Southern Virginia’s Largest Event! July 21st -23rd. Free Admission
We invite you to come to “LAKEFEST”!The 46th annual event has added some NEW features and events. Starting with adding Sunday this year. So if you can’t make it on Saturday, join us on Sunday with over
110 vendors, live music, and fun. Lakefest is usually pretty hot, so we invited a few winter guests to bring some cool weather and vibes. What does Santa do on his off time? He comes to the Lake! Summer Santa citings throughout the three days, and on Saturday Olaf & Elsa will be here, it’s like Christmas in July. Decorate your boat for our Summer Santa/Christmas in July theme for loads of fun. Be sure to check the program or our Facebook page for all the updates https://fb.me/e/4412wELIL
Program 23
Friday Night Virginia Avenue will be closed from 7/11 to 5th Street for Opening Ceremonies starting at 5 pm. Saturday-Business Bridge and Virginia Avenue will be closed starting a 4 am Saturday morning and until 12 am. The ramp at WF Bank to 5th Street will remain closed until 4 pm Sunday. The bridge will be open on Sunday. We have over 100 vendors that will be open on Sunday
HERE IS THE LINEUP:
It all starts Friday evening as our Opening Night, and Saturday is packed with events all day long. Be sure to check the schedule! New! We added another day for our Arts & Crafts vendors. We will have over 110 vendors from crafts to great food, from 9 am to 3 pm. Live music & beer garden from 11:30 to 3 pm.
OPENING NIGHT CEREMONIES & ACTIVITIES JULY 21st
Join us as we honor our 2023 Virginia Lake Festival Sponsors at 7 pm. Located this year at 416 Virginia Avenue/Lake Life Live Park. Lakefest t-shirts & Raffle at Chamber Booth, Craft Beer is available for purchase, and a selection from BIB (Buggs Island Brewery), and Woodbine Winery will also be here Friday night. No coolers or outside alcohol are permitted at the event. Face Painting and Food are offered by Off the Chain, Blended Soul, Cottage Barn & Poppa Bears Kettle Corn. Face painting & Come See Summer Santa and there are Free games and a chalk station.
7:15 YMCA LINE DANCERS
Check out all our fabulous sponsors https://clarksvilleva.com/festivals-celebrations/clarksville-lake-festival/#/
FRIDAY NIGHT LIVE MUSIC
7:30 pm-Live on Stage– Main Street Station!
Based in Richmond, Main Street Station is one of the hottest new country/rock bands on the Central Virginia music scene. Offering a fun, high-energy style with the best in Country, Classic Rock, Soul, and Pop. The driving force behind the sound is Acoustic Guitarist / Vocalist “Barefoot Joe” McMinn and powerhouse female Vocalist Lori Sclater. Their incredible harmonies are complemented by Lead Guitarist / Vocalist Mike Sisler. The rhythm section of Matt Bottone on Bass and Mike Scott on Drums provides the foundation of the band’s rock-solid groove. With experience ranging from local venues to large regional festivals to supporting major national tours, Main Street Station is ready to provide an unforgettable entertainment experience. Influences include Blake Shelton, Aretha Franklin, AC/DC, Hank Williams, Jr., Thomas Rhett, Prince, Jason Aldean, Miranda Lambert, John Mellencamp, Guns-N-Roses, Tim McGraw, Garth Brooks, Lady Antebellum, Old Dominion, The Band Perry, Blackberry Smoke, Tom Petty, and Dave Matthews to name just a few.
HOT AIR BALLOON SHOWS
Saturday & Sunday AM & Saturday PM. For the safety of all pilots, flights only occur in select weather conditions. Should there be storms in a 60-mile radius, or winds locally greater than 10 mph–flights will be canceled. Pilots will meet at the Clarksville Community Center on Woodland Drive across from the Food Lion lot around 6:30 to see the location of the wind to determine where they will be lifting off.
LAKEFEST/YMCA 5K RACE 2023
JURIED ARTS & CRAFTS SHOW SATURDAY
We are hosting over 190 vendors ranging from Crafts, Food, Non-profits & Retail items. Vendors this year are coming not only from Virginia, but also from other states: Florida, Ohio, North and South Carolina, Alabama, Maryland, & Georgia. We have lots of new & exciting booths this year, from amazing woodworking, acrylic and oil paintings, pottery, jewelry, items to be personalized on the spot, clothing, home accessories, and even homemade pet food & attire… just to name a few. VIRGINIA AVENUE from 9th through 2nd and Business Bridge will be CLOSED ALL DAY from 4 am to 11 pm.
FOOD & BEVERAGES
We have a full plate of food offering this year from Thai, Mediterranean, Greek, African, BBQ & Kono Pizza! For the sweet tooth, Homemade ice cream anyone? check out the Amish booth…also it would not be a festival without funnel cakes, deep-fried candy bars, & Oreos to ice, and smoothies, Lemonade is great for a hot day! NEW this year is a Sober Mobile Bar which is a non-alcoholic beverage truck. There will be lots of food to tempt you but nothing like the Smell and aroma of kettle corn, popcorn, cotton candy & more! All here on Saturday.
PARKING & SHUTTLE
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.
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 with and live out of town, there will be fewer headaches to park your car across from the YMCA, catch the bus, and ride to 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. Located on Industrial Parkway Road across from YMCA 1567 Noblin Farm Dr. map-shuttle
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.
SAND ART
Lakefest is thrilled to announce we have John Gowdy & Laura Cimador-Gowdy from Atlantic City, New Jersey, who will be returning to the 46th Annual Virginia Lake Festival. He is a retired captain from the Atlantic City Fire Department having served 27 years, half of those years in the rank of captain. He has dedicated the rest of his life to the arts. May it be painting, sculpture, or the performance of both together. The duo recently achieved 2nd Place Masters Duo, John, and Laura Gowdy at the annual Texas SandFest Competition (April 12, 2022) Photos by Kastle Kelley.
“My team and I have been carving sand for over 30 years professionally. I work with my lovely wife Laura. We have won many national, international, and world-class first-place awards in just about every master sand sculpture competition on the planet. Our greatest and most often won prize is “people’s choice”. We love pleasing the people who look at our sand displays and experience an emotional feeling from them.~https://www.johngowdy.
RIDES, GAMES & SPECIAL GUEST
For the last seven years, Paul Jackson, Helicopter Pilot, has been flying the friendly skies and giving our Lakefest visitors rides over Clarksville and the Lake. Take advantage of seeing Lake Country from the air this year, it is a memory you will never forget. Rides will be available starting Friday evening, at the Food Lion lawn area & Saturday for most of the day. It is $50 per person to ride.
For Saturday only…We are doing something different this year with the rides and games, there will be a super slide, rock wall, Surf the waves, and Golf Simulator & photo booth. Tickets for these will be available at the Chamber booth located in front of Town Hall on Saturday. You can purchase a golden ticket which will allow you to have unlimited use of these ticketed features.
We will still have our free trackless train offering rides on Saturday from 9:30 to 3 pm. Pick-up and Drop off locations are next to Hite’s and Ayala’.
Special Guests From Party Princess Productions of Raleigh, we will have Disney Characters will be here for a short time from 10:30-1:30. Elsa & Olaf.
LAKEFEST CLASSIC CAR SHOW
In 2019, The Lakefest Antique Auto Show celebrated 25 years, now called Lakefest Classic Car Show will be held in the parking lot of TouchstoneBank 701 Virginia Avenue… Each vehicle will receive a dash plaque for its entry.
Enter your Classic automobiles by filling out an application, $10 entry, and $20 day of show. You can register online at HEREor call us at the Chamber Office at 434-374-2436
LAKEFEST RAFFLE
Tis the SUMMER SEASON is this year’s Lakefest Raffle prizes. It will be like Christmas in July for three winners. The first winner will choose between “Deck the Patio” valued at $1100, and “5 Floating rings” over $600. or “Water Wonderland” valued at $350. It’s all about Summer Santa visits LAKEFEST #46. Tickets are $5, 3 for $12, or 6 for $20.
LAKEFEST T-SHIRTS
Lakefest Tees have arrived! Our Captain sponsors are sporting some of the colors and their logos! Thankful for all of them and their support of Virginia Lake Festival #46 #lakefestva Summer Santa also joined in the photo to sport his pic on the tee! This year we asked to incorporate a Summer Santa into the logo for something different. He is so excited to come to Lakefest and enjoy all the highlights! #clarksvilleva
left to right Food Lion, Clarksville Ruritans, Karin Kuhn Realtor, VETS, Inc., Sentara Halifax Regional Hospital, Hitachi Energy South Boston, VA, Microsoft TechSpark…Summer Santa Richard Elliott
Huge shout out to Distinct Impression in South Boston for the many years of helping us with our tee orders. We also like to Thank our Lakefest Logo Winner Ashley Robinson who designed this year’s tee. We are unable to get her in for a picture due to her having a baby this week
Tee and tank Prices are
-$18 for small & medium youth (Navy, Maroon, & Ice blue)
-$25 for adults Small-XL Sizescolors vary and have a very limited supply!! maroon, ice grey, ice blue, Vegas Gold, black, apple green, navy & purple! Ladies’ V-neck colors mint, dessert pink & Cancun blue Ladies’ tanks- peach, navy & grey men’s tanks- Mint, ice blue & Lapis Ladies Flow tees- Black and Dessert pink
-$29 for 2XL, 3 XL and (4XL only available in Ice grey) Sold at the Clarksville Chamber office and Virginia Avenue Mall. Allen Hayes, Beverly Manter, Karin Kuhn, Kendele Underwood, Cherie Madison, Ryland Clark, Jeremy Satterfield & Richard Elliott
SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE MUSIC
Central Virginia’s Premier 80’s Tribute Band
Mad Maxx & The Groove Train Band love to perform & it shows! It’s high energy, crowd-interactive, and loads of fun! No matter the occasion, you CAN’T resist the dance floor. With their charismatic stage presence and high-energy performance of classic hits from the 80s and beyond, Mad Maxx & The Groove Train Band will take your next event on a time-warped trip… Back to the Future
9:15 pm Gathering of the Boats & Fireworks over the lake. Decorate your boat in Christmas in July theme for fun
SUNDAY
Early morning hot air balloon show.
9 am to 3 pm
A variety of vendors are located from 2nd to 5th Street ( over 110), Live music, adult beverages are available, and sip with Santa.
Music starts at 11:30 with Justin Cody Fox & 1:45 the High Grass Band will finish out the event
Justin Cody Fox
Is a Blues/Rock powerhouse with a double-threat vocal and guitar prowess that’s been forged in fire since his early jump into the music industry at just 15 years old. Justin began honing his skills at a young age on late-night family jams and developed an early appreciation for songwriting by exploring his parent’s record collection. By the time Justin had formed his first band, he was already gaining regional attention as one of the premiere performers on the NC coast. Some of Justin’s early influences included guitarists Stevie Ray Vaughn and Jimi Hendrix, as well as Rock bands The Black Crowes, Humble Pie, The Faces, and Tom Petty. Over the years Justin has written and recorded six albums and toured up and down the East Coast, Southern US, and The Virgin Islands, sharing the stage with many great national acts.
Justin’s debut release ( Go Down Swinging ) was more of an upbeat statement as Brian Tucker of Star News notes: ” In a way, this album is like sunshine, especially in the aftermath of good and bad things over the last few years.” Tucker is referencing the tragic loss of Justin’s younger brother at just 17 years old in 2009, which undoubtedly changed his life and music forever. These events created an outpouring of songs still to this day. 
