26th Beach Music Festival Saturday

The Bank of Botetourt Beach Music Festival returns to Glen Maury Park in Buena Vista this Saturday, July 27. Three top-notch bands will be performing Saturday and a Friday evening pre-festival concert by another talented group will kick off the music weekend.

The festival begins at noon Saturday with Gary Lowder & Smokin’ Hot, a seven-piece rhythm and blues soul group from North Myrtle Beach, S.C. taking the stage of the multi-purpose pavilion behind the Paxton House.

Blackwater, a Clarkton, N.C.-based band that plays top forty, blues, funk and country tunes, will perform at 3 p.m. Too Much Sylvia, an energetic party band that also has Carolina Roots, will close out the festival, taking the stage at 6 p.m.

Performing in the Friday evening concert will be Second Wind Band, a sixpiece group from Lynchburg that plays Motown, beach and soul music. Gates open at 5 p.m. and the band takes the stage at 6 p.m.

“This is the 26th annual Bank of Botetourt Beach Music Festival and we expect a very good crowd this year,” said Mary Huffman, booking agent who has been involved with the festival since its founding back in the 1990s. “The bands are all top Cammy award winners and bringing in the Second Wind Band for Friday night is a big score for us.

“If anyone has watched our live postings on Thursday nights from the Elmwood Party in the Park events, they know the caliber of beach music that will be played this year. The 50s, 60s and 70s hits will be rocking the house.”

Festival tickets are $20 each with children under age 12 admitted free with a paid adult. Tent gates open Saturday at 10 a.m. with the general admission gates opening at 11.

Gates open for Friday’s pre-festival concert at 5 p.m. Ticket prices for the Friday evening concert are $5.

Camping is available at the park during the festival – Thursday, Friday and Saturday – at a special rate of $20 per night.