10/19/2026
Yesterday we started out the 44th Annual Midlothian Day Parade & Festival with some excitement. Well, I guess technically we started with rain, and that’s not very exciting, but after we accepted the rain, things started happening fast including a little morning emergency.
Due to the parade and road closures, load-in for vendors and sponsors starts early on festival day - 6 AM early - and runs to about 8/8:30 AM. During this time traffic can often back up down Midlothian Turnpike at the festival entrance as vendors line up to unload. During this time, around 7 AM, Jennifer, the vendor committee leader, became concerned. As she was standing at the entrance to the school parking lot greeting and directing vendor and sponsor traffic, she encountered someone that didn’t quite seem to belong. It was an elderly man, driving a Cadillac with out-of-state license plates that seemed disoriented. He didn’t seem to know where he was or why he was there. Jennifer instinctively called 911 and explained what was going on. Chesterfield Police were there instantly and called rescue to make sure everything was okay. Eventually our out-of-state visitor was moved to the back parking area and a few officers stayed with him for hours. It turns out the man had dementia and had gone missing from his home in North Carolina the day before. He had driven all night and somehow ended up in Midlothian. When he saw all of the cars lined up to get into the festival parking lot, he thought that must be where he belonged and got in line, too. Despite arriving at the festival at 4:30 AM and having so many responsibilities and being pulled in a million directions during the most hectic time of loading and unloading, our very dedicated volunteer, still had the wherewithal to realize something wasn’t right and to pivot and call 911, talk to the officers, and keep up with this man until his caretaker was able to arrive from North Carolina to get him safely back home and all the while kept directing traffic, assisting vendors, and holding a cold, rainy festival together.
We’ve always known Jennifer was a lifesaver because she fosters shelter dogs for us, but yesterday she showed that her astuteness, quick thinking, and calm demeanor is helping in all sorts of ways. Her heroism knows no bounds!
