Archive for ◊ 2017 ◊

ADMIRAL Sponsors reps, Kendele Underwood & Josh Glasscock, proudly displaying the VETS logo and all the colors available.

The Official 2017 Lakefest t-shirts have arrived and they are MARVELOUS! Each shirt has the official ADMIRAL VETS INC Sponsor on the left sleeve & two of our Captain Sponsors, Clarksville Ruritans, & AmeriGas’s logo imprinted on the right sleeve.

The 40th edition shirts are s uper spectacular and have even more colors to choose from this year. But some are very limited in quantities, so you must come quickly because these colors won’t last long. Colors—we have a new feature on three of the tees that are in a soft style blend, colors available in soft style are: white, navy blue and “bodacious” berry! Other colors to dye for are our Candy Orange, Scuba Blue, Island Reef, Corn silk, Charcoal Grey! All colors range in sizes from youth small to adult 3xl. Youth shirts are $15 and come in Yellow, Sky & Navy blue, Adult sizes small to x-large are $20 and 2XL’s and 3XL’s are $22.

Tanks are back too in limited sizes & colors. Colors for the Ladies are: white, navy blue, island reef & raspberry- for the men we have white, navy blue & maroon. Get yours before they are gone! Tanks are $20 for regular sizes, 2XL are $22.

T-shirts are now available at the Clarksville Chamber Office (105 Second Street) and the Virginia Avenue Mall (317 Virginia Avenue). Proceeds from the shirts will help with the various expenses of Lakefest such as live bands, fireworks and hot-air balloons.

Souvenirs galore this year for our 40th! Starting with some fun caps & visors with either Clarksville, VA or LAKEFEST in assorted styles & colors! $15 for most styles, $12 for Visors!! We are big FANs of LAKEFEST and we have some super cute ones available along with some totally cool stadium cups, key chains & the official LAKEFEST 2017 light up fidget spinners!! We also have some items from last year still in stock…Bags, towels & water bottles!

Visitors can come see our community made LOVE sign on display at the pocket park at Virginia Avenue & 4th Street through the middle of August, then it will be moved Lakeside beside our Welcome to Clarksville Sign at the Sunoco A Plus

• L is for Lake Life, Lakefest and our Love for this town.
• O represents Clarksville’s history of the Occoneechi Indians and Opportunities here in Clarksville! We hope to capture great memories & visitors’ dreams of visiting again and again (or even that they will want to live here!)
• V is for our many Visitors that Vacation here in Clarksville and we want you to Value your time with us!
• E is for wishing Everyone wonderful Experiences. And we have to add our thankfulness for God’s Everlasting Love for us! We are looking forward to our Endless possibilities here in Clarksville! The END.

About the LOVEwork Project

• www.virginia.org/love– features all the LOVEwork with an interactive map so travelers can visit each one.
• Over the past few years, we have seen over 100,000 visits to the LOVEwork webpage
• We continue to see great engagement online with thousands of user-generated pictures on Facebook, twitter and instagram featuring the LOVEworks
• Visitors are encouraged to use #LOVEVA with LOVEwork pictures and share with Virginia Tourism’s social accounts, @visitvirginia

Parking? We get that question a lot here in our office, and to make life a little less stressful for you & the Town of Clarksville during Lakefest we encourage you to use the shuttle service offered to you as our solution for everyone. (View the Shuttle Map here)

This service will help with the age old question of where to park? This way you don’t have to worry about being stuck on the side street with all those others trying & hoping to find a spot nearby. The side streets are really narrow and if you are new to the area, you might not know the best way to navigate around the back roads, even though there are detour signs. Even if you are familiar and live out of town, there will be fewer headaches to park your car across from the YMCA, catch the bus and ride to the drop you off at 8th street. And any time you are ready to head back to your vehicle, a bus will be there within minutes to take you back.

Parking & Shuttle Service

Festival-goers are encouraged to Park & Ride.  Parking is $5 per vehicle; there is no charge to ride the shuttles to and from the festival.  Parking will be at the Lake County Business Park, on Noblin Farm Road.  The Shuttle will run from 8 am until 6 pm. If you want to participate in the night activities you will have to catch the last ride by 6 pm to retrieve your vehicle so you can then just park closer to town after 6 pm.

We are excited to announce that we are again working with the Mecklenburg County Public School division with renting two of their buses – one handicapped accessible – and hiring division bus drivers to operate them.

Sheila Cuykendall, Executive Director of the Clarksville Lake Country Chamber of Commerce said the chamber traditionally hired a non-local bus service to bring people downtown from the event’s remote parking areas. Last year we wanted to find a way to provide the same service while spending the money locally. She approached the school division about renting two buses – one handicapped accessible – and hiring division bus drivers to operate them. The school board once again approved the request at its last voting session.

ATLANTA, Ga. April 28, 2017 – The Southeast Tourism Society has named 40th Annual Virginia Lake Festival “LAKEFEST” one of the STS Top 20 Event in the Southeast for JULY 2017.

Bruce Woerner, Chamber President, Sheila Cuykendall, Executive Director of Clarksville Chamber, Jeff Jones, Clarksville Town Manager

This year’s 40th Annual Virginia Lake Festival is July 20-22, 2017. The STS Top 20 Festival and Event Awards have highlighted programs around the Southeast since 1985.

Travel industry experts select 20 events per month, and STS publicizes them throughout the United States. The complete list is published on two websites: EscapeToTheSoutheast.com and Travel Media Press Room.

For over 39 years, all the activities provided during this event have been free and open to the public. We are very committed to continuing this tradition, although our expenses continue to increase. Our entire community (population 1,400) becomes involved with one aspect or another of this three-day event. Our civic groups are instrumental in lending a hand, as well as our rescue, fire and police departments to insure that all of those attending have a wonderful and safe time. This year we are celebrating our 40 year milestone, and with that our hopes are to enhancing the elements of Lakefest festival goers enjoy so much! More vendor choices, Great music, sand sculpture, fun entertainment for the children, a great show of Hot air balloons, & the biggest Fireworks show to date!!

“The Southeast Tourism Society’s Top 20 Festival and Event list is an excellent guide for the Southeast’s visitors, residents and travel writers. The events selected represent the best, and often most unique, activities in our region,” said Bill Hardman, president and CEO of the Southeast Tourism Society.

Events considered for the STS Top 20 recognition must be at least three years old and have attendance of at least 1,000. Nomination forms and deadlines are available at SoutheastTourism.org or by calling 770-542-1523.

STS, founded in 1983 and headquartered in Atlanta, Ga., is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting tourism to and within 12 states – Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.

The Clarksville Chamber is super excited to unveil the Special 40th edition 2017 design for this year’s Lakefest T-shirts. Normally, we hold a contest that begins in January for local artist or participants of any age to submit their design to the Lakefest judges for consideration of the winning logo design for the t-shirts. With a decline in entries over the past few years, we decided that with it being the 40th year we would enlist a few outside professional designers to submit a design to us this year. The few designers that chose to participate have ties to our local merchants with their promotional products.

The 2017 Lakefest Logo Winner of $250 is Dale Moorhouse!

Dale is a graphic designer who has over 30 years’ experience in the industry. Pro Graphics has clients across North America, and has been producing artwork for Toby Newcomb of Red Bolt Promotions for the last two years. In 2011, he opened Pro Graphics, which specializes in producing artwork for the promotional & incentive industry as well as designing graphics for print. Dale also creates logos and develops marketing campaigns for business. Dale is known for his professionalism, creativity and patience. He also loves coffee.

Logo was created in Adobe Illustrator and designed to incorporate the boating/music/fireworks aspects of the event. Bright colors convey the ideas of fun and lively.

A five-member judging committee chose his graphic design from a few other contenders. Each submission remains unnamed to the judging committee therefore they don’t know whose artwork it is so that it is unbiased. Dale’s winning design will be featured on the official 40th Annual Virginia Lake Festival, 2017 t-shirts and all other promotional event materials for the July 20-22 event.

Come to Clarksville, Virginia Saturday, May 13, to the Big Lake Flea Market, for more unique finds and great bargains. Virginia Avenue will be a buzz with a special selection of vendors and downtown merchants offering arts and crafts, fresh produce, antiques, yard sale items and one-of-a-kind treasures.

Treat your tummy to delicious tastes including freshly picked strawberries straight from the patch. Come hungry, too, because the best of the food vendors will be onsite preparing your favorites and the local restaurants will offer specials on their menu throughout the day.

Vendors will be located on the pavement (in the parallel parking spaces) along Virginia Avenue from 2nd Street to 6th Street. Thus, vehicle parking will be available in the lots of Wells Fargo Bank and behind the Virginia Avenue Mall, plus on the side streets of Downtown Clarksville.

So, hit the streets early (vendors will be ready at 8:00 a.m.) and make your plans to spend a fun day in Virginia’s only lakeside town.

TICKETS are IN and on sale online (left or below depending on your device) for the upcoming Clarksville Lake Country Wine Festival in Clarksville! Moving full steam ahead and keeping our fingers crossed that our plans and hopes of holding the event on the bridge this year will happen we have added new and exciting features to this year’s event held on Saturday, April 8, NOON to 5 pm.

We are hosting 16 Virginia wineries, a selection of craft beer, great food, hand selected artisan vendors and a few local merchants & live music by Jeff Bailey and Brian Parks, Uncorked & Jared Place.

Mecklenburg County Tourism has confirmed with us that the Sea Plane Splash-in will be back again this year.

So mark your calendars and start the morning downtown shopping the stores & dining at our restaurants then stroll down to the Lake Motel to view the Sea Planes and for those who are 21 and over, at high noon the gates to the Wine Festival located this year at second street will open to the business bridge.

You can purchase online(left or below depending on your device) or at the Chamber office, Galleria on the Lake, The Virginia Avenue Mall, Century 21 on the Lake & Cooper’s Landing Inn. Tickets in advance are $25, $30 at the gate, ticket includes a souvenir wine glass. For non-taster/DD tickets in advance are, $12, $15 at the gate.

All festival proceeds will benefit the Town’s Chamber of Commerce and will go towards future projects. For more information, contact the Chamber online or 800-557-5582.