Steppin Out Tickets

The history of Steppin Out festival can be easily tracked back to late 1970s when a merchants group of Blacksburg planned and sponsored an annual fair that was held in summers and it is regularly being held since 1981. Its success led to formation of Downtown Merchants of Blacksburg (DMOB) in 1988 and its objective is enhancing and promoting the downtown commercial district. The organization has really grown since then and includes service providers, non-profit organizations and retailers. Summer days usually slow down businesses and Stepping out festival was initiated to support small town merchants and provided sidewalk sales. The festival is held for two days and includes sidewalk sales, music, crafts and various summer activities. Steppin out festival has really grown and became a family oriented event for the residents of Blacksburg. It is commonly known as a festival for recalling and reuniting high school and college folks and is also used for weddings as well. Vendors from both local and across country participate in this festival. 

Every year, T-shirts are printed for Steppin Out festival and different design is used each year. People can attend live performances during the festival or just roam around the stalls of different vendors. A total of three stages are used for these performances i.e. Main Stage on College Avenue, Community Stage on Roanoke Street and the Acoustic Stage on Main and Lee streets. A Children’s area is also created as part of the Community stage. Main stage is used for live music, community stage is used for regional dance performances showcasing belly dancers along with other dance forms and acoustic stage is used for playing contemporary, folk and other unique musical sounds. Vendors’ fee and proceeds from Steppin out T Shirts are used as funds for the festival. Summer clearance sidewalk sales are a major anticipation for residents of Blacksburg along with surrounding areas as they contain items like unique items including pottery, jewellery, fine art stained glass, textiles, metal work and other handcrafted items. Steppin Out festival matches the state wide sales tax holiday.

Steppin Out festival is really vibrant and is considered as a very important part of Blacksburg tradition. Free shuttles are provided to and from the festival by Blacksburg Transit in order to ease down the parking blockage. Pets are also requested to be left at homes while coming to the fair. This time around, Steppin Out festival would be celebrating its thirty years and organizers are expected to put in extra efforts to make it a more entertaining and successful. Blacksburg Children's Museum and Blacksburg Junior Women's Club would be joining hands to provide children activities this year. The performers list of this year’s festival includes the likes of Larkin Poe, Snarky Puppy, Lucy Woodward, TR3, Fat Daddy Blues Band and is sure to bring a mixture of sounds and musical versatility to the audiences that would be attending the festival. Other than these bands, the usual performance by the Blacksburg Community Band is also eagerly awaited as they have been providing classical performances for their audiences since their formation way back in 1989. The local food restaurants are also expected to introduce new food items other than the regular traditional food items including barbecue ribs and salad.

Steppin Out festival has been famous for bringing together old friends and family members and everyone in Blacksburg is eagerly looking forward to it this year as well. If you do not want to miss out on a fabulous opportunity to have some marvelous time this year, grab your Steppin Out Tickets today!