About Ask Eddie

Ask Eddie

Ask Eddie began in 2008 with a monthly post by Harrisonburg Downtown Renaissance Executive Director Eddie Bumbaugh, whose column Ask Eddie also appears in HDR’s print and electronic newsletter. It quickly became apparent that fans of downtown Harrisonburg have so many more questions for Eddie than can fit in a monthly post, so the blog was expanded to include press releases, retail news, upcoming events, exclusive interviews, and news stories aggregated from other media.

Ask Eddie is run almost exclusively by volunteers who have a question about downtown and then – you guessed it – ask Eddie for his answers and post them. There are three ways to become involved:

1) Ask Eddie! Simply email ebumbaugh@harrisonburgva.gov. You’ll get an email response directly from Eddie, and your question may appear on this site.

2) Become a blogger! Help us come up with new story ideas and write stories of interest about downtown Harrisonburg.

3) Join as a member. A 501(c)3 organization, HDR depends on private donations to accomplish all the great things that you read about on Ask Eddie.

Harrisonburg Downtown Renaissance

Harrisonburg Downtown Renaissance is a private non-profit organization whose mission is to revitalize downtown Harrisonburg.  To accomplish this, HDR follows the philosophy of Virginia Main Street, viewing revitalization as an effort between economic development, beautification, promotion and events, and engaging the local community. The organization receives partial funding from the City of Harrisonburg with a majority of its programming budget coming from memberships and other sources.

Eddie Bumbaugh

A lifelong resident of the Shenandoah Valley, Eddie Bumbaugh’s interest in downtown began nearly 30 years ago as an employee at his family’s automobile dealership.  The Bumbaugh Buick building still stands on North Liberty and West Elizabeth Streets, next to the new Liberty Park.  Several years later, after receiving his Masters in Social Work degree, Eddie found himself back downtown as the assistant director of the Community Mediation Center on South Main Street.  His involvement with downtown intensified in 2003 as a volunteer in a grassroots effort to consider a pedestrian mall on Main Street.  After months of discussion and research, the pedestrian mall concept was eventually abandoned as the wrong choice for Harrisonburg, but the movement for a downtown renaissance had begun!  When HDR formed as a 501(c)3 non-profit in July 2003, Eddie came on board as the organization’s first director.