professional basketball league in North America, and is family-owned by Rodney, Tina and Rze Culbreath. Rze also plays on the team.

Rodney said even though they’ve been leading the team for three years, Saturday feels kind of like its “inauguration.”

“We’re definitely appreciative of the community and the impact with our players and what we have done in the community so far and what we’re going to do,” he said.

“I am feeling excited and nervous,” Tina said. “I am feeling blessed and appreciative. We’ve been able to collaborate and bring on many partners that believe in our mission and our vision.”

The team’s mission is to strengthen the community through positive, family-friendly entertainment and provide athletes with the financial opportunity to continue their passion while giving back to the community. The Vipers have collaborated with Purcellville-based nonprofit Tree of Life as one way to do that.

The theme for Saturday night’s game is “Paint the Town Purple” and attendees are encouraged to wear purple supporting the team. Valley Viper merchandise will also be sold on site.

Tina said residents who came out to Saturday’s game can expect “a lot of great vibes, a lot of dunks and a lot of slams.”

“We’re going to show off the community’s talent,” she said.

Several of the community’s nonprofits, including Tree of Life, BetterALife and the Young Kings Movement, will also have tables set up.

“Come for some great basketball, great vibes, competitive play,” she said. “It’s going to be a show.”

Head Coach Darien Almond said while the team is looking ahead to a successful season, this weekend will be all about learning how to work as a team and play at a high level. Aside from three players, everyone on the team, including himself and the assistant coach are new to the league.

"Going into weekend, of course we really want to win, but this weekend will be about learning the pro level game as coaches and as players," he said.

He said the team is looking forward to seeing the town come out to support them.

"I do hope the community buys in and comes out and watches some professional basketball," he said.

Evan Makle, who plays point guard for the Valley Vipers, said he and the team are energized and ready for the season to begin.

“The intensity is great. The chemistry is just on 1000%,” he said. “I feel like everyone is bought in to what our goal is. Obviously, it’s the championship, but we want to engage the community more and be outstanding professional basketball men. I think you can see that when we play. There’s a lot of communication. There’s a lot if camaraderie.”

The season opener against the Capital Seahawks begins at 7 p.m. with doors opening at 5 p.m.

Purchase tickets ahead of time at virginiavalleyvipers.com.

Catoctin Creek Distilling Co. in Purcellville, Virginia is working to boost its international deals, but looming threats of tariffs are already impacting business.

PURCELLVILLE, Va. — If you ask Scott Harris, getting to work on whiskey every day is a far cry from his days as a government contractor. Since opening Catoctin Creek Distilling Company in Purcellville, Virginia with his wife 16 years ago, Harris has been working to expand internationally, but it appears his vision is happening during the wrong administration.

President Donald Trump argues he wants to improve the U.S. economy by imposing tariffs on some of the nation's biggest partners, including Canada and Mexico. He agreed to pause his tariff threats for 30 days as negotiations continue.

However, the plan to boost American production by cracking down on international competition is sowing doubt among business leaders, distributors and importers.

“In the past year-and-a-half, about 18 months, we’ve been reinvesting in Mexico with sales, marketing and education events,” Harris said. “With threats of possible tariffs with Mexico, that put a pause on all the work we’ve done. Just the thought that there might tariffs is enough to basically stop them from wanting to do business. They’ve become reluctant to invest hard in our products.”

The impact on the industry is reminiscent of a similar trade war during Trump’s first term when he imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. The European Union responded with a 25% retaliatory tariff on American whiskeys.

The EU is the largest export market for U.S. spirits, according to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States. The U.S. exported $2.2 billion in 2023, up 8% compared to the previous year.

Catoctin Creek was making progress in its European markets. Prior to the tariffs during the first Trump administration, the business saw 11% of its revenue from exports to Europe. After the tariffs were placed, it dropped down to practically zero.

“We had a nice growing business in Europe and that business today is zero,” Harris said. “The tariffs basically gave not just higher prices for our products, but it gave the European craft distillers to catch up where we were in the market before them, and it increased a negative mindshare in Europe of American products coming over.”

Trump announced more plans to impose higher tariffs on steel, aluminum, lumber, cars, and pharmaceuticals.

George Mason University Professor of Economy Alex Tabarrok joins other experts by warning the administration what terms could mean in the long run.

“The tariffs on these goods are making it more difficult for the American firms to not only sell, but it’s raising the costs so they’re finding it more difficult to export as well," Tabarrok said. “It would be a terrible mistake for the United States to now corrupt and pull apart the international order because it’s good for us."

Elected officials across the country are facing an impossible financial reality. Promises made decades ago are coming due, and there isn't enough cash on hand to address them all. Debt seems like the only way out of today’s problem, but everyone knows it’s just buying time. Meanwhile, the list of deferred projects that now need urgent attention grows longer, stretching beyond what any budget projection can handle.

This is how the Growth Ponzi Scheme we have described at Strong Towns plays out in real life. Purcellville, Virginia, offers a stark example of where this path leads.

Purcellville, a town of 9,000, is considering taking on $34 million in new debt to cover a long list of deferred utility infrastructure projects. Local leaders now find themselves with nothing but bad options. They can either take on massive debt — financing they can obtain but not afford — to fund critical projects or they can continue deferring maintenance, risking the failure of critical systems.

Budget Analyst Linda Jackson laid out some of the risks, as reported in a piece for Loudoun Now: “It’s notice of violations, it’s water quality, it’s water shortages. Or, if we have a temporary solution for any kind of breakage that comes up, there would be the need for generators and emergency pricing.”

This is the inevitable result of a development pattern that produces more liabilities than a town has the capacity to manage.

Purcellville can’t afford to invest in maintenance or improving residents’ quality of life because so much of its budget is consumed by past obligations and urgent repairs.

“General Fund projects are fully funded with external sources [largely debt]," Purcellville Director of Finance Liz Krens said. “Parks and Rec projects will not move forward unless grants are secured.”

When a community has to rely on grants for the kind of basic amenities that make it a great place to live, it’s a clear sign that this approach is not working.

So, how did Purcellville get here? By their own words, growth masked their insolvency problem for years: “When we were growing, we were bringing in a lot of availability [fee] dollars,” Krens said.

“A regular house is about $50,000 per new home that comes into town," she continued. "I’m not saying that’s a solution. I’m just saying the funds were there when the town was growing like crazy, that we were able to do some of these projects. They aren’t there anymore, which is placing a lot of pressure on the residents and the businesses, the users.”

This is the Growth Ponzi Scheme at work. During the boom years, towns and cities take on liabilities without concern because cash is flowing in. But those periods of growth are when the worst financial decisions are made. Purcellville’s struggles aren’t the result of local mismanagement today. They are the result of a national approach to growth and development that encourages local governments to take on obligations they can never hope to sustain.

If you’re an elected official, the first step to fixing this is understanding why your city is insolvent. The Strong Towns approach offers a way out. Take the Strong Towns 101 course, read "Strong Towns: A Bottom-Up Revolution to Rebuild American Prosperity," and start on the path to real financial resilience.