A young boy practices his skills as a firefighter at the 2016 Celebrate Fairfax.
The 35th annual Celebrate Fairfax was held from June 10-12 at the Fairfax County Government Center. The annual event brings more than 70,000 visitors during the three-day event. The festival is held the second weekend after Memorial Day.
According to Meagan Butkus, vice president and managing director for Celebrate Fairfax, Inc., “This is the official county fair of Fairfax. The actual history of the start of the first Fairfax County fair can be traced back to the House of Burgess. But this version of the event, the Celebrate Fairfax! Festival, (formerly called Fairfax Fair) was first held in 1981 at George Mason’s Patriot Center.
In the early ‘90s the event outgrew that space and was moved to the Fairfax County Government Center where it still takes place today.” Butkus also mentioned some of the top performers Celebrate Fairfax has drawn including Pat Benatar, Three Doors Down, Third Eye Blind, Charlie Daniels Band, Little Big Town, Rick Springfield, The Bangles, Gin Blossoms, and Kansas.
This year’s performers included the B-52s, Plain White T’s, and Living Colour. The music performed included B-52s hit song “Love Shack” from 1989, Plain white T’s hit song from 2005 “Hey there Delilah” and Living Colours “Cult of Personality” released in 1988.
Gold sponsor AT&T deployed a temporary cell on wheels (COW) for expanded mobile broadband coverage to accommodate the expected increased wireless network demands of high numbers of smartphone users attending Celebrate Fairfax!
The capacity augmentation helped improve reliability and data speeds at the event.
Individuals visiting Celebrate Fairfax could partake in more than 300 exhibits and vendors. A carnival with a large ferris wheel provided a spectacular view of the festival and the surrounding area. A silent disco, Fairfax County Dock Dogs Championship, Fairfax County Karaoke Championship and a 5K run were just a few of the many things to enjoy at Celebrate Fairfax. With temperatures on Saturday reaching the 90s, many stopped by the tent of Fairfax Water to hydrate.
On Friday and Saturday at 9:30 p.m. a spectacular fireworks show was presented by Leidos.
The Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office in addition to providing safety to all patrons, provided Child ID cards to children and demonstrated the different types of child safety seats.
The Fairfax County Fire Department provided a place for children to test their skills crawling through a tunnel, spraying water hoses and rescuing a cat, after climbing a ladder.
Food was everywhere. Who could go to a festival and ignore the sights and smells of sausages, turkey legs, funnel cakes and fresh lemonade?