Opening night-July 19th at Live on Stage at 7:30 p.The Feature Attraction Band-starting all the way back in 1986, FAB began as “The Overtime Band” and they performed countless festivals, private and corporate events throughout the Southeast. Fast forward to 2014 and they brought together a dynamic group of musicians whose background consists of Blues, Southern Soul, Beach, Country and Rock. Nominated in 2017 for the Carolina Beach Music Association (CBMA) rising star award, this helped promote their music throughout the Carolinas. Their song “Sunny Day” was also included on the Patman and Robin Records compilation “Tranquil Bay” and their newest single “This One’s For the People” was recently released in October of 2018 on the Cape Fear Studio compilation “Carolina Moon”.

All of this combined has gained more airplay throughout Virginia and the Carolinas and FAB is looking forward to what 2019 has in store. From your intimate black tie affair to an outdoor festival playing to a crowd of thousands “Feature Attraction” delivers the same quality performance each and every time. The members of FAB have shared the stage with such artists as: Percy Sledge, Delbert McClinton, Clarence Carter, The Showmen, The Drifters, The Rhondels, Dan Peek and more. Available for Festivals, Corporate Functions, Clubs, Private Parties, Nightclubs, Weddings or any occasion where professional “100% LIVE” entertainment is desired. Be sure to visit their website by Clicking Here and find them on Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.

Our Raffle is complete and we have three great prizes lined up for three lucky winners just great for Summer fun!! Valued together its filled with nearly $2000 in prizes… Package #1 is the home & patio Package, Package #2-Wagon full of Beach fun & Package #3-Buggs Island Fishin’ Package. From Adirondack Chairs, Beach toys & accessories to fishing fun on Buggs Island lake prizes. It’s a must stop in a see. So when you come to get your lakefest shirts…be sure to buy raffle tickets too!! $5 each or 3 for $12 or 6 for $20.

Juried Arts & Crafts-The arts & crafts show is juried and the jurors have been kept busy reviewing applications and photographs since early in February. It is a packed house this year with over 200 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, Pennsylvania & Georgia.

The crafters have been extremely active in applying for this year’s show. We have lots of new & exciting booths this year, from amazing woodworkings, acrylic and oil paintings, pottery, leather products, birdhouses and garden accessories, carvers and sculptures, personalized jewelry, items to be personalized on the spot, pain relief jewelry, photography, clothing, home accessories and even homemade pet food & attire… just to name a few.

We have great things for the kids from to Disney characters, face painters, magic shows, balloon twister & amusement rides.

There will be no shortage of food vendors and we have some new and exciting food trucks vendors this year ranging from BBQ, crab cake sandwich, to our usual Asian, Seafood, Mediterranean, Greek & your All-American choices too! There will be special items such as along with all the other fair favorites. For the sweet tooth, every kind of funnel cake you can think of which they have evolved into all the toppings and flavors a sugar lover could only dream about. There will be deep fried candy bars, & Oreos to icees, smoothies & popsicles. Cheesecake on a stick anyone? Smell the aroma of kettle corn, popcorn, cotton candy & more! All here on Saturday.

Disney Characters will be here for a short time from 10:30-1:30, so don’t miss them performing at the United Country Realty Stage. Virginia Avenue from Second through Fourth Street will not re-open at 5 pm so we have about 25 vendors opting to stay until the fireworks, so come on down any time of day. If you want to keep up with all activities, 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.

The new ride we plan on bringing for Lakefest is called “Berry-Go-Round” . A berry fun ride for all ages.

Fun Time Amusements Rides has been providing family entertainment for more than 58 years and they plan to bring a wonderful array of rides and games that will enhance the main stage area adjacent Third Street (access at the corner of Third and Virginia Avenue) on Friday night, Saturday and Saturday night. Usually they bring eight or nine rides, which can range from their Flying Super Spinner, Fun Slide, Jurassic Adventure, Scooby Doo Combo Inflatable, Windjammer Kite Flyer and Rock Climbing Wall & more. Most of the rides and games will be located on the grassy lot adjacent to the area. The company’s top priority is that of safety for their patrons and their guests. Safety mechanisms on all rides are constantly monitored on an on-going basis, and the rides are inspected by Virginia State Safety compliance.

Train Rides

All aboard! No need to get your ticket punched for this train ride— passengers ride for free and there’s no ticket needed. Lakefest’s Fun-Time train will be chugging up and down Virginia Avenue (from 3rd to 7th Streets) on Saturday, July 20, from 9 am-5 pm. Turn-around locations will be at the main stage area (lot connected to 3rd Street) and at the Bank of America parking area (between 7th and 8th). The train holds up to 18 passengers, packages and baby strollers.

Helicopter Rides

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.

The Water Wars Booth

Play the ultimate water balloon game! From Warsaw, NC Water Wars is bringing some water balloon fun that you will have fun either as a game or competition–here is how you play: Opponents go to opposing battle stations with buckets of water balloons. Each battle station has a water balloon launcher. Place a balloon in the launcher, pull down on the handle, aim, and fire! Your balloon soars high through the air and comes crashing down on your opponent’s battle station. There are strategically placed slots and holes in the structure that allows the water to come through. You might get sprinkled, sprayed, or saturated, but watch out, retaliation comes quickly! Water Wars will be located in front of Watkins, Cooper, Lyon’s FH.

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.

The Lakefest Logo committee is thrilled  to announce our 42nd Virginia Lake Festival Logo Design & Winner….Todd Tedder from Kernersville, NC  was awarded our $250 prize for his winning artwork. Todd & his wife Cheryl are summer residents and they often come up to Clarksville. They love to shop and eat here and always make it to Lakefest. They moved to Garner North Carolina from Perry FL in 1975, they met some friends in their new neighborhood and started camping at Kerr Lake/Buggs Island in the Hibernia and Satterwhite camp grounds as kids, they would take a lot of boat rides over to Clarksville Va. Cheryl and Todd continue to camp here, their friends they camped with got to looking to purchase property on Kerr Lake/ Buggs Island, they both located a house & lot side by side in the Ponderosa area in Clarksville, VA.

They saw our call for artist contest on Clarksville Chamber of Commerce Facebook page, so they started thinking about the events that happen on at Lake Fest and started drawing a design. They both love the lake and wanted to be part of a very special event that’s been going on for so long. His logo depicts a Lakefest directional sign, lake life and relaxing  looking over the lake in Clarksville all while watching the fireworks & balloons, and even displaying some sand art.

Enter your antique automobiles in the 25th annual Antique Auto Show, which will be featured at Lakefest in Clarksville on Saturday, July 21, 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
• Tom Lilly BEST IN SHOW Award (The most important trophy of the show!)

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 434-374-2279 or at the Chamber Office 434-374-2436 or Click Here to Download/Print and return with the $10 fee prior to festival or $20 day of the show. Or it can be mailed out or faxed to those interested in participating.

One of the events major attractions to Lakefest each year is the Sand Sculpture. We wait for almost three whole days to figure out what great work of art will be carved out of that huge pile of sand. The attraction is located in the Pocket Park, located at the corner of 4th & Virginia Avenue, near the LOVE sign.

Back this year is Ed Moore who was here last year and has been the main sand artist for Lakefest for many years. Ed is the Founder of the Sandy Feat sand sculpture group, who grew up to be an architect. But he never gave up on his childhood pastime, which resulted in ever more complex creations, from elaborate castles built on beach vacations to the scores of sculptures he has cut into blocks of wet sand since founding the professional sand-sculpting team Sandy Feat 26 years ago.

He has a Bachelor’s degree in architecture, is a N.C. State University Residence, lives in Raleigh with his wife, Sally Moore. The Moore family has a long history at N.C. State, where he, his father and one of his sons all earned degrees. Moore says his father would often recall a tradition there from the 1920s called “Rush the Grand,” in which groups of students would take the trolley downtown to the Grand Theater. (Later called the Ambassador Theater, it has since been razed.) A large enough group would overwhelm the attendants, allowing the students to get in free.

The Killer B’s will be performing live at LAKEFEST.The Killer B’s are a popular Richmond based band that features a variety of music from the 60’s to the present..from Motown to Clapton. The Killer B’s take pride in performing songs that most other bands don’t play earning them the nickname of the “ Oh Yeah Band”. Set lists are tailored to specific audiences at different venues and various events. Killer B’s..always sure to please !!!

We have hit a record this year having the Lakefest T-shirts in the house this early!! We are happy to announce that our official 2019 Lakefest t-shirts have arrived and they are fantastic and so colorful just great for summer!

Todd Tedder, who is this year’s winner of the LOGO contest won $250 for his artwork is the official logo for this year’s Tee shirts.

Each shirt has the official ADMIRAL VETS INC Sponsor on the left sleeve  

On the right sleeve are our three of our Captain Sponsors logos, Food Lion, Microsoft & Ruritans.

This year we have ordered more ladies V-NECKS in Orange, Lagoon Blue & Pink

The 42nd edition shirts are super spectacular and have many colors to choose from this year. But some are very

limited in quantities, so you must come quickly because these colors won’t last long. Colors—we love the soft style we ordered more of those this year too, colors available in soft style are: white, Daisy, heather orange & black! New Colors are Kiwi & Heather Orange & Lagoon Blue! All colors range in sizes from youth small to adult 3xl. Youth shirts are $15 and come in Safety Pink & Lime Green, Adult Tanks & Tees & V-Necks sizes small to x-large are $20 and 2XL’s and 3XL’s are $22.

Tanks are in limited sizes & colors. Colors for the Ladies are: Pink & Terracotta, men we have Caribbean Blue & Orange

Get yours before they are gone! T-shirts are now available at the Clarksville Chamber Office (105 Second Street) and the Virginia Avenue Mall (317 Virginia Avenue). Proceeds from the shirts will help with the various expenses of Lakefest such as live bands, fireworks and hot-air balloons.

Left to R (FL Manager, Dennis Hudson, Jeremy Satterfield-TechSpark Community Engagement Manager for Microsoft & President of the Clarksville Ruritan Club, Janice Edwards & our Admiral Sponsors VET’S Inc-reps-Josh Glasscock & Kendele Underwood)

Southeast Tourism Society Selects Virginia Lake Festival as an ‘STS Top 20 Event’

ATLANTA, Ga. (date) – Southeast Tourism Society has named the 42nd Annual Virginia Lake Festival one of the STS Top 20 Events in the Southeast for July 2019.

This year’s Virginia Lake Festival aka “Lakefest” is July 18-20th. 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: the Southeast Tourism Society and Travel Media Press Room.

For over 41 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 celebrating our 40-year milestone, and with that our hopes are to enhancing the elements of Lakefest, festival goers enjoy so much! More vendor choices, Great music, and sculpture, fun entertainment for the children, a great show of Hot air balloons, & the biggest Fireworks show to date!!

“The Top 20 Festival and Event Program is celebrating 34 years of spotlighting the best festivals and events in the Southeast. Our goal is to provide well-deserved accolades for the dedicated event organizers and additional media exposure for their events,” said Monica Smith, president, and CEO of the Southeast Tourism Society. “The Southeast offers so many unique, year-round, opportunities for attendees to create memories and support an industry that is an economic generator for its community.”

Events considered for the STS Top 20 recognition must be at least three years old and have the attendance of at least 1,000. The online nomination link and submission deadlines are available at SoutheastTourism.org or by calling 770-542-1523.

STS, founded in 1983 and headquartered in Roswell, Ga., is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting travel and tourism within 12 states – Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.

Mark YOUR  calendar and make this the year to come, experience the fun at our 42nd annual event and experience the wonder and fun of LakeFest – you’ll be glad you did! Join us July 18-20th, 2019.

Come to Clarksville, Virginia Saturday, May 11, to the Big Lake Flea Market and our NEW Farm Fresh Marketplace! Shop for unique finds and great bargains. Virginia Avenue will be a buzz with a special selection of vendors and downtown merchants offering arts and crafts, fresh produce, antiques, yard sale items and one-of-a-kind treasures, including freshly picked strawberries straight from the patch. Come hungry, too, and dine at a variety of our restaurants in town, also have a few food vendor serving fried fish, hamburgers & other fixings.

Vendors will be located on the pavement (in the parallel parking spaces) along Virginia Avenue from 2nd Street to 6th Street. Thus, vehicle parking will be available in the lots of Wells Fargo Bank and behind the Virginia Avenue Mall, plus on the side streets of Downtown Clarksville.

So, hit the streets early (vendors will be ready at 8:00 a.m.) and make your plans to spend a fun day in Virginia’s only.

WINE FEST TICKETS are available ONLINE ONLY at this time for the upcoming Clarksville Lake Country Wine Festival in Clarksville! We have a some new & improved changes proposed for the layout on the bridge, weather permitting, the annual event is on Saturday, April 13, NOON to 5 pm.

We are hosting 16 Virginia wineries, a selection of craft beer, great food, hand selected artisan vendors and a few local merchants & live music by Jeff Bailey and Brian Park & Tobacco Road Band.

So mark your calendars and start the morning downtown shopping the stores & dining at our restaurants, 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 to the left (or below if you’re on your phone) 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 here or 800-557-5582.