This year’s Virginia Beach Patriotic Festival is June 3-5 and will feature Chris Young with special guest Bobby Bones & Raging Idiots on Friday, Sam Hunt with guest Canaan Smith on Saturday, and Big & Rich with an appearance by Cowboy Troy on Sunday. The oceanfront concert site is at the foot of 5th Street. Tickets are available online at patrioticfestival.com.
The festival’s Military Expo Village showcases our national defense mission, equipment and personnel through exhibits, demonstrations and displays on Friday through Sunday from 15th Street to 20th Street. The Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Coast Guard branches of the military are all participating. Transient slips are available at marinas throughout Lynhaven and Rudee inlets.
Boardwalk docking
Chrismar Marina has opened at the head of Middle River, a tributary of the Chesapeake near Essex, Maryland. The 38-slip docking facility is located on the site of the previous Buedel’s marina and prop shop. Charlie and Mary Frances Gast have completely transformed the property to include a 735-foot boardwalk with docking that can accommodate yachts up to 50 feet. The mean low tide is 5 feet, 5 inches. Minor repairs and washing and cleaning are available. Winter storage will be on the water with all slips bubbled. chrismar-marina.com
Leukemia Cup events
The 2016 Leukemia Cup Regatta hosted by Eastport Yacht Club is scheduled for Saturday, June 4th. Last year’s regatta was a record-breaking fundraising year with 103 boats in the regatta and $247,000 raised for the mission of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. An “Off the Water Fundraising Race” that encouraged fleets, clubs and individual teams to join in the fight against blood cancer raised $120,000. The event weekend kicks off with live entertainment and auctions the night before and concludes with an awards dock party after the races.
The Southern Chesapeake Leukemia Cup Regatta is July 8-10, hosted by the Fishing Bay Yacht Club in Deltaville, Virginia. The regatta offers three courses including one for Typhoons and other one-design monohulls less than 20 feet that run inside Fishing Bay. National Capital Area events include a junior regatta on August 20th, a poker run on August 27th, and a sailing regatta on September 9-20. Advanced registration for all the events is required. leukemiacup.org
Nurse a beer or three
Cruisers to the Northern Outer Banks can find plenty of action underway this month without the summertime rush. If you like beer and art, May 30-June 5 is the week for you. It’s Outer Banks Craft Beer Week, which was “created to showcase the marriage between the craft beer industry and the arts.” It’s an adult event and no kids are allowed. One option is three days of craft beer education at a one-of-a-kind brewing retreat at North Carolina’s oldest microbrewery, the Weeping Radish Farm Brewery.
For the kids (and adults), Tuesdays, starting May 31, is Kitty Hawk Kites Kids Days. Activities include games, kite making, toy and yo-yo demonstrations, rock wall climbing (Nags Head and Waves Village only), and more. kittyhawk.com/events/outer-banks-kids-day/
— By Christopher Knauss, Southern Boating Magazine May 2016