Archive for the Category ◊ Lakefest ◊

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!

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.com/

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.

OPENING NIGHT CEREMONIES  & ACTIVITIESTH th

Join us as we honor our 2022 Virginia Lake Festival Sponsors at 7 pm. Behind Hite’s in the Clarksville Ruritans Parking lot.

Enjoy Amusement Rides & Games,   Lakefest t-shirts & Raffle at Chamber Booth,  Craft Beer is available for purchase (Friday night only), selection from BIB (Buggs Island Brewery), NEW addition is the Woodbine Winery will also be here Friday night. No coolers or outside alcohol permitted at the event. Food is provided by Off the Chain and the Cottage Barn.  

Program of Events (Click Here Program 22)

FRIDAY NIGHT LIVE MUSIC

Brake Tyme Band

7:30 pm-Live on Stage– Brake Tyme Band- started around 2015 playing pool parties in our neighborhood. We have 2 original members and we are a 6 piece variety band from Henderson, NC. We play country clubs, private parties, and festivals. Our website is braketymeband.com

SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE MUSIC

Paradise Road is a Contemporary Southern Rock band, (though not just Southern Rock) from Halifax County, VA. Starting from humble beginnings, we have been playing together for many years and bring a varied mix of music to our events. We are versed in Classic Rock, Southern Rock, Blues, and Country as well as Alternative. We are a high-energy band that aims to please. From Skynyrd to Zeppelin. From Johnny Cash to Neil Young, this band puts on a show that is guaranteed to satisfy. Ranging from hard rock hits to classic ballads, this group loves to put on a great show. After many years of playing on our namesake, Paradise Road as a weekend jam band, we have started hitting the public stage to bring a little music to anyone that will come see us. All are welcomed, as we have a little bit for everyone, and all leave satisfied. Come on out and join us!

Members of our group include Sonny Jones (Drums), Dwayne Rudder (Rhythm Guitar and Vocals), Jeremy Newton (Bass Guitar and Vocals), and Robert Jordan (Lead Guitar and Vocals). We have all lived in the area for most of our lives. All of us have been playing for many years with various other groups, but we have all found a kinship with this group.

We are available for small venues as well as larger venues from clubs to outdoor festivals and parties. Feel free to contact us if you are interested in having us perform.

JURIED ARTS & CRAFTS SHOW

We are hosting over 175 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 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. 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 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.

HOT AIR BALLOONS

Saturday & Sunday AM & Saturday PM. For safety of all pilots, flights only 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 Drive across from the Food Lion lot around 6:30 to see the location of wind to determine where they will be lifting off. Stay tuned via Facebook

FIREWORKS

We are excited to partner again 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 held 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 shows in Virginia, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.

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. (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.

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 45th 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.com/

RIDES & SPECIAL ENTERTAINMENT

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 $45 per person to ride. From Macclesfield NC, Fun Fest is a carnival that is designed to help non-profits 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. Sleeping Beauty & Maleficent.  Sparrow will be on stage at 10:45-11:15 and will be roaming crowds till 1 and back to stage at 1 pm. Cocomelon Island Baby & Children’s Clothing 331 Virginia Ave.

LAKEFEST RAFFLE

Local Fun & Games is this year’s Lakefest Raffle prizes. The first winner will choose between backyard games valued at $645, or local shopping, dining, and accommodations gift certificates totaling $645. or $200 in Chamber cash with a 31 Lakefest Longaberger Media Basket total valued at $245. It’s all about LAKE FEST #45, Your family will love the backyard fun & games with a Lakefest/Clarksville Cornhole set, Jenga, Connect four, Badminton Sets plus some fun lake fest accessories.

LAKEFEST T-SHIRTS

Lakefest Tee shirts and tank have arrived and are now on sale at the Chamber office and will be at the Virginia Avenue Mall later today. We tried hard to keep the prices affordable with everything going up in price and shortage issues on colors. Regular tees are $24. 2XL, 3 XL & 4 XL are $28. Youth sizes are $18. Colors vary and many are limited so hurry in for the best selection. We like to thank our four Captain Sponsors for sporting the new tees and some of the colors.

LAKEFEST CLASSIC CAR SHOW

In 2019, The Lakefest Antique Auto show celebrated 25 years, and then the pandemic hit, and Lakefest was canceled for 2020. For many years, Century 21 on the Lake helped the Clarksville Lake Country Chamber organize this attraction and since Century 21 merged and now Coldwell Banker Advantage, we needed to find a new host. The Clarksville Regional Museum stepped in and organized it at their lawn on 8th Street in 2021 and now the Clarksville Lake Country Chamber brings it back into the festival for 2022. The Pandemic has changed a lot of things for us and we are working hard to keep this attraction part of Lakefest, with that change we are updating the name and location for this year to Lakefest Classic Car Show and it will be held in the parking lot of TouchstoneBank 701 Virginia Avenue. We are thrilled to have Bob Murphy available that morning to help with placements. 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  https://clarksvilleva.chambermaster.com/eventregistration/register/10619

or call us at the Chamber Office at 434-374-2436

Please follow any of the links below to get informed and stay updated about what’s happening at Lakefest 2021!

BE SURE TO COME AND 

• Join us as we honor our 2021 Virginia Lake Festival Sponsors at 7 pm. Behind Hite’s in the Clarksville Ruritans Parking lot
• Enjoy Amusement Rides & Games
• Lakefest t-shirts & Raffle at Chamber Booth
• Craft Beer is available for purchase (Friday night only), selection from BIB (Buggs Island Brewery) no coolers or outside alcohol permitted at the event.
• Food provided by Off the Chain and Mezquital
• 7:30 pm-Live on Stage– The Tobacco Road Band

The Tobacco Road Band

The Tobacco Road Band is privileged to be able to open the 2021 Virginia Lake Festival! Plus, we will be joined on stage by, Grammy Award Winning, Mary Frances Lee – Mama Funk (www.bootyband.com)

The Tobacco Road Band consists of four Southside Virginia musicians with roots deep in the soil, mining the music of our generation. Lead by Ronnie Newcomb (Bass & Vocals) this group is the result of years of musical collaboration. Most of the members have played together for decades. Rounding out the lineup is Barry Hughes (Drums), Bill Baker (Guitar) and our newest member Kevin Allgood (Guitar & Vocals).

Their music blends old soul & blues, country and some good southern Rock & roll to give an audience’s the rhythms and lyrics sure to bring a smile. The band is always pleased when their show turns into a full scale sing-a-long as they play the favorites of the time. In fact, most of our audiences know the lyrics better than the band does! The Tobacco Road Band lives by its motto “Music that will make you move!

WARNING! The surgeon general has determined that continuous enjoyment of this music will result in uncontrollable movement of the hips, feet and lower extremities. In most cases, symptoms often include a better attitude, smiling faces and an overall reconciliation of the day’s events into a feeling of happiness. In rare occasions, overwhelming joy has occurred. ENJOY OFTEN WITH RECKLESS ABANDONMENT!

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.

• 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.

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.