This past weekend, the end-of-summer bash Tomtoberfest was held in Lee Park near the Downtown Mall. Approximately 10,000 people came for the food trucks, flea market, craft beer gardens, and free concerts, which played a variety of different music including funk, reggae, and blues.
Tomtoberfest is a preview event for the 6th annual Tom Tom Founders Festival (TTFF), which will be held April 10th-16th, 2017. Tom Tom strives to celebrate the ingenuity of the Charlottesville community.
“Tom Tom stands for Thomas Jefferson and every April during his birthday week we transform Charlottesville’s historic downtown mall into a creative canvas to model his passions for society, education, commerce, culture, food, and technology,” said third year UVa student Emily Tu.
Tu volunteered at the festival last year and was inspired to apply to be a Student Outreach Fellow. Tu and her fellow team members coordinate and manage volunteers, and establish student partnerships with UVa.
The team is in the process of creating a new CIO on grounds, the Buffalo Bureau. The bureau will coordinate with TTFF to create entrepreneurship, innovation, and founding events tailored to UVa students and the Charlottesville community.
“Tom Tom’s mission is to celebrate founding by inspiring the next generation of artists, entrepreneurs and civic leaders, connecting resources to match visionaries with the means to create, and ultimately to leave legacies through public art and new ideas” explained Tu.
Developer and cofounder of IX Art Park Ludwig Kuttner, and cofounder of Ragged Mountain Running Cynthia Lorenzoni, were among the many founders honored on Friday night.
Over 60 companies were featured at the regional mixer such as PsiKick, Storyware, and S&P Global.
Art vendors at the festival sold accessories, candles and more.
This spring at the Founders Festival, students can expect more speakers, colorful murals throughout town, and block parties.
One of the keynote speakers will be Ting Xu who started Evergreen Enterprises after moving to Virginia from China. Evergreen Enterprises has been featured on The Today Show and the retail company has annual revenues of over $300 million.
For more information about the big spring event and volunteering, check out the TTFF Facebook page or the website:http://tomtomfest.com/
