One of the things I liked best about Crozet when I moved here 30 years ago was the fact Crozet had nothing, yet Crozet had everything. By that I mean, we were a small almost unknown part of Albemarle County. We didn’t receive much from the county, nor we expect much from the county. To that end, Crozet took care of its own. Crozet Park was owned by the community, run by the park board, which kept things going providing a wide variety of activities mostly funded by the Crozet Arts and Craft Festival. There was the annual Fireman’s Fair, which has now morphed into the Crozet July 4th festival and Christmas with Santa at the Firehouse. The Methodist Church ran their food bank, with support from the other religious organizations in the community. We had the Lions Club and their annual dinner and show. For community issues we had the Crozet Community Association to help guide growth and development. Our small downtown then, as now, provided most of the basics of daily living. If you needed help the Crozet Volunteer Fire Department and Western Albemarle Rescue Squad would come to your aid. We’ve come a long way since then and to a great degree the community has remained very cohesive. Most of the original structures that supported the community are still active and we have added some additional organizations to the mix such as the Crozet Trails Crew and the great work they’ve done and let us not forget the great community effort to get our new library built. Medical care has improved with facilities now from Martha Jefferson Hospital, Uva and Augusta Medical Center. Most important, at least to me, is the fact our children can still grow up in a small town which can hopefully give them room to breath and enough time to enjoy those few, but hopefully innocent years, before they have to face the reality of a very rapidly changing world. The challenge now is how to make sure everyone in Crozet has their own “Good Old Days”. I see two large issues, one close on the horizon and the other a continuing threat. This year will start the development of our down town center and perhaps just as important the planning for the remainder of the property. Next, is the continuing battle to protect R250 from becoming another Rt 29 North. Perhaps the elephant in the room is still the ongoing battle with the county and its efforts to completely eviscerate the original Crozet Master Plan. All we can hope is the Good Old Days don’t become the Bad New Days.