Media inquiries: Please contact Dave Neudeck, dave.neudeck@dcr.virginia.gov, 804-786-5053.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: May 30, 2014
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Virginia State Parks Offer National Get Outdoors Day Programming
RICHMOND – The seventh annual National Get Outdoors Day (GO Day), which encourages healthy, active outdoor fun, will be celebrated Saturday, June 14, with programming in all 36 Virginia State Parks. This national event seeks to reach first-time visitors to public lands and to reconnect youth to the great outdoors.
For a complete list of GO Day offerings by park go to http://tiny.cc/k8dogx. Statewide highlights include:
Claytor Lake State Park in Dublin hosts its annual Celebration of Summer Festival beginning at 10 a.m. and concluding with fireworks. The day will feature live music, a car show, antique fire trucks, food vendors, arts and crafts, and live demonstrations.
Grayson Highlands State Park in Mouth of Wilson is known as the best place on the East Coast for bouldering, a form of rock climbing that takes place on boulders and small rock formations without the use of ropes. Try your hand with Bouldering 101 at 2 p.m.
Learn basic outdoor skills such as setting up the perfect campsite, basic survival skills and outdoor cooking at Hungry Mother State Park in Marion at 7 p.m.
Make your own hiking sticks at Occoneechee State Park in Clarksville. At Twin Lakes State Park near Farmville, learn skills such as canoeing, archery and geocaching. As night falls the bridge, High Bridge Trail State Park is the place to view thousands of fireflies.
Bear Creek Lake State Park in Cumberland is offering a guided canoe tour (no experience necessary), a discovery hike with tips on getting the most out of your woodland walk and how to stay safe, and an open house at the archery range. End the day with a campfire cooking demonstration from the Old Dominion Iron Chefs.
For a different view of Pocahontas State Park in Chesterfield County, explore it on a stand-up paddle board. Climb a tree with Riverside Outfitters at Powhatan State Park in Powhatan County. Later, learn about orienteering – finding your way through a course using a map and compass – with the Central Virginia Orienteering Club.
Tube the Shenandoah at Shenandoah River State Park in Bentonville. The fun starts at 1:30 p.m. A fee is required.
At Mason Neck State Park near Lorton, join staff for a guided hike or canoe tour. At nearby Leesylvania State Park near Woodbridge, bring your camera and enter a contest to turn your best park photograph into a postcard to be sold in the camp store.
Westmoreland State Park near Montross on the Potomac River is holding an old-fashioned field day with sack races, an egg toss and more. A fee is required.
Chippokes Plantation State Park on the James River in Surry County will have a children’s fishing tournament from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
Tour one of the state’s unique landscapes on a “Swamp Stomp” at First Landing State Park in Virginia Beach.
Most events are free, though some have a fee. Standard parking fees apply at all state parks.
National Get Outdoors Day makes it easy to come out and have fun at a Virginia State Park. GO Day is part of the Virginia State Parks’ month-long celebration of National Great Outdoors Month.
For more information on offerings at all of Virginia’s 36 award-winning state parks, go to www.virginiastatparks.gov or call toll-free 800-933-PARK (7275).
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