Archive for the Category ◊ Festival ◊

More than once…. And again…… The Virginia Lake Festival is awarded & named a “Top 20 Event” Winner!

ATLANTA, Ga. June 1, 2016– The Southeast Tourism Society has named Virginia Lake Festival one of the STS Top 20 Event in the Southeast for July 2016 .

This year’s Virginia Lake Festival is July 14-16, 2016. 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.

We are finally ready to cast out! Tickets are now on sale for our 2016 LAKEFEST Raffle!

Our angling skills netted us a great catch of prizes which we hope will bait you into buying tickets! There are no fish bones about it, that one winner is going to be hooked up with over $1300 in prizes! Everything in this raffle is filled with items most of us either are already “hooked on” or considered a must have that will lure you into buying tickets, whether you want all the items for yourself or have a special someone in mind to gift it too.

We all love the summer & the best way to cool down is time on the water. This raffle comes equipped with great water toys that the whole family will enjoy, from the 6 x 12 Paradise Pad donated by A & K Dock service, to keep your drinks on ice a floating bobber cooler, along with plenty of kids items for the beach or water. Hooked on Lake Life? We have Lake life accessories donated by Hite’s. Also a GPS Navigator for land or water donated by Southside Marine & Xtreme Life Jacket by Clarksville Water sports. Love to shop…who doesn’t, well the Chamber and Karin Kuhn both have hooked you up with $200 in CHAMBER bucks, which can be redeemed at over 20 of our Chamber merchants. So whether you want to shop or dine you have a choice where to spend your $200. We all love Disney princesses & Star Wars, the kids will love the Disney characters included in the raffle as well. Also included is merchandise that will be a great accessory to anyone’s home…from wall décor, donated by Grandfather’s Country Creations & Hall’s Art Gallery, to a Swan creek Candle donated by Charlotta Howell, fish themed cutting boards donated by H & E Enterprises, copper fish bone art, gift basket of Meck Electric apparel donated by Mecklenburg Electric, as well as his & her Buggs Island tees & hat set. Lastly, cute fishing lure earrings made locally and it wouldn’t be LAKEFEST without our Hot air balloons, so included is a handmade wooden wall art of a Hot air balloon, made by Traci Watson of 2 Mermaids Cottage painted with our theme this year…“Hooked on Lakefest”

Tickets are $5 each, three for $12, or six for $20 and the great thing is you do not have to be present to win. The winning ticket will be drawn Friday, July 15th at the end of Opening Ceremonies around 9:30 pm. Proceeds from the raffle will benefit projects of the Clarksville Lake County Chamber of Commerce. For more information, call the Chamber at 434-374-2436. or stop by the office and view the items.

We want to say a special thank you to all those who contributed to this year’s raffle, all other items that weren’t donated where purchased locally by the Chamber of Commerce.

We would like to finally reveal our Official LAKEFEST LOGO for this year!! Whoop Whoop! Beginning of each year we have a contest calling all artist to submit their creative design for a possibility to have their artwork chosen and win $250. Keeping in mind that the design has to be won over by all the judges and transfer and work best with the tee shirts. With literally only a handful of entries it was a bit challenging for the judges to decide between the submissions with those guidelines in mind for the BEST logo this year. Well we finally worked with a submission that was able to make some tweaks and add in some special request…they have opted to be unnamed and donated the money back to help with funds for the Virginia Lake Festival…here is this year’s design!

New Look & New Features!

Just like Fine WINE, We are getting better with Age! 

Official Announcement!!! As much as we have planned and were looking forward to celebrating our 10th year in the designated BRIDGE location with LAKE views, we have decided it is best that we do change the venue back to original location due to high wind chances. It makes a big difference when your above water, it might still be breezy uptown, but we won’t blow away like we would on the bridge. 😉 We did take this into account when all the planning began, so we did plan to have past location secured for that reason. So, we will try the bridge again next year. We feel it is best decision for our vendors and attendees. …! Join us at 412 Virginia Avenue for our 10 year celebration of the Lake Country Wine Festival in historic downtown Clarksville! Come t one of the most favorable WINE FESTIVALS in our area!

Please spread the word!! Thank you, Clarksville Lake Country Chamber Board

Join us at 412 Virginia Avenue for our 10 year celebration of the Lake Country Wine Festival in historic downtown Clarksville! We invite you to come, relax, enjoy the music, the wine, craft beer, the great food offerings. Enjoy 16 Virginia Wineries, live music by our favorites, Jeff & Brian, great food from local restaurants and hand selected artisans and local merchants. We will have seating available but feel free to bring your own.

While enjoying Virginia’s only lakeside town, take a stroll and visit the unique one-of-a-kind downtown shops and restaurants. This is a 21 and older event, no strollers, large coolers or children beyond the gate.

*This is a rain or shine event. In case of higher than normal winds or low temperatures the event will move off of the bridge and back to the original location at 412 Virginia Avenue.

WINE FEST TICKETS are IN and also on sale online for the upcoming Clarksville Lake Country Wine Festival in Clarksville! This year marks a special  milestone as we celebrate 10 years and with that we have lots of new and exciting things planned for this year’s event held on Saturday, April 9, NOON to 5 pm.

We have a new logo, new location and new features added this year, so you won’t want to miss this one!!! We are hosting 16 Virginia wineries,  a selection of craft beer, great food from local restaurants, hand selected artesian vendors and a few local merchants &  live music by Jeff Bailey and Brian Parks. We have special ordered New “Celebrating 10 Years” commemorative wine glasses & wrist bands for the FIRST 1000 people at the gate, so you don’t want to be late!!

Mecklenburg County Tourism has confirmed with us that the Sea Plane Splash-in will be back again this year. Also happening that morning at 8 am is a 5K and Fun Run organized by Miss Eure’s third grade class at Clarksville Elementary who raising money for the Lake Country SPCA. Check out our Clarksville Lake Country Wine Festival Event page on our Facebook for updates on all the happenings.

So mark your calendars and make it a day or weekend here in Clarksville, starting your day off by entering the 5K, then mosey downtown and shop the stores & restaurants then stroll down to the Lake Motel back parking area 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) via PayPal 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 at clarksvilleva.com or 800-557-5582.

Live Acoustical for Lake Country Wine Festival

Jeff & Brian Wine Festival musical favorites, Brian Parks and Jeff Bailey will be performing live acoustical music at the Ninth Annual “Lake Country Wine Festival” on April 9 , from noon-5 pm in Downtown Clarksville.  Parks and Bailey have roots to Lake Country, as they both grew up in Chase City; they have been playing music together for more than 13 years.  Their music genre goes from Van Morrison to Bob Segar to the Allman Brothers—the best of rock, blues, and pop.  Both are accomplished musicians with their vocals and both play guitar; Brian also plays harmonica and saxophone.  Not only will they entertain those at the Wine Festival with their music, they will also entertain with their jokes and fun-loving conversations—these fellows really like to have a good time.  They perform monthly in Raleigh and Cary, as well as performing locally in Clarksville and South Boston, and South Hill.

Could your wallet use an extra $250? Consider putting your talents to work for the 2016 Virginia Lake Festival (Lakefest) and become the winner of the reward. The Clarksville Lake Country Chamber of Commerce encourages area artists to enter the winning logo design for the 39th Lakefest that is scheduled for July 14-16, 2016. In addition to the cash reward, the winning artist will have their design featured on the official 2016 Lakefest t-shirts and on brochures, flyers and other media promotions of the three-day event, plus be promoted in area newspapers for their accomplishment.

Those wanting to enter the contest may download an entry form, pick up an entry form at the Clarksville Chamber of Commerce, 105 Second Street, or pick one up at the Virginia Avenue Mall or call the Chamber and one will be mailed to you. For artwork designs to be considered in the judging, original and signed entries must be delivered to the Clarksville Chamber Office or submitted by mail to the Lake Festival Committee, P.O. Box 1017, Clarksville, VA, 23927, no later than March 13th, 2016. For more information call the Clarksville Lake Country Chamber of Commerce at (434) 374-2436 or contact us.

Come and celebrate the fall season the first weekend in October at the Annual Harvest Days Festival!

The 20th annual Harvest Days Festival will bring a major celebration to Virginia’s only lakeside town on October 2nd & 3rd. The event will reap a list of activities of things to do for the whole family!

Friday Night

Friday night starting at 7pm we will be hosting the Oktobefest Beer Garden, with live music, fall & domestic beer & food. This event will be located at Alternate RAIN LOCATION: 71 Saw Mill Road, off of Noblin Farm Road, (road) on the East side of Southside Marine.  Admission at the gate will be $5. Food & beer will be available for purchase with ID, beer is $3 per beer. This event is for 21 and over.

Harvest Days Festival Pumpkin Painting Early Saturday the vendors will line the streets facing the storefronts and sidewalks along Virginia Avenue offering seasonal crafts, specialty items, antiques, collectibles and antiquities (items of an era) from 9 am to 3 pm. In addition to the vendors, the one-of-a-kind specialty shops and restaurants will offer specials throughout the downtown area, enjoy our annual fundraising auction at high noon! Rain location for the auction will be inside the town council quarters next to the Great Wall Restaurant.  The games & crafts for the kids will move if rained out, inside the old House of Prayer church upstairs.  Hayrides will still be available if not down pouring.

RAIN or SHINE!! Come out and enjoy the beautiful autumn weather and the activities that are available. If we have to we will have vendors located indoors at the old House of Prayer Church located at the corner of 4th & Virginia Avenue across the street from the Lake House Restaurant.

The event is opened to the public and there is no admission charge. This year the festival will continue into the late afternoon & evening, 5 pm-9 pm with the Lake Country last Cruise-in for 2015. Harvest Days Festival is hosted by the Clarksville Lake Country Chamber of Commerce. For more information contact us or call (434) 374-2436  or check out the schedule of events on our facebook page. If you would like to be a vendor please fill out our Rules & Application Sheet.

THE BIGGEST EVENT IN SOUTHERN VIRGINIA is HERE!! This year is spectacular and we are inviting you to come, party with us as we celebrate the area’s favorite event here in Virginia’s only Lakeside Town. Below you’ll find detailed information on some of this year’s details; starting Thursday night with our Annual Hot-air Balloon Tethering rides, then Friday we invite you to come to opening ceremonies & finally Saturday, the main day, full of events for the whole family from sunrise to the gathering of the boats & fireworks. Make sure you stay till Sunday year and celebrate “Afterfest” too!

• 2015 Lakefest Schedule
• Tethered hot-air balloon event-Thursday
• Bringing Back the L O V E
• Welcoming Ceremonies-Friday Night
• Musical Guests ~ Friday
• Monstrously Big “Totally Cool” LAKEFEST Raffle
• Juried Arts & Crafts Festival-SATURDAY
• Shuttle & Parking Information
• 5k & Fun Run
• Antique Auto Show
• Special Attractions
• Games & Rides
• Musical Guests Saturday
• Official 2015 LAKEFEST T-SHIRT & SOUVENIRS
• “Afterfest”
• Top Twenty Events
• VIDEO RICHMOND
• VIDEO GREENSBORO

Lakefest Highlights start on Thursday…Come out and enjoy the beauty of the hot-air balloons! Bring your lawn chairs and blankets and spend the evening watching the balloons inflate and provide fun, FREE hot-air balloon rides for children 12 and younger. This event is scheduled for Thursday, July 16, starting at 6 pm at the Lake Country Business Park located on Noblin Farm Road (next to Clarksville Elementary School).

Hot dogs, hamburgers, soft drinks and ice cream treats will be available, courtesy of MeadowView Terrace. Children’s games, a dunking booth and other activities will be available at the event, too, all courtesy of Halifax Regional Health System. A minimal fee will be charged for the food and activities; however, all proceeds will be donated to the Southeastern Alzheimer’s Association.

With the weather cooperating (pilot can fly only when the wind is less than 10 mph and there are no storms within a 60 mile radius), all activities will continue until dusk. For more information, contact the Clarksville Lake Country Chamber of Commerce at 434-374-2436.

Also, going on the same night after the Hot air balloon rides, head downtown, to the corner of 4^th & Virginia Avenue to the old House of Prayer Church Building at 8 pm to see a FREE MOVIE! The House of Prayer is hosting the movie BIG HERO SIX rated PG. Refreshments & popcorn will be available.

ALAN at 2013 LAKEFEST

Friday, July 17^th stop by the corner of 4^th & Virginia Avenue, where Sand sculptor, Alan Matsumoto, has already begun his larger-than-life creation, I wonder what it will be this year? Alan, has held a Guinness World Record in sand-sculpting, and has won 6 World Championship titles with his Sand-sculpting Team-mates. He has also been a Canadian National Snow-sculpting Champion and twice B.C. Provincial Champion. After a 19 year career as a Structural Engineer in Vancouver, Canada, Alan has been sand-sculpting professionally now for over 20 years and currently lives in Roanoke, Virginia.

The town will be busy preparing for the night’s activities as the main stage will be rolling in as well as a few selected vendors & Fun Time Amusements of Danville will be setting up all their machines for the all the children’s games & rides. Around 6:30 pm everything should be set & placed into action. At 7 pm, we the night’s MC, Bill Baker will take stage and announce and bring our wonderful, sponsors to the stage! We couldn’t do it without them!!! Make sure you thank a sponsor if you see one!!

ADMIRAL

• HP

CAPTAINS

• McDonalds of Clarksville
• Clarksville Ruritans
• VETS, Inc.

COMMANDERS

• Benchmark Community Bank
• Lake Motel Efficiencies & Magnuson on the Lake
• SENTARA
• Signs & Designs
• The Mecklenburg Sun
• The News Progress
• US98.3

OFFICERS

• VCU/CMH
• Town of Clarksville
• Century 21 on the Lake
• Simmon’s & Associates Realty

1^st MATES

• A & K Dock Service
• Unburn
• Clarksville Marina
• Carter Bank & Trust
• Citizens Community Bank
• Edward Jones
• Mecklenburg Electric Cooperative

Helmsmen

• CFJ-Jewelry, Gifts & More
• Clarksville Auto Supply, Inc.
• Matthews Sanitation
• Southside Marine
• Virginia Avenue Mall

As soon as we are finished with taking the sponsor photo, the live entertainment for the evening takes stage….from Richmond Virginia, InsideOut. We will be selling lakefest t-shirts by the Clarksville Ruritans Thrift Shop, and also raffle tickets for the Totally Cool Raffle, which the winner will be drawn at 9:45 that evening.

From Richmond Virginia, playing the best from the 70’s, 80’s, 90’s, as well as today’s top hits, InsideOut features male and female lead singers, who bring a high energy show band while playing the best dance music around. InsideOut Band deliveries a wide variety in all kinds of music, for all ages.

InsideOut Band consists of 10 professional musicians with sorted talents, a dynamic horn section and 6 lead vocalists, playing music from Wilson Pickett to Katie Perry, InsideOut covers it all. The added bonus is the band’s DJ performs before they take stage, during their breaks, and after the show for an awesome entertainment experience, the best of both worlds for your function.

InsideOut Band’s influences include groups like Chicago, Tower of Power, Blood Sweat and Tears, Earth Wind & Fire, and Kool and the Gang. Also artists like Michael Jackson, Marvin Gaye, Al Green, Luther Vandross, Prince, the Time and too many more to list. The will be ready to bring you to the dance floor the Friday of WELCOMING CEREMONIES of LAKEFEST…. July 17^th, after we honor the sponsors!

Everything about the Prize Package is BIG that we have assembled for this year’s LF Raffle, thanks in part to some really awesome local Chamber Retailers that have donated some totally awesome gifts! YOU will be “COOL” in so many ways winning this prize package!! Everything in this raffle screams summer time fun and what better way to cool down than at the lake with all these fine prizes! (more details below)

A & K Dock service has generously donated a Pipeline, 11’ MUSHY Paddle Board & Paddle, worth over $800!! I WANT ONE!! CFJ- Jewelry Gifts & More – has also supplied coolness to one lucky winner and hooked us up a YETI COOLER, yeti accessories, Corkcicle & Heybo Tervis! Just with those items alone this package is worth almost $1200. While one of you is paddling, the other can relax on the Obrien foam Hammock that Southside Marine donated. HITE’s donated $100 worth of prizes to keep you fashionable for your trip to the beach: Buggs Island cap, tee & Beach hat, Mudpie bag & spiker & some southern fried accessories too! It wouldn’t be a day at the beach without a Shark siting, not a real shark in this raffle but a wind shark spinner that would look great in your yard, donated by the Twisted Tree! At days end from a totally wonderful day at the lake, the sun & water is great but for your hair it may give you that “yeti” look and will need repaired….well, Your Hair Place has hooked this raffle up with Matrix Biolage Shampoo & Conditioner. And for a kicker, and fun later in the summer…donated to us by Henrico Farms is a free ticket to the BIG Buggs Island Blues Bash, Scheduled for October 3rd!

Along with the items donated The Chamber purchased the below items from local Chamber Retailers to compliment this raffle:

• Obrien Wake Vest–Southside Marine
• Jellyfish Kite–The Twisted Tree
• Beach Towels & Set of napkins with Fish rings–Morningstar’s Bed & Bath Outlet
• Lunch Basket, Flip flops, Avon SPF Sunscreen, Anchor scarf wraps, anchor zip bag–Virginia Avenue Mall
• Also:
• *NEW Lake Life Pier Wreath
• *NEW Winbush Racing Tee Shirt & koozie

You DONT want to miss out buying a ticket for this raffle!! ONE ticket for $5 can win you all this!!!! Can you imagine? You can save by buying more tickets, buy 3 for $12 or 6 for $20. Tickets are available at the Chamber Office, Monday –Friday 9- 5 pm. Also, the Board of directors will also have tickets, so if we aren’t open, find one of them, I am sure they would be happy to sell theirs!!!

ALL ITEMS FOR THIS RAFFLE ARE FROM LOCAL CHAMBER MEMBERS! PLEASE REMEMBER TO SHOP LOCAL.

Proceeds go towards Lakefest expenses & future downtown events hosted by the Clarksville Chamber of Commerce. (Special thanks to Brandy Driggs & Philip Hensley for modeling & Betty Gould for allowing us to use Gypsy Beach for photo shoot)

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, Maine, Pennsylvania & Georgia. The crafters have been extremely active in applying for this year’s show. Lots of new & exciting booths this year….art from Water ink, acrylic and oil paintings, 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…how about something heathy at LAKEFEST? Well, we have a new vendor this year coming from Midlothian…..Hemp Dog Café® their products are a healthy take on classic foods. It is gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, and GMO free!

Of course we have all the other festival favorites such as gyros, chic on a stick, Thai food, pizza, whole pig BBQ, crab cakes, seafood and hot dogs & hamburgers too! Fried green tomatoes, alligator fries, blooming onions, kettle corn, & more.

And for those with a sweet tooth, we have all sorts of flavored Funnel cakes and an Insane DONUT vendor, deep fried peaches, candy bars, & Oreos. For that hot summer day you can choose from these tasty treats to cool you down, Ice cream, smoothies, sno-cones, popsicles’, milkshakes or yogurt & so much more.

Want to see keep up with all active details & more of who is coming to LAKEFEST, go to our LAKEFEST EVENT page on Facebook to view our daily post on updates and information.

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.

Exciting news for this years event:

Mecklenburg County Public School division is working with the Clarksville Lake Country Chamber of Commerce to make getting to and from Lakefest a little easier for visitors this year.
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. This year she chose 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 approved the request at its last voting session.
Speaking for the division, Heather Tuck, Assistant Superintendent of Administration said, “As we continue to work together in our community to strengthen the many positive aspects of living in Mecklenburg County, our school division is pleased that the town of Clarksville reached out to us to use our school buses for a fee, and hire our drivers to transport people to the downtown activities during Lakefest. Working with each community and all governmental agencies helps create a partnership that supports the county of Mecklenburg.”
Lakefest visitors seeking a ride to the downtown festival should look for the yellow school buses that will be shuttling people to and from remote parking sites. These are both air conditioned buses!!

Shuttle Service Map

This service will help with the age old question on 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 sides 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 the 8^th 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—Festivalgoers are encouraged to Park & Ride. Parking $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.

Attention

For those Parking at Circle K and walking over the bridge to get to the festivities. You will need to go retrieve you vehicle by 3 pm, there will be NO PEDESTRIAN allowed to walk or ride on the bridge BUSINESS Bridge after 3 pm. Only authorized personal

Enter your antique automobiles in the 21st annual Antique Auto Show, which will be featured at Lakefest in Clarksville on Saturday, July 18, at Century 21 On the Lake (412 Virginia Avenue) and the lawn areas adjacent to realty office. Great trophies will be made in the categories of

•    Hard Luck Story,
•    Oldest Vehicle,
•    Longest Distance Traveled,
•    Diamond in the Rough and
•    The most important trophy of the show; Tom Lilly BEST IN SHOW Award.

Among those who have registered their vehicle in the show, there will be two prizes of $50 each that will be given away that afternoon.

To register your vehicle for the show, complete a registration form (available at Century 21 On the Lake or at the Chamber Office or Click Here to Download/Print) and return with the $10 fee prior to festival or $20 day of the show. The application can be mailed out or faxed to those interested in participating. For more information about registering your vehicle for the show, contact Century 21 On the Lake (434-374-2279) or the Clarksville Lake Country Chamber of Commerce (434-374-2436) or HERE.