A bright and breezy Sunday concluded a three-day festival in Culpeper that temporarily got drenched over the weekend.
The final day of Culpeperpalooza carried on without interruption as patrons enjoyed music, food and other unique attractions.
David Foster, owner of the host venue at Mountain Run Winery, said the second annual festival ran into an issue Saturday during a tornado warning and heavy rain, putting the fun on hold for a couple of hours.
Opening day on Friday night went well, but the next day experienced two hours of one of the strongest rainstorms that county had seen in seven years, the winery owner said. This resulted in sound equipment getting wet and bands that were scheduled to perform being held over to later or the next day.
One of those musicians, singer-songwriter Enya Agerholm, described how the musicians adapted to the weather.
“They had to adjust the schedule, but as soon as the storm was gone the bands went back to playing,” she said. “They had to adjust today’s schedule to squeeze in the people who didn’t get to play yesterday to play today. We’re all pretty flexible.”
Mother Nature aside, Foster called the three-day event a success. He conceded that the bigger it has gotten the more need there is for a crew to cover the area, an issue the winery owner is considering for next year.
“This was an idea, when we first set out to do this, there’s a lot of other music festivals out there,” said Foster. “There’s really none that just uses Culpeper music, food, alcohol, vendors, stuff like that. Not only that, we’re going to take every dime from that event and give it back to the community.”
The winery owner reports that this year’s event drew about 800 attendees and gathered nearly $10,000 which will be donated to local community programs.
These include programs offered from the county’s Parks and Recreation Department, the Museum of Culpeper History and the Friends of the Rappahannock, just to name a few.
Along with over a dozen bands and musicians, Culpeperpalooza offered a variety of local food and craft vendors.
The event featured a performance by Stageworks of “Sam Club and the Case of the Malted Falcon” which attracted a good-size crowd.
Another unique offering was made by the local organization Earthquest and its different birds of prey. Director Robert Haines provided education on the birds such as owls, vultures and falcons.
It was Earthquest’s first time at the festival.
“Trying to sneak in some education at these fun events helps to change people’s perspectives because they’re more relaxed and they’re not thinking of the day-to-day things they’re going through in their life,” Haines said.
As for the future of Culpeperpalooza, Foster calls it his dream to have it at Mountain Lake Park. He would also like to advertise the event not just to Culpeper locals, but to draw people from outside the area.
The winery owner sees the possibility of the event attracting thousands of people to see local performers and artists and see what Culpeper is about.
Source: www.dailyprogress.com
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