13th Annual Blackbeard Pirate Festival Returns to

Downtown Hampton June 1-3, 2012

--Festival will officially kick-off OpSail 2012 Virginia™  

week in Hampton Roads--

Pillage and plunder your way through downtown Hampton on

June 1-3 when the  

13th annual Hampton Blackbeard Pirate Festival  

returns for another year of swashbuckling excitement!  

Celebrate Hampton's rich maritime heritage by commemorating  

the demise of our most infamous visitor, Captain Edward Teach, a.k.a. Blackbeard the Pirate.

During the later part of the 1600's and early 1700's,  

pirates roamed the coastal waters of Virginia and  

North Carolina in search of ships laden with tobacco  

and other goods.  The marauders terrorized waterways and unsuspecting cargo ships, capturing goods, sailors and ships.

Captain Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard the  

Pirate, was the most daunting of these menacing outlaws.

After years of wreaking havoc on Virginia's  

shores and economy, Blackbeard's life was finally  

taken in a violent sea battle with Lieutenant  

Robert Maynard in 1718. His severed head was  

impaled upon a pole near the mouth of Hampton Creek,  

now known as Blackbeard's Point, to serve as an  

unyielding reminder that piracy would  

not be tolerated in Virginia.

 Beginning June 1, roughly 50,000 seafaring attendees,  

as well as Blackbeard and his crew, will once again  

invade downtown Hampton during the  

13th annual Blackbeard Pirate Festival!  

Interact with Blackbeard (personified by first-person  

interpreter Ben Cherry) and more than 100 other  

authentically costumed pirate re-enactors as they  

run rampant on the streets of America's oldest  

continuous English-speaking settlement.

The festivities kick off Friday night,  

June 1, 7:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m. at the Oyster Alley  

restaurant on the back of the Crowne Plaza Hampton  

Marina Hotel with the  

13th annual Grand Pirates Ball  

(creative black tie or period attire strictly enforced!).  

The celebration, a recreation of Blackbeard's Party at Okracoke,  

will feature Caribbean food, adult beverages,  

live music by The Brigands, and more.

Though the festival is free, there is an admission  

charge for the ball. Advance tickets can be purchased  

in the coming months at www.blackbeardfestival.com.

Saturday's activities include a swarm of extemporized  

street skirmishes between pirates and militia  

(costumed interpreters), a replica of Blackbeard's pirate camp,  

complete with living history interpreters teaching the skills  

of the sailor circa 1700, and the trial and escape of  

William Howard, one of Blackbeard's fellow pirates  

with ties to Hampton. Don't miss the exhilarating  

re-enactment of the classic sea battle between Lt. Maynard  

and Blackbeard, featuring two full - scale replica  

vessels in the Hampton Harbor.  

At the conclusion of the sea battle a presentation  

ceremony takes place in which Blackbeard's severed head  

will be bestowed upon Virginia Governor  

Alexander Spotswood (1710-1722).

Visitors can participate in the festivities when  

they join Blackbeard's funeral parade, Hampton's own  

version of Mardi Gras, and share in the booty  

from the treasure chest.

New to the festival is the Pride of Baltimore II.  

The tall ship was commissioned in 1988 as a sailing  

memorial to her immediate predecessor, the original  

Pride of Baltimore, which was tragically sunk by a  

white squall off Puerto Rico in 1986 (taking her  

captain and three crew members down with her).  

Both ships were built in the Inner Harbor as reproductions  

of 1812-era topsail schooners, the type of vessels  

(called Baltimore Clippers), that helped America win the  

War of 1812 and finally secure its freedom.  

Since her commissioning, Pride II has sailed nearly  

200,000 miles, and visited over 200 ports in 40 countries  

in North, South, and Central America, Europe,  

and Asia. The Pride of Baltimore II will be available  

for free tours throughout Blackbeard weekend.

This year, the event will once again feature the  

Blackbeard children's area, highlighting the  

Little Swashbuckler's Stage. The stage will host several  

performances, including special performances and a  

variety of musical acts. In addition to the children's area,  

guests will have the opportunity to stroll through  

Blackbeard's Pirate Camp where they can learn how  

to use a cutlass, load a cannon, or even sing a sea chantey  

at Pirate's Cove. At the cove, visitors can also explore a  

collection of 17th& 18th century period vendors selling  

items such as jewelry, clothing, art, and personal accessories.

 Another highlight of Pirate's Cove is the Bunch of  

Grapes Tavern, a rustic tavern-style throwback to what a  

Hampton bar would have looked like in the 18th century.  

In fact, the tavern is an actual recreation of Hampton's  

original Bunch of Grapes Tavern from the 1700s.  

Feel free to rub elbows with some of the local  

swashbucklers and be served by wenches.

Other weekend amusements include jugglers,  

musicians, a pirate procession, street entertainers,  

and a very special pirate-themed Summer Street Fest.  

Saturday night will conclude with a dramatic fireworks  

display over the Hampton River!

 This year the Hampton Blackbeard Pirate Festival will  

officially kick-off the OpSail 2012 Virginia™  

activities in the Hampton Roads region of coastal Virginia.  

The events include  

OpSail 2012Virginia™ Sea and Air Parade on June 6;  

OpSail 2012Virginia™ Parade of Sail on June 8;  

and OpSail 2012Virginia™ Parade of Sail Up the  

Chesapeake on June 12.  

OpSail 2012 will visit six ports April-July,  

including New Orleans, LA;  New York, NY;   

Hampton Roads, VA; Baltimore, MD;  

Boston, MA; and New London, CT.

For more information contact the  

Hampton Visitor Center at 757-727-1102, or  

the Virginia Air & Space Center at 757/727-0900.  

For those into surfing the web, visit www.blackbeardfestival.com.

Retail/Office space Hampton Harborside Shops 700 Setters Landing Road  Located adjecent to the Crowne Plaza Hotel and on the beautiful Downtown Hampton Waterfront.  For more information contact Jay Burnell, DiVaris, 757-497-2113.