Archive for ◊ May, 2014 ◊

The Virginia Lake Festival, held the third full weekend of each July in Clarksville, Virginia, was again chosen as “One of the Top 20 Events” by the Southeast Tourism Society.  This year’s event marks the Town’s 37th Annual Event and July 17-19, promises to be the event not to be missed.

Since 1985, the Southeast Tourism Society has published the Top 20 Events.  Each month, hundreds of the best events across the Southeast compete to be named a Top 20 Event.  Southeast Tourism Society publishes the list of winners quarterly and sends the list to over 800 newspapers, magazines, radio stations, TV stations, AAA publications and others.  The Atlanta Journal-Constitution prints the Top 20 Events as a regular quarterly feature of its travel section, and the Top 20 Events has recently been featured on the New Orleans-based radio show “Travel Talk Radio,” just to name a few.  The combined circulation runs into the millions.  The Top 20 Events are also listed on the Southeast Tourism Society website www.southeasttourism.org and on their consumer website www.escapetothesoutheast.com.  The Top 20 Events pages are consistently among the most visited pages on the STS sites.

The Top 20 Events represents the best festivals the Southeast has to offer.  Events that win this honor benefit from the widespread exposure and prestige that being named a Top 20 Events affords.

Founded in 1983, the Southeast Tourism Society is dedicated to the promotion & development of tourism to its member states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.  The membership includes state travel offices, attractions, hotels, motels, resorts, convention & visitors bureaus, airlines, car rental agencies, newspapers, magazines and other travel related organizations.

If you’re driving downtown and drive by the Clarksville Fine Arts Center and look to the right you might have already noticed the newly updated, brightly colored welcome sign featuring two of the Virginia Lake Festivals highlights on the sign. The old sign was dated & showing some wear (it had been up since 1997) it had been moved to its current location in 2005, the sign used to be located near the town docks and in 1995 was at the corner of 2nd and Virginia Avenue where McDonalds is now.

We wanted to add something to it, so tourists or any passer by would see it. This event brings upwards of 60,000 people to this town each year and we really wanted something that reflects the beauty of this festival into the sign. The Hot Air Balloons & Fireworks are fan favorites. This sign also displays our Admiral and Captain sponsors & logos for a full year for their sponsorship of the Virginia Lake Festival.

The sign design, photographs & construction was provided by Justin Eubank owner of Signs & Designs & Photography by Justin Eubank.

Sheila Cuykendall, Executive Director of the Chamber, Betty D’Ornellas, president of the Chamber and Administrator of MeadowView Terrace…Proudly displaying the Top 20 award & the New Lake Festival host & sponsor welcome sign.  This year’s festival is scheduled for July 17-19

Clarksville Lake Country Chamber of Commerce in southern Mecklenburg County, Virginia is set to host the LOVE artwork sign at the 37th Annual Virginia Lake Festival otherwise known as LAKEFEST!

Visitors are encouraged to take a family picture in front of the artwork and share it on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/VirginiaisforLovers or on Twitter, using the special hashtag ‪#‎LOVEVA ‪#‎LAKEFESTVA.

The Virginia Tourism Corporation will bring an oversized LOVE artwork to Clarksville on July 17th as part of a state and local partnership to promote tourism. The artwork, which is 16 feet long and more than six feet high, is part of the Virginia is for Lovers campaign and promotes the message that love is at the heart of every Virginia vacation. Visitors can come see the LOVE when it arrives July 17th and will be on display at the pocket park on the corner of 4th & Virginia Avenue, near the sand sculpture, through July 20th.

“Our iconic Virginia is for Lovers brand is about love – pure and simple, and has been for more than 40 years,” said Rita McClenny, president and CEO of the Virginia Tourism Corporation. “We are excited to share the LOVE at locations throughout the Commonwealth where so many people can enjoy being a part of it. It reminds us that Virginia is an ideal destination for families looking to completely connect on a Virginia vacation.”

“We are thrilled to add this new highlight to the festival this year! Everyone who has been to LAKEFEST, LOVE’s it! There is so much to see and do, from the hot air balloon show, to 5k run, antique car show, amusement rides for the kids, to great entertainment, 150 arts & craft vendors, food galore & Fireworks! We want to invite everyone to our free event! Having the LOVE sign will be something new & fun and we also see it and an opportunity to promote tourism to our area.” said Sheila Cuykendall, executive director of the Clarksville Chamber of Commerce.

Tourism is an instant revenue generator for Virginia. In 2010, tourism generated $19 billion in revenue, supported 204,000 jobs and generated $1.3 billion in state and local taxes.

Love is at the heart of every Virginia vacation. Visit www.Virginia.org to learn more or call 1-800-VISITVA to request a free, Virginia is for Lovers travel guide.

Photo provided by Virginia Tourism Corporation (Virginia.org)

Live on Stage July 18th: Josh Rogan

The music is Americana. Blues. Rock and Roll. And a dream. Not just an American dream—a universal dream, to be free, exchange stories, share music, to ride the open road. A dream of getting there, wherever there may be. But perhaps Rogan says it best himself, “Having a dream keeps you going, that’s for sure. If you have something you want and you don’t have it yet, it gets you up every day.”

Josh Rogan is true grit, living the love he sings. His music is rock roll soul with a near constant message: you’ve got to dream to make it happen, and it ain’t nothing if you don’t believe. It is about the emotions we share, it’s about down-and-out and up-and-up, it’s about freedom, fear, hope, passion, thrills and the beauty of the open country. Ben Sellers at Cville Weekly says Rogan’s “dark bluesy rock might just as easily have hopped from the same rail that carried Elvis into Memphis, or drifted ashore in the same Baha tide that produced Chris Isaak.” Rogan’s first two albums contained a gritty, hard-driven rock and roll sound. With his latest, At the End of the Day, he has tapped back into his acoustic blues roots and plays heart-felt, wrenching soulful original tunes. The album tells the story of his life with songs resurrected from a childhood of adventure and story-searching. The last track Scottsville Rain is a combination of old and new with an updated song written on a train in Spain as he sailed around the world on a tall ship at seventeen. It begins with a personal recording of a thunderstorm falling on beer cans at his house in Scottsville, Virginia. Rogan’s songwriting has a simple style where the silence is as important as the notes. The songs are about loss, longing, love, and the pain and joy of being human. He sings with a compassion that says I understand the feeling and I’ve been there too.

Performing live on Stage July 19th, 11 am to 2 pm: Celeste Kellogg & JRyan!

Singer/songwriter and top 40 finalist on X-Factor. J.Ryan received 4 yes’s from the judges including SIMON! J. Ryan is a 14-year-old singer-songwriter from the south & is a guitarist, and musician.

Opening for J.Ryan is Celeste Kellogg, an Actress, Songwriter and Nashville Recording Artist. Like many kids she started singing in her church and school choirs. It didn’t take long for her to realize this is what she wanted to do. A few years later, Radio Disney was holding auditions for a NEW Tween Pop Group called RD7 and she made it. They opened for Raven, The Jonas Brothers, Miley Cyrus and the Cheetah Girls. It didn’t stop there, she also performed an hour long show at the Kelly Clarkson, Addicted To Love Tour.

 Performing live on Stage July 19th: The Green Boys!

The Green Boys are a four-piece band based out of Richmond, Virginia. Equally mislabeled as bluegrass, folk, or honky-tonk, the boys sometimes mention the idea of being a part of a “country-revival”. It’s a half-serious notion that nonetheless approaches the crux of the band’s complex sound. The Green Boys are led by brothers Sean and Ryan Green, each a songwriter coming from and delivering very different lyrical and melodic styles. Yet like the Louvin, Delmore, or even today’s Avett Brothers, the distinction between the two voices is grounded by a blood harmony, their edges blending towards a commonality.

Rounded out by the talented Mike Emmons and Zack Miller, the band’s live show is a trek through low-tempo lap steel melancholies, banjo and mandolin barnstorming, and jug band sing-alongs. All the while, their well-honed hooks tend to catch the ear. The Green Boys flirt with many genres, yet the focus never strays far from their goal. The melody, the lyric, and the feeling assembled into the band’s small contribution to what they feel is a national revival of a simple ideal: the songwriter is the singer, the sound is the way it feels, the words, simple too, are the way it was and is.

The Green Boys released a self-entitled EP in 2010 and will release their first full-length album in early 2013. They have shared the stage with artists such as Southern Culture on the Skids, NO BS Brass, Jackass Flats, The Hot Seats, Frontier Ruckus, Spirit Family Reunion and Folk Soul Revival. They have played many prominent regional venues and frequent the Virginia festival circuit including a 2012 first-place finish in the Watermelon Park Bluegrass Festival band contest.

The arts & crafts show is juried and the jury has been kept busy reviewing applications and photographs since early in February. Artists this year are coming from not only Virginia, but also other states– Florida, Ohio, North and South Carolina, Alabama, Maryland, Georgia. The crafters have been extremely active in applying for this year’s show. Water ink, acrylic and oil paintings…even face painters, pottery, leather products, birdhouses and garden accessories, carvers and sculptures, personalized jewelry, items to be personalized on the spot, blown glass jewelry, photography, clothing, home accessories and even pet attire–just to name a few.

What are some of the food vendors on tap for this year? As of this moment, we have more than 20 food vendors…only two of similar offerings are approved by the jury…thus, there will be an extraordinary amount of variety. In addition to the typical festival foods such as polish sausages, gyros, alligator fries,  blooming onions, kettle corn, coated nuts, deep-fried candy bars, cheesecake/cookies and funnel cakes with your choice of toppings…the ethnic choices will include Caribbean–jerk chicken, shawarma, hummus; vegetarian offerings, Seafood–shrimp, crab cakes, fish tacos; Thai choices–Satay, vegetable cakes and spring rolls; Items to cool one down on a hot summer day…fresh squeezed lemonade, smoothies and icees, drinks such as homemade sodas & milkshakes, snow cones, homemade ice creams and old fashioned floats & yogurt!

Show your patriotism to the great United States of America and salute our Veterans—by being a participant or a spectator at the 2014 Independence Day Parade in Clarksville On the Lake! This year’s event, sponsored by the Clarksville Ruritans, is slated for Historic Downtown Clarksville on July 4, at 11 am

Entry categories include floats, antique cars, trucks and tractors, golf carts, fire trucks and bands, plus, all area youth are encouraged to decorate their vehicle of choice—tricycle, bicycle or battery operated mini-vehicles. Each entry into this year’s parade must be decorated in the patriotic theme and the first 1,000 participants and attendees will receive an American flag upon arrival. Parade applications may be printed by clicking HERE —there is no fee to register or participate; requested date for application return is June 30.

Immediately following the parade, everyone will be treated to free hot dogs and soft drinks, compliments of the Clarksville Ruritans. For more details about the parade and the cook-out, contact Ruritan Committee Chair Charles Lee at jcharleslee@nullaol.com or call 434-374-0794.

Top Finalists for the 3^rd Annual LAKEFEST IDOL!

• Natalie Gwaltney, South Hill, VA
• Abigail Humphreys, Bullock, NC
• Ashley Hodge, South Boston, VA
• Jarret Messick, Alton, VA
• Zachary Glasscock, Clarksville, VA
• Kayson Flynn, Chase City, VA
• Lakeisha Ferrell, Buffalo Junction, VA
• Perfect Dysfunction-Maddie Scott & Jenna Scott, Roxboro, NC
• Caroline Scott, Roxboro, NC
• Amy Carnevale, Virgilina, VA
• Paige Wooton, Bullock, VA
• Ben & Dale Craft, Alberta, VA

Hosting the night show will be Lucas Glasscock and the three outstanding judges are Georgene Glasscock, Zorona Maples & new this year to the judging table is Scotty Scott. You don’t want to miss this amazing night from solo performances to group numbers, plus your chance to vote for your favorite acts! Mark your calendars for June 28th at 7 pm for the Lakefest Idol Performance Night.

The Performance will be held at the Clarksville Fine Arts Center. The admission fee is $8 and you get a great seat, voting privileges, and an unforgettable night of fun and entertainment. The proceeds benefit Clarksville Community Players & Clarksville Chamber of Commerce.

Tickets can be purchased now at the Clarksville Chamber Office, so hurry in for you choice of seats. For more information contact us at 374-2436.

Benchmark Community Bank is proud to sponsor the 2014 Lakefest IDOL Competition