​Sharen Gromling, president of the Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival®, is honored to announce Phil Glaize as Court Ambassador for the Coronation of Queen Shenandoah, Bella Astin, on Friday, May 5, at 1:30 p.m. at Handley High School.  

Philip B. Glaize, Jr. resides in Winchester, VA., where he has managed Fred L. Glaize, L.C. for more than 35 years.  The partnership operates 600 acres of apple orchards in Virginia, in addition to a cold storage facility, packing operations and sales activities.

Phil is the current chairman of the Virginia Apple Growers Association and a past chairman of the Virginia Apple Board and the Eastern Apple Council.  He also served as chairman of the Governor’s Council on Migrant and Seasonal Farm Workers and is past president of the Frederick County Fruit Growers Association.  He is a past chairman of the US Apple Association, whose members are over 9000 apple growers from all 36 apple producing states in the country. In 2022, Phil received recognition as “Apple Person of the Year”; an annual industry award based upon feedback from peers across the country.

Other business affiliations include Old Town Cidery, various rental activities, and membership on the board of directors of Winchester Equipment Co. Community activities include church duties and the Rotary Club. He is past chair of the Shenandoah Valley Discovery Museum, and current chair of Mt. Hebron Cemetery.

Phil graduated from the University of Vermont with a bachelor’s degree in plant and soil science and a minor in business.  His family includes his wife, Mary Bruce, four children and eight grandchildren.   Leisure activities include golfing, skiing, and hiking.

Tickets are available at www.thebloom.com    

​Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival ® president, Sharen Gromling, is pleased to announce another hometown connection to the exciting lineup of the festival’s guest celebrities. Kate Flannery, multi-talented entertainer and former Shenandoah University student, will be serving as the Co-Grand Marshal alongside Brian Sullivan for the 2023 Live, Love, Bloom springtime extravaganza. 
 
Kate Flannery is an actor, singer, and writer best known for her nine seasons as Meredith, the drunk, on NBC’s The Office. Kate was a fan favorite on Season 28 of ABC’s Dancing with the Stars. She has guest starred on many TV shows like CBS’s Young Sheldon, FOX’s Brooklyn Nine-Nine and New Girl, ABC’s American Housewife and has recurred on shows like Cartoon Network’s Steven Universe & Comedy Central’s, Another Period.  Kate has been seen in many Indie films including the soon-to-be released HBO film, Golden Arm.
 
Kate toured with the Dancing with the Stars Live Tour at Radio City and 40 cities before the COVID-19 shut down. 
 
Kate sings with Jane Lynch in their anti-cabaret act, Two Lost Souls, seen in performing arts centers and theaters across the country and at the Cafe Carlyle in NYC. Kate is also featured on Jane’s hit album, A Swingin’ Little Christmas, which was in the Billboard top 10 for several weeks. 
 
Audiences have also seen Kate in her cult comedy lounge act, The Lampshades, and during her time in Chicago’s Second City national touring company.
 
Kate will appear in the Glo Fiber Grand Feature Parade on Saturday, May 6 at 1:30 p.m.  The appearance of the parade grand marshals is sponsored by P&G.

Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival® president, Sharen Gromling, is honored to name Brian Sullivan as Grand Marshal of the 2023 Festival.  The 1989 James Wood High School graduate and anchor of CNBC’s new 7:00pm ET show, “Last Call,” is excited to return to his hometown.  

In addition to anchoring, Brian is also Senior National Correspondent for the network, covering some of the nation’s biggest stories. In his 25 years of financial journalism and television experience, Sullivan has reported from five continents. The Emmy-nominated journalist has been nominated twice for the prestigious Loeb Award, including being recognized as one of the first journalists to highlight the coming risks of the subprime housing bubble as early as 2006. Sullivan joined CNBC in 2011 after 15 years in the financial broadcasting industry. Prior to that, he traded chemical commodities for Mitsubishi Bank.

Brian has a B.A. in political science from Virginia Tech, where he serves on the Alumni Board, a Certificate in Journalism from New York University, and a law degree from Brooklyn Law School. In his free time, he spends time with his wife, Julie, and two children.  He also enjoys auto racing and began his career at nearby Summit Point Raceway.  

In ninth grade, his family moved here from San Diego, where his father grew up.  His father, Tom, raced and his uncle Danny Sullivan, a prominent Winchester businessman, spent many years winning races at Winchester Speedway. His grandfather George owned a Gulf gas station in Stephens City for years in the 1950s and 60s and his aunts Barbara and Cheryl are also James Wood graduates.  He would like to remind everyone that the James Wood class of 1989 is clearly the best.  And he will see everyone downtown! 

Sullivan will attend festival events throughout the day on Friday, May 5 and will ride through his hometown streets in the Hang 10 Car Wash Firefighters’ Parade at 5:30 p.m. and the Glo Fiber Grand Feature Parade on Saturday, May 6, at 1:30 p.m.   P&G is sponsoring the appearance of Sullivan as Grand Marshal.

Tickets to Festival events are available at www.thebloom.com/events. 

​The Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival® Souvenir Store and Ticket Outlet officially opens on Friday morning, April 7 at 10:00 am.  The store is located inside the Apple Blossom Mall, 1850 Apple Blossom Drive, Winchester, VA in the Belk wing of the mall.  Officially themed apparel and merchandise, event tickets and locally crafted artisan goods are available for sale between April 7 through May 7, 2023.  Store hours are:
 
Monday-Thursday 10am - 8pm
Friday and Saturday 10am -9pm
Sunday 11-6pm
 
Festival fans are also encouraged to visit www.thebloom.com where they can order officially themed apparel and merchandise.  Local artisan goods are only available for purchase at the store in the Apple Blossom Mall.  For more information, contact the Festival office at (540) 662-3863.

Festival President, Sharen Gromling, is pleased to announce Kenny Wallace as Firefighters’ Marshal for the 96th Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival.  Wallace is a retired NASCAR driver renowned for his racing prowess and national television on-air persona.  As our Firefighters Marshall Kenny Wallace will kick off the parade with “start your engines” as he leads the festival fire truck brigade through crowd-lined streets in historic downtown Winchester, VA.   

Wallace set the NASCAR record in 2011 for most career NASCAR Xfinity Series starts, amassing nine wins, 10 pole positions, 66 top-five and 173 top-10 finishes in the 547 Xfinity starts. His racing career spans more than 25 years having competed in more than 900 races in NASCAR’s top three racing divisions. 

The 1986 American Speed Association (ASA) 22-year-old rookie-of-the-year made his NASCAR debut driving with Dale Earnhardt, finishing seventh in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Martinsville Speedway. He transitioned into a full-time Xfinity Series ride in 1989 for a team fielded by his brother Rusty Wallace, where he was rookie-of-the-year and completed the season sixth in the point standing. In 1991 Wallace finished runner-up in the Xfinity Series points and is only one of four NASCAR drivers to have won the Most Popular Driver award multiple times. Wallace had his final start in the 2015 Iowa Speedway NASCAR Series race as he drove for Joe Gibbs Racing.  

He brought his infectious humor, trademark laugh, and widespread popularity when he worked as an analyst for NASCAR Raceday on FS1, covering the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.   Retired from NASCAR driving, Wallace, who is held in high esteem in his field for “racing anything and everything”, continues to race his No. 36 Toyota DIRTcar in more than 60 dirt races per year, a consciously scaled-back effort from years past to afford him more family time.   

He is the son of accomplished short-track racer, Russ Wallace, and brother of NASCAR drivers Rusty and Mike Wallace. Born in St. Louis, Wallace was nicknamed “Herman” after the mischievous “Herman the German” cartoon character for his boisterous, full-of-himself behavior.  Wallace and his wife, Kim, have three daughter, two granddaughters and one grandson.  His family lived in North Carolina for several years during his NASCAR career before moving back to St. Louis in 2016.  

Wallace will be attending festival events on Friday, May 5, including the Coronation, presented by Morgan Orthodontics, where he will be knighted by Queen Isabella Astin prior to leading the Hang 10 Car Wash Firefighters’ Parade at 5:30 p.m.  
 
Additionally, he will be an added speaker on Saturday, May 6, at the Partlow Insurance Sports Breakfast at the Tolley Dental Zone in the James R. Wilkins, Jr. Athletic and Event Center on Shenandoah University Campus.  He will then ride in the Glo Fiber Grand Feature Parade, which steps off at 1:30 p.m.   

Tickets to Festival events are available at www.thebloom.com/events.