Founded in 2005, THE KONNECTION has been tabbed as one of the East Coast’s premiere party bands, specializing in a variety of music including Top 40, Rock, Country, R & B, Beach and Oldies.

THE KONNECTION has performed for thousands, being the featured entertainment at numerous festivals and events including The Southern 500 Race Weekend Kick Off Party, The Virginia Pork Festival, The Virginia Cantelope Festival, The Colgate Country Showdown, The Virgilina Summerfest, The Smithfield Ham & Yam Festival, The Oxford Masonic Homecoming Festival, The NC Family Physicians Convention, The Virginia Lake Festival,

The NC Seafood Festival,  The NC Emergency Management Convention, numerous Alive After Five Concerts, Beuna Vista Beach Music Weekend,  The Roxboro Jaycees Beach Music Festival, and The Homecoming Concert with American Idol Winner Scotty McCreery!

THE KONNECTION has shared the stage with many national and regional acts including The Charlie Daniels Band, Delbert McClinton, Travis Tritt, Colt Ford, Exile, Diamond Rio, Ray Scott, Jim Quick & Coastline, The Fantastic Shakers, Craig Woolard Band, The Chairmen of The Board, and more!

THE KONNECTION has also performed for many corporate functions and events including grand openings at Lonestar Steak Houses, Marshall Locksmith’s Customer Appreciation Parties, North Carolina Family Physicians Association Conventions, North Carolina Emergengy Management Conventions, National Pest Control Conventions, North Carolina Shriner’s Conventions, Duke Health Optics, and more!

When you want a band that can bring the party no matter the occasion, you want to make The KONNECTION! Book The KONNECTION Band for your next event today! BOOKING INFO: 919-691-0023 mikebrooksdj@nullgmail.com

Juried Arts & Crafts

We were unsure until end of May that we would be able to host this event this year pending Covid restrictions which has caused a lower vendor count this year, but we still have over 150 vendors ranging from Crafts, Food, Non-profits & Retail items. Vendors this year are coming not only from Virginia, but also other states: Florida, Ohio, North and South Carolina, Alabama, Maryland, & Georgia.

We have lots of new & exciting booths this year, from amazing wood workings, 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.

We have a few less food and beverage vendors but there is always our usual Thai, Mediterranean, Greek, African, All-American choices & 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 icees, 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 temp you but nothing like the Smell and aroma of kettle corn, popcorn, cotton candy & more! All here on Saturday.

• Saturday & Sunday AM & Saturday PM.
• For safety of all pilots, flights occur with select weather conditions.
• Should there be storms in a 60-mile radius, or winds locally greater than 10 mph–flights will be cancelled.
• Pilots will meet at the Clarksville Community Center on Woodland dr across from Food Lion  lot around 6:30 to see the location of wind to determine where they will be lifting off.
• Stay tuned via Facebook. 

We are so thrilled Lakefest is happening this year! There are some changes this year and one major change is our fireworks on July 17th!

We are excited to partner with a local company from South Boston this year! The Virginia Skypainters, now owned and led by Ryan Francisco, is well known for it’s outstanding fireworks displays. For over 8 years, the Virginia Skypainters has provided fireworks displays using both professional, and consumer grade fireworks, for events and occasions all over the state of Virginia, and North Carolina.  In 2017, Ryan founded his own fireworks company (Francisco Display Fireworks, LLC) which is a family owned and operated fireworks company located in South Boston, Virginia. Francisco Display Fireworks is now doing business as the Virginia Skypainters and is currently serving Virginia and North Carolina specializing in outdoor aerial displays consisting of shells and ground effects.

Earlier this year, Virginia Skypainters was announced as a winner of the 2021 WeddingWire Couples’ Choice Awards®, an accolade representing the top wedding professionals across the board in quality, service, responsiveness and professionalism reviewed by couples on WeddingWire.  Virginia Skypainters has received this award 7 times out of the last 8 years, and has withheld 5-star ratings with both Wedding Wire and The Knot.

Ryan is a Certified Pyrotechnician who is dedicated to the safe and responsible use of fireworks.  Ryan is licensed with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and is also a member of the Mid Atlantic Pyrotechnics Arts Guild, Pyrotechnics Guild International, and Crackerjacks. Ryan has performed in shows in Virginia, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.

Lakefest Tees have arrived and are available STARTING Monday, June 21st  at the Chamber office and the Virginia Avenue Mall.

As we all know 2020 Lakefest was canceled however we did sell 2020 Lakefest shirts last year as we had hoped to host the event and had already chosen the winning design in early March of 2020. So what we decided was to mirror/reuse last year’s design for 2021. We had the winner of our 2020 Lakefest Logo, Victoria Messick, do some slight changes but resembling the year that didn’t happen.

• Youth Small, Medium, Large colors are Denim & Candy Orange and are $18
• Adult Sizes for Tee’s S, M, L, XL-$23, 2XL, 3XL$25 and NEW size this year is 4xl in natural only. limited amount and colors in small & mediums
• Tee colors: Candy Orange, Heather Clay, Natural, Denim, Heather Irish Green, Yellow, Dark Heather Gray
• V-NECK Colors-Seafoam or Butter
• Ladies Tanks– Terracotta (more tanks will be available at a later time)
• Men’s Tanks– Denim or Butter
• Also pictured are our Admiral & Captain Sponsors whose logo is imprinted on the 44th Annual T-shirts

Tee Sponsors pictured Left to Right: Captain Sponsors: Greg Pipen with Clarksville Ruritans, Dennis Hudson with Food Lion. Admiral Sponsors: Jeremy Satterfield with Microsoft, From VET’S INC: Pamela Clay, Aaron Jones, Jac Wagstaf

For the last six 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 $40 per person to ride.

From Macclesfield NC, Fun Fest is a carnival that is designed to help nonprofits make money and for the community to have a safe and fun time.

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. Tinker Bell & Jack Sparrow will be on stage at 10:45-11:15 and will be roaming crowds till 1 and back to stage at 1 pm. Baby Shark at Buggs Island Baby & Children’s Clothing 331 Virginia Ave also Twisted Dog productions from Madison NC- balloon twisting and magic starting on stage at 10 am…11:30 am & and 12:30.

We are thrilled to find a new sand sculpture artist for this year. Ed Moore from Sandy Feat, who had been our sculptor for many many years has retired. So I have been busy finding a replacement and I am thrilled to announce we have John Gowdy….from Atlantic City, New Jersey. 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.

“I have been carving sand for over 25 years professionally. I have won many national, international, and world first place awards in just about every master sand sculpture competition on the planet. My greatest and most often award is “people’s choice”. I love pleasing the people who look at my sand displays and get an emotional feeling from them. I work in locations such as: weddings, conventions, state fairs, private parties, lobbies of beautiful hotels, and yes… even on beaches around the world. I teach the art-form to large groups of children, adults, and at corporate team building events. I love what I do and I hope you will too!” ~https://www.johngowdy.com/

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.

It’s our Lakefest Raffle…doing something a little different this year instead of our normal bundles of prizes…this year play the LAKEFEST LOTTO for a chance to win Money, Money, Money, the top winner wins $1000.

Tickets are now available at the Chamber office and will soon be available from a Chamber board member. We will have them available opening Ceremonies near Clarksville Ruritans and Saturday the 17^th in our booth in front of Town Hall till 2 pm.

ATLANTA, Ga. May 13, 2021 – Southeast Tourism Society has named Virginia Lake festival one of the STS Top 20 Events in the Southeast for July 2021.

This year’s Virginia Lake Festival is tentatively July 15-16. 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: Southeast Tourism Society and Travel Media Press Room.

For 36 years, STS has been spotlighting the best festivals and events in the Southeast with our Top 20 Festival and Events program.  Our goal is to highlight the efforts of devoted event organizers and provide additional media exposure and accolades for their events,” said Monica Smith, president, and CEO of the Southeast Tourism Society.  “The Southeast offers so many unique, year-round, opportunities for tourists and festival-goers to create memories and support the tourism industry-–a vital economic generator for communities.”

Events considered for the STS Top 20 recognition must be at least three years old and have an attendance of at least 1,000.   The online nomination link and submission deadlines are available at SoutheastTourism.org or by calling 770-355-4002.

STS, founded in 1983 and headquartered in Roswell, Ga., is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting travel and tourism within 14 states – Alabama, Arkansas, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri,  North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.

For over 43 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 ensure that all of those attending have a wonderful and safe time. This year we are continuing to plan for the 44th annual event with hopes that we will be able to resume to 100% capacity in July as we wait to see the lifting of  COVID19  restrictions that are still in place and which we had to cancel the event last year. There may be some changes but our hopes are to continue to enhance 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!

Over 50 spaces are filled for this year’s Big Lake Flea Market. So we are excited to have the streets filling up with Bargains Galore for the weekend! Treat MOM to a fun day of shopping and dining right here in Clarksville

Big Lake Flea Market in Clarksville on Saturday, May 8th! This year’s vendors are representing not only the local but also surrounding areas. Treat yourself to one of our newest local food trucks Mezquital, and Kona Ice….also, Twisted Cakes will be here with funnel cakes, and grab a big bag of old fashion kettle corn. After you’ve sampled the various delectable treats, you’ll want to visit the variety of Flea Market Vendors selling yard sale items: anything from decorations, clothing, old toys, household items, antiques, and collectibles, there will also be crafts vendors selling anything from handmade signs, gift baskets, jewelry, driftwood just in time for Mother’s day along with other great gift ideas, plus there are a few commercial vendors such as Origami owl, Pure Romance and many promotional vendors on hand.

In addition to the vendors, the Clarksville Shops and restaurants will be hosting specials throughout the day, too, so make time on your Saturday to visit with them.

Vendors will be located on the pavement (in the parallel parking spaces) along Virginia Avenue from 2nd Street to 6th Street, spaced apart this year due to Covid. Thus, vehicle parking will be available in the lots of Wells Fargo Bank and behind the Virginia Avenue Mall, plus on the sides streets of Downtown Clarksville. Virginia Avenue will not be closed for this event, please exercise extra caution around the vendor areas. The road isn’t closed for this event just the parking spaces.

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

We are moving forward with our plans for our April 10th Wine Festival. It will have some time changes. NO tickets will be available till April 1st. ATTENDANCE IS LIMITED! The time slots are 11 am to 2 pm and 3 pm to 6 pm. Tickets are $25 in advance at $30 at the Gate (IF NOT SOLD OUT). DD tickets are $12 in advance and $15 at the gate. Tickets will be available online and at the Clarksville Chamber office 105 Second Street starting April 1st.

We appreciate your patience and understand of the necessary changes we have to make to host this event to make it safe and enjoyable.

We invite you to come to Clarksville starting December 12th at 6:30 pm to tour our homes and business all lit up for Christmas. On the opening night Santa will be leading the tour in a fire truck to see all our entries. You and your family can follow him or choose to view them on your own. A map will be provided by the Clarksville Chamber of Commerce on Friday, December 11th. The Parade of lights tour will run through December 24th. Also, if you would share your top three favorites, we are giving out prizes for 1st, 2nd & 3rd place winners. Voting can be done via our Facebook page event page or message us. Enjoy the Season with some Christmas Cheer in Clarksville

Santa is so excited to come to Clarksville this Friday…. Socially distance of course. We encourage children to come out and wave to Santa. If he doesn’t happen to go through their neighborhood we encourage them to go to the Food Lion or Wells Fargo parking lots or anywhere along the route to see him. Starts at 6:30 Pm from Fire Dept.