Even more Xtreme
Advertisement
Text size: small | medium | large
Sage Merritt / News Virginian
Published: May 9, 2007
From 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, May 19, outdoors festival Xtremefest of the Blue Ridge is back at Ridgeview Park, exposing area residents to the possibilities for fun that literally exist in their back yards. Orchestrated by the Waynesboro Parks and Recreation Department, Xtremefest will celebrate its second year with an array of activities and presentations that highlight Blue Ridge Mountain's best outdoors recreation opportunities - hiking, biking, boating (paddling) and rock climbing.
"Xtremefest is basically a one-stop festival for anything and everything outdoors," said C. Dwayne Jones, of the Waynesboro Parks and Recreation Department. "We'll have clinics on hiking. If you want to kayak, we'll have them on the South River all day. We've got a mobile, 25-foot climbing wall where you can test your climbing skills. We've got an Extreme Bungee Jumper - an apparatus where you'll be strapped into a harness and experience what it feels like to bungee jump, without actually having to take the plunge."
Along with those hands-on activities, Xtremefest will include 10 different educational clinics throughout the day, with topics such as "Great Hikes Close to Home," "Paddling in Paradise" and "Selecting the Right Boat." Throughout the festival, vendors and other experts in the field of recreation will offer educational information and the opportunity to purchase the perfect equipment for your outdoors experience of choice.
Keith King BMX will also be on hand to provide a different kind of demonstration - a BMX bike stunt show featuring both flatland and high-flying ramp stunts.
To cap off the event, organizers will present the Imax film "Everest" at the amphitheater in Ridgeview Park at dusk after the festival.
All activities are family-friendly and great for folks of all ages, said Jones.
"I think we've got something for the whole family," Jones added. "It's the one place to go for activities for everybody, young kids through adults."
Rounding out Xtremefest will be food from local vendors and the opportunity to win "a ton" of door prizes and raffles for exciting outdoors gear, including a kayak from Blue Ridge Mountain Sports and a test from Rockfish Gap Outfitters.
"We came up with the idea last year," Jones said. "Some of us [at the Parks and Recreation Department] do some rock climbing, paddling and things in our spare time. It became obvious that we needed a festival to introduce some folks to these activities, since we are in the heart of Blue Ridge and all of these activities are right in our back yard. We wanted to introduce folks to activities that some may feel are a bit extreme."
A portion of the proceeds from Xtremefest of the Blue Ridge will benefit the Appalachian Trail Hostel, located in the Grace Lutheran Church.
Contact features editor Sage Merritt at 932-3559.
Post a Comment
The commenting period has ended or commenting has been deactivated for this article.
Can't find what you're looking for? Try our quick search:
