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June 5th, 2010
Patriotic Festival Virginia Beach, VA
It was year 6 of the Patriotic Festival. The Patriotic Festival is an annual event which takes place in Virginia Beach. I think we've gone at least three if not four of the years. I didn't make a page for the other year or two. I don't know know why... the Patriotic festival is basically honoring our military. Every year, one deserving man or woman from each branch of the US military is honored for their self-sacrifice and honor they bring to themselves, their branch of service and the US in general. At the event, they get up on stage and we hear about what they did. Many are injured. The radio stations, the USO are the emcees of the event. The crowd comes mainly for the national entertainment, which is always free to the public. This year it was several bands but we only went the day Hall and Oates were playing. Other bands were: Uncle Kracker and Jason Aldean. Hall and Oates were good but there were some mechanical problems with the keyboard and I heard John Oates change the lyrics of a couple songs. The warm up band was Guava Jam; varied songs, the girl had an okay voice but the rest ...eh. Local band in NC that has more local fame. I appreciated Hall and Oates played a lot of their hits (not all though). I did buy a CD but never got a chance to get it signed. Or even try. We were not as close as I'd of liked. They set up the beach differently this year. They put out SEAT and charged 50.00 a ticket so people would be closer to the stage but there were so many seats you were paying for nothing really. NOT worth it. We had VIP seating in the Chevy tent which was not that great as it was far but at least we got free food and drinks. I am losing my site, so I cannot see well and being close is important to me. Oh well. Not this time I guess. The festival has some tents set up to buy food and several vendors/sponsors want you to come see them like Chevy, Geico, banks and such. Of course there are carnival rides and shops and such along that strip. Others swim or go boating/parasailing or whatever. Parking will cost you about 6-20 dollars for the night depending where your park. Food is NOT good there. Prices pretty high for the quality. Bring water bottles, sunscreen, a towel to wipe your feet off, money, camera and to get a good seat, you need to get there WAY early (three hours will be the earliest they'll let you set up). If you do this, you'll be bored, so bring a book to read or something. You are NOT allowed coolers or picnic foods. Members of Guava Jam include: Letha Holland-Deel, Jeff McWaters (Senator VA 8th district), Scott Rigell (Running for Congress/VA), Karen Lindrall, Matt Breitenberg, Doug Earlenbaugh, Kevin Marshall and Donnie Satterwhite.
Left to Right: 1) Guava Jam 2) Guava Jam closer up (see above for member names; I can't discern who is who at this time)
Links:
Live Nation Concert Promotions
Scott Rigell for Congress Site (Rep)
Jeff McWaters VA Senate Site (Rep)
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