FOIA: Williamsburg Mayor Visits London, Staff Goes to Florida

A summary of official trips related to Williamsburg ‘Future Festivals’

Recent FOIA requests indicate that in November, 2023, Williamsburg Mayor Doug Pons and Council Member Stacy Kern-Sheerer traveled to London along with two City staff members, for an award banquet related to the City’s Future Festivals. Another trip in 2024 to Florida involved 10 senior staff, including City Manager Andrew Trivette. (Graphic: George Arbogust, Williamsburg Independent)

In both 2022 and 2024, Williamsburg conducted a series of events called Future Festivals meant to solicit community input using games and other unique methods, as reported by Nick McNamara of WHRO. “[W]e take that festival to six or seven places around the city at different times and invite the public to come and participate in these festival-like games, so that they can take part of the process and give their feedback. And the games are designed to elicit different responses to various questions, like education, traffic, safety, any number of things,” McNamara quoted Williamsburg Mayor Doug Pons as saying…