NOVA Parks News
THROWBACK THURSDAY--NOVA PARKS--A GOOD ‘OL JAMBOREE
Today we throwback to the times when crowds of over 10,000 danced and cheered under the summer sun at Bull Run Regional Park. NOVA Parks is known for many things, like conservation, preservation, and recreation, yet strong partnerships with businesses and organizations in the region are another of the Park Authority’s attributes. Looking back to the 1980s is a fun and nostalgic journey to a great partnership that produced one of Northern Virginia’s best remembered annual concert experiences--the Country Jamboree.
During the early 1980s Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority, now NOVA Parks, looked to get more use out of a large performance stage it had at Bull Run Regional Park. Also, the area around the stage was a wide-open field with a slight natural slope. Those in charge at the time found that this could be the perfect place to host an open-air concert that could draw a few thousand people. Word got out that the park was ready to talk shop with anybody that could help make something like that happen and one such organization answered the call.
Local country music radio station WMZQ heard of the stage and space at Bull Run and was eager to put together a festival that would feature some of the best and most popular names in country music. After only one meeting both WMZQ and NOVA Parks began to organize the first show, calling it the Country Jamboree. And wow, what a show it was. Thousands of spectators came out, supporting the artists and having a great time utilizing the space that the Park Authority provided.
The next year the Jamboree featured more acts and hosted even more spectators. Each year of the 80s the Jamboree became a huge talking point of the region as summer approached - and as more and more spectators came more and more top named artists wanted to be involved.
The Country Jamboree summer concerts continued into the 1990s, extremely popular with people of the region and extremely fun for NOVA Parks to host. For a few days each year Bull Run Regional Park and its outdoor venue were the place to be in the Northern Virginia Region.
Alas, as the old saying goes, all good things must come to an end. Eventually, the radio station wanted to take the festival to another location, and a few years after that it stopped altogether. For over a decade, however, the Country Jamboree was one of the best summer concerts on the East Coast. NOVA Parks is proud to have been a part of something so amazing and proud that it gave the people of the region an experience they would never forget.
