Residents of Virginia love their vanity plates. According to a recent study, Virginia has the most personalized license plates per capita in the U.S. and the Great Falls Citizens Association have a plan to see that number increase within its community.

At a January GFCA board meeting, board member Doug Natal brought up the idea of having personalized plates made for Great Falls. The plates would feature the name of the community and the tagline "Treasuring Heritage, Home and Habitat." Since many residents of Great Falls already have personalized plates, Natal feels a lot of them will represent and support their community by switching over to the new plates. Last week, the GFCA approved the proposal and are in talks with a local charity organization to sponsor the plates.

"Hopefully, we can get the town behind it," said Natal, who runs his own company in Reston, Government Sales Advisors. "It’s a great way to get the pride of Great Falls out there."



NATAL HAS RESEARCHED the proposal with the state Department of Motor Vehicles for several months. Certain non-profit organizations in Virginia are allowed to get their own personalized plates if they meet certain criteria. The GFCA is not recognized as a non-profit organization, so they are working on developing a relationship with a charity organization to make the plates a reality.

Three hundred and fifty interested parties would need to commit to ordering the plates from the DMV, who would then produce the plates to be sold on their Web site. After 1,000 of the plates are sold, the charity, in a revenue-sharing program with the DMV, would get $15 from every plate sold. The license plates will cost $25 and the funds given to the GFCA will be used to improve the community. Natal wants to use the funds to support the 2020 Vision for Great Falls and asks interested parties to commit now, so he has an idea of how many residents are interested in acquiring the plates. "The reason we’re collecting money and the reason we want to make this a big success is because it’s a way to support the 2020 Vision," said Natal. "This will enable us to collect funds to make 2020 a reality."

Brick sidewalks in Great Falls Village, a new bike path for Georgetown Pike, the new farmer’s market, and other improvements could benefit from funds raised through the license plates. "There are all kinds of things that we’re trying to do to bring the people of Great Falls together in a more social environment," said Natal.



RESIDENTS of Great Falls can submit designs for the plates that the DMV may eventually use. "We gladly accept any designs," said Natal who is asking residents to become involved with the process. Designs should be four-colors with enough space for six letters to be printed. "We want it very colorful and very open to interpretation."

"It seemed like there was overwhelming support for it," said Natal of the board’s support of the personalized plates. "The Great Falls Citizens Association is taking steps to raise funds to make sure that the vision of the 2020 Survey becomes a reality and one piece of that is starting the new idea around the license plates."

For more information about or to commit to ordering the Great Falls personalized license plate or to submit designs please email GFplate@gsadvisors.org.