It Takes a Village

I thought this place would have nothing to offer over the summer in terms of festivals and concerts. Who's even here for that? Are there enough people to make it a sizable event? Do businesses even bother coming out during the summer?

The Summer Solstice Fest in downtown Blacksburg proved me wrong: I've seen crowds just as big before at Relay for Life and Gobblerfest(more on that in the fall), among others. The town came alive, galvanized by all the local businesses and musicians coming together to put on a truly unique festival.

Early afternoon at the festival. The event stretched at least three blocks of  Main Street and more.

From a business perspective, Summer Solstice is an effective springboard for small companies or organizations to make themselves known and spread awareness through free stuff, the universal college student attractant, and unusual activities and games. Some showed interesting ideas:

This neighborhood committee set up a sandbox in one of the alleys right outside Starbucks. Kids play, and their parents get the sales pitch. How they cleaned up all this is beyond me.

Cabo must use the same sand guy. A DJ and plenty of lighting provided a great nightlife scene, giving off that bar by the beach feel.

This artist is an engineering professor who has been "doing sketches on the side" for about nine years. He was doing quick caricatures with a comic-book like feel to them (Think early Walking Dead Comics).

Another neighborhood complex set up this water balloon launching game, which was completely free. Never before have I heard such small children talk so much smack.

A Women's Fitness Club offered a water bottle to anyone who could do 20 pushups. If you're wondering, this was pushup #183.

 Some attractions were more legitimate than others. I didn't even know the flea circus was a real thing, but apparently it is. And it was as ridiculous as you can imagine. I learned that Flea Circus ringmasters come from a long sequence of fathers pressuring their sons to take up their flea-covered mantle. He fired a flea from a cannon. He had one wave a flag. He had another swing on bars. I felt bad for the little kids in the front row who bought into all of it. But at least he had a quirky, borderline creepy enthusiasm; I was about to leave due to the overwhelming smell of corn.

If he said "I hope this doesn't BUG you" one more time, I was about to start the Great Blacksburg Riots of 2013.  

Definitely check out The Next Three Days Blacksburg Website if you're in town. The site shows the schedule of restaurant specials, concerts, and other events for, you guessed it, the next three days.

As a dog lover, I appreciate how every local Blacksburg event is dog friendly; the sheer amount of them and their good behavior are impressive. The Solstice Fest had a petting zoo and a dog parade along Main Street. I was too busy  D'awwing to take pictures, and I only ended up getting two. Sorry.

For her talent, she played "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" on ukelele. It's a shame she lost to the  Dachsund that rolled over for ten consecutive hours.

"Hey, my eyes are up here."

Later that night, the concerts got into full swing. For an event like this, I figured the acts would be too few to last til midnight. Wrong again. And these groups weren't campy garage bands, either; you could tell they had put thought and time into their setlists. Clearly, the hosting radio channel brought in the cream of the local crop.

Everyone funneled toward the stage as the night winded down.  While the day was chock full of kids in Angry birds shirts, many more adults came out for the night concerts.

The Alexander Black House is currently under renovation/restoration on Draper road. A model of Victorian architecture, it'll also be a museum and cultural center.

The Alexander Black House should be almost twice the size of what it is now when it's finished. It provided a great backdrop for the festival, and will hopefully become a centerpiece for events in the future.


Cheers,

Ben