According to Bobbi Gearheart, leader of the Williamsburg Horse Show Club, the move to end the club by its parent organization, the Williamsburg Community Farm Show, “was an absolute shock.”

The club, which has been in operation for more than 30 years, is a “place where kids can make mistakes and learn, and judges will talk to them and prepare them for 4-H shows,” said Julia Saintz, a horse show club volunteer.

News about the club’s end came in an email from the Farm Show president to club organizers, received at 7 a.m. on Dec. 18. The email stated that the horse committee “no longer exists nor will the area be available for horse shows in the future.”

“A group of board members presented a proposal to reimagine the area that is currently being used for the horse show,” Farm Show Board President Jeff Walason wrote in the email, apparently referencing a Dec. 12 Farm Show board meeting.

The Williamsburg Horse Show Club ring sits north of the Williamsburg Community varsity softball field which lies between the ring and the Williamsburg Farm Show building.
Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski

Multiple calls to Walason by the Mirror and by horse club members have not been returned.

Despite Walason urging recipients of the letter not to share the message on social media, horse club members created a Facebook page — Saving the Williamsburg Horse Activities! — which has garnered over 150 members and multiple posts urging the Farm Show to reconsider their decision.

“Williamsburg has long been one of my favorite venues to show at,” Stefanie Swindell Strayer commented on the page. “Having competed there for many years, it’s so disappointing to see an opportunity like this taken away from those who enjoy showing, especially the next generation of young riders.”

A post by Mark O’Neill notes that “everybody starts somewhere like Williamsburg. With fewer and fewer Williamsburgs, the future is not bright for the industry. The local show must be preserved.”

Another post takes aim at the Farm Show board.

“This is a very short-sighted decision by people that have ‘community’ in their name,” stated Norma Horton, who said she has been attending the shows for 20 years.

“People complain about kids getting in trouble, yet they want to take away a place that gives them something to enjoy and spend time,” she wrote.

A change.org petition received 500 signatures in less than 24 hours, and by Tuesday afternoon, more than 700 had signed onto the petition to Reinstate the Williamsburg Horse Show.

The board’s decision “not only impacts the long-standing tradition of our families but also denies future generations the chance to experience the extraordinary benefits that these shows provide,” the petition states.

“To me, Williamsburg has never been just a horse show,” Swindell Strayer told the Mirror. “It’s a community. … It’s where memories are made, families are supported, and generations of horsemen and women are given the chance to learn, grow and succeed together.”

“It’s very generational, and it’s sad to see 30 years dismissed without a word and a warning,” Saintz said.

Locked out

In the email, Walason said “all keys are expected to be returned to the buildings or a fee will be charged to the group for rekeying the main building should the key not be returned.”

According to Gearhart, the club has already been locked out, something she discovered when she went to collect club belongings.

Many “No Trespassing” signs were placed around the horse ring and nearby trees, she said.

As a “self-sufficient” club, their riding equipment, speakers, announcing equipment and jumps were fully funded by community fundraisers, Gearhart said, but the farm show believes otherwise.

“We worked really hard to buy that stuff,” she said.

Gearhart also found that the club’s Facebook profile disappeared after the farm show became a Facebook business page in early December, thus negating Gearhart’s Facebook administration rights.

Walason’s email stated that the club’s Facebook page “will remain until a determination is made concerning the banquet, at that point an announcement will be made and the page will be taken down.”

The page stored more than 20 years’ worth of memories from dedicated riders, Gearhart said.

“It’s a labor of love,” she said, “and to see it ripped out from under you is devastating.”

Future plans

According to Gearhart, the farm show plans on replacing the horse ring with a tractor pull area, which would allegedly bring in more money to help support the farm show. She said a tractor pull lane has already been built behind the softball field, which is between the farm show buildings and the horse ring. This year was the farm show’s second year using the tractor pull area, she said.

Gearhart said she is not against the farm show adding a larger tractor pull area, and believes there is room for both events on the farm show grounds, which are leased from Catharine Township.

“I would like for us to come to an agreement,” she said, hoping that the horse show club can continue while expanding on the original tractor pull area behind the softball field.

In the club’s defense, Gearhart said it is not “falling apart. … It’s growing and thriving.”

Other than spreading the word, Gearhart said club volunteers and members are participating in a lot of “ground stomping” by calling local politicians and encouraging the public to attend the farm show board meeting slated for 7 p.m. Jan 2 at the Williamsburg Farm Show building, 1019 Recreation Drive, Williamsburg.

Saintz wants people to support the horse show, as young riders learn work ethic, sportsmanship and stress management from the club and their competitions.

Mirror Staff Writer Colette Costlow is at 814-946-7414

Detroit Edison alumna Rickea Jackson remembered a conversation she had with her school superintendent, Ralph Bland, in 2017.

“This is something that before we won our first state championship, I talked to Mr. Bland, like, ‘you know if we win a state championship, we need to retire my jersey,'” Jackson said. “And then we went on to win two more.”

BRAD HARRISON/Staff An exciting season of Jones County Parks & Recreation youth basketball is off and rolling with ongoing play in a total of five divisions with fundamentals and more being mixed in with the fun of the game. The season for all leagues runs into February with games being played at the Jones County Government Center Gym….

CORRECTS FIRST NAME TO DIANE – Diane West and her grandson Paul Quirk pose for a photo, Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025, in Marietta, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

The oldest baby boomers — once the vanguard of an American youth that revolutionized U.S. culture and politics — turn 80 in 2026.
The generation that twirled the first plastic hula hoops and dressed up the first Barbie dolls, embraced the TV age, blissed out at Woodstock and protested and fought in the Vietnam War — the cohort that didn’t trust anyone over age 30 — now is contributing to the overall aging of America.
Boomers becoming octogenarians in 2026 include actor Henry Winkler and baseball Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson, singers Cher and Dolly Parton and presidents Donald Trump, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton.
The aging and shrinking youth of America
America’s population swelled with around 76 million births from 1946 to 1964, a spike magnified by couples reuniting after World War Two and enjoying postwar prosperity.
Boomers were better educated and richer than previous generations, and they helped grow a consumer-driven economy. In their youth, they pushed for social change through the Civil Rights Movement, the women’s rights movement and efforts to end the Vietnam War.
“We had rock ‘n’ roll. We were the first generation to get out and demonstrate in the streets. We were the first generation, that was, you know, a socially conscious generation,” said Diane West, a metro Atlanta resident who turns 80 in January. “Our parents played by the rules. We didn’t necessarily play by the rules, and there were lots of us.”
As they got older they became known as the “me” generation, a pejorative term coined by writer Tom Wolfe to reflect what some regarded as their self-absorption and consumerism.
“The thing about baby boomers is they’ve always had a spotlight on them, no matter what age they were,” Brookings demographer William Frey said. “They were a big generation, but they also did important things.”
By the end of this decade, all baby boomers will be 65 and older, and the number of people 80 and over will double in 20 years, Frey said.
The share of senior citizens in the U.S. population is projected to grow from 18.7% in 2025 to nearly 23% by 2050, while children under 18 decline from almost 21% to a projected 18.4%.
Without any immigration, the U.S. population will start shrinking in five years. That’s when deaths will surpass births, according to projections from the Congressional Budget Office, which were revised in September to account for the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. Population growth comes from immigration as well as births outpacing deaths.
The aging of America is being compounded by longer lives due to better health care and lower birth rates.
The projected average U.S. life expectancy at birth rises from 78.9 years in 2025 to 82.2 years in 2055, according to the CBO. And since the Great Recession in 2008, when the fertility rate was 2.08, around the 2.1 rate needed for children to numerically replace their parents, it has been on a steady decline, hitting 1.6 in 2025.
Younger generations miss boomer milestones
Women are having fewer children because they are better educated, they’re delaying marriage to focus on careers and they’re having their first child at a later age. Unaffordable housing, poor access to child care and the growing expenses of child-rearing also add up to fewer kids.
University of New Hampshire senior demographer Kenneth Johnson estimates that the result has been 11.8 million fewer births, compared to what might have been had the fertility rate stayed at Great Recession levels.
“I was young when I had kids. I mean that’s what we did — we got out of college, we got married and we had babies,” said West, who has two daughters, a stepdaughter and six grandchildren. “My kids got married in their 30s, so it’s very different.”
A recent Census Bureau study showed that 21st century young adults in the U.S. haven’t been adulting like baby boomers did. In 1975, almost half of 25-to-34-year-olds had moved out of their parents’ home, landed jobs, gotten married and had kids. By the early 2020s, less than a quarter of U.S. adults had hit these milestones.
West, whose 21-year-old grandson lives with her, understands why: They lack the prospects her generation enjoyed. Her grandson, Paul Quirk, said it comes down to financial instability.
“They were able to buy a lot of things, a lot cheaper,” Quirk said.
All of her grandchildren are frustrated by the economy, West added.
“You have to get three roommates in order to afford a place,” she said. “When we got out of college, we had a job waiting for us. And now, people who have master’s degrees are going to work fast food while they look for a real job.”
Implications for the economy
The aging of America could constrain economic growth. With fewer workers paying taxes, Social Security and Medicare will be under more pressure. About 34 seniors have been supported by every 100 workers in 2025, but that ratio grows to 50 seniors per 100 working-age people in about 30 years, according to estimates released last year by the White House.
When West launched her career in employee benefits and retirement planning in 1973, each 100 workers supported 20 or fewer retirees, by some calculations.
Vice President JD Vance and Tesla CEO Elon Musk are among those pushing for an increase in fertility. Vance has suggested giving parents more voting power, according to their numbers of children, or following the example of Hungary’s Viktor Orbán in giving low-interest loans to married parents and tax exemptions to women who have four children or more.
Frey said programs that incentivize fertility among U.S. women hardly ever work, so funding should support pre-kindergarten and paid family leave.
“I think the best you can do for people who do want to have kids is to make it easier and less expensive to have them and raise them,” he said. “Those things may not bring up the fertility rate as much as people would like, but at least the kids who are being born will have a better chance of succeeding.”

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Major cities in Tennessee are reimagining their public riverfronts as vibrant community spaces.

By Cary Estes on December 23, 2025

Agency Landscape and Design

When Tennessee native Anna Mae Bullock – better known as Tina Turner – famously sang about “rollin’ on the river,” she was referring to the Mississippi River, which runs along the western edge of the state. 

But the Mighty Mississippi makes up only a small portion of the more than 60,000 miles of waterways flowing throughout Tennessee. And increasingly, this natural resource is being further enhanced through public-private partnerships designed to make many of the Tennessee riverfronts even more attractive and accessible. This, in turn, is expanding recreational opportunities and boosting local economies. 

“It really speaks to a statewide commitment to investing in the quality of life in Tennessee,” says Patrick Osborne, planning and design director of the Tennessee RiverLine project. “The state is embracing the value of outdoor recreation. Projects like these reflect a broader movement, where Tennesseans see their waterways as assets to be celebrated and protected.” 

Memphis River Parks Partnership 

The City of Memphis has a front-row view to the watery wonder that is the Mississippi River. But easy access from downtown Memphis to the river has long been limited. 

That began to change in 2017 with the formation of the Memphis River Parks Partnership. The goal was to convert 5 miles of mostly underused river parks into a connected network of public spaces, with multiple access points to Beale Street and other popular downtown destinations. 

“It is meant to draw people together in one place that is beautiful and peaceful,” says Paul Chandler, CEO of the Memphis River Parks Partnership. “The intent is to unify our city and enhance relationships that might have never been developed without this park system.” 

The centerpiece is the renovation of 31-acre Tom Lee Park, which opened in 2023 and receives approximately 2 million visitors annually. Chandler expects the park to become even more popular in 2026 with the scheduled opening of the Memphis Flyway, a 40-foot-high observation deck that will extend 218 feet over the Mississippi River. 

“When the sun sets across that huge body of water, the view from the Flyway is going to be really spectacular,” Chandler says. 

Evolving Chattanooga’s Riverfront 

The City of Chattanooga made major enhancements to its Tennessee River frontage in the early 2000s with the 21st Century Waterfront plan. Now, Chattanooga’s economic development engine – the River City Co. – is bringing additional improvements to the area through the Evolving Our Riverfront Parks plan, with work scheduled to begin in 2026. 

“Our goal is to add strategic features and amenities to allow for year-round daily use and enjoyment of the waterfront,” says River City Co. President and CEO Emily Mack. “We’re focusing on people-centered design and providing places of enjoyment for our community.” 

Proposed changes include improvements to the riverfront pier, the creation of additional river access points, landscaping with more shade trees, two new restaurants, two new recreational spaces with playgrounds and more public restrooms. 

“This is an opportunity to provide a destination for people to gather and connect with the community and with nature,” Mack says. “It will help support our existing riverfront events, which are huge to the local economy. It will also serve as an economic catalyst for our downtown businesses. This is going to have an incredible ripple effect throughout our city.” 

Tennessee RiverLine

Knoxville Is Part of Tennessee RiverLine 

The most expansive project of them all, the Tennessee RiverLine, began as an idea by a student in the University of Tennessee School of Landscape Architecture to create a connected system of recreational opportunities along the Tennessee River. 

Now, work is underway to make this vision a reality; the long-term goal is to form a 652-mile, 1.2 million-acre river park, stretching from Knoxville to Paducah, Kentucky. 

“It’s a regional vision for how our communities connect with the Tennessee River and adjacent public lands,” Osborne says. “Our focus is on planning and designing river access sites, parks, recreation opportunities and the supporting infrastructure.” 

The key to the project’s success, Osborne says, is through the RiverTowns Program, in which RiverLine officials work directly with local community leaders. There are currently 12 communities in Tennessee that have signed up to be part of the program. 

“This is a generational project that is moving forward in phases, primarily through our RiverTowns Program,” Osborne says. “We’re helping each of these towns identify and prioritize projects that help improve river access and highlight restorative recreation practices. We want to ensure that the river is accessible, healthy and celebrated for generations to come.” 

Tennessee Focuses on Outstanding Parks, Too

The most popular outdoor attraction in Tennessee is easily Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which received more than 12 million visitors in 2024. But if you want to be a little more low-key than Smoky, there are also 60-plus state parks across the state. 

The offerings range from the nearly 30,000-acre Fall Creek Falls State Park near Spencer to the 11-acre Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park in Nashville. Scott’s Gulf Wilderness State Park in Sparta features the 110-foot-tall Virgin Falls, which requires a 4-mile hike to reach. It is one of more than 80 waterfalls that can be found within Tennessee’s state parks. 

Tennessee added several state parks in 2025. Though it was a division of an existing outdoor attraction, the Hiwassee/ Ocoee Scenic River State Park was split into two separate parks to provide more dedicated resources to each area. The Ocoee River was the site of the 1996 Olympic whitewater slalom events, and the 2.5-mile course remains popular with paddlers. 

Head of the Crow State Park and Fiery Gizzard State Park near Monteagle were both carved out of the already existing South Cumberland State Park. 

Even more state parks are on the way. The current 950-acre Devil’s Backbone State Natural Area, which is just off Natchez Trace Parkway near Gordonsburg, is set to receive official state park status soon too. 

Tennessee bird watching is also exceptional, with over 400 documented species, including residents and migrants. The Cumberland Mountains are vital, hosting the highest global concentration of the near-threatened cerulean warbler’s breeding pairs. Additionally, successful reintroduction efforts mean the majestic bald eagle is now observable statewide.