Hope Floats Day: A Post-Helene Revival at the Town Park

Name: Hope Floats Day: A Post-Helene Revival at the Town Park
Start: 2025-09-27T15:00:00-04:00
End: 2025-09-27T18:00:00-04:00
Location: Damascus Town Park

Schedule

Sat Sep 27 2025 at 03:00 pm to 06:00 pm

UTC-04:00

Location

Damascus Town Park | Damascus, VA

Hope Floats Day is a free community event for the greater Damascus area in observance of the one-year anniversary post-Helene. A number of community resources will be on-site, as well as an ice cream social, live music, games, and fun for the whole family.
3:00 - Milestones Kick-off & Volunteer Acknowledgement with the Mayor
3:30 - Live music by the Yates Family Band, Ice Cream Social with VDAT/HCS, Firemens Carnival with the Damascus Volunteer Fire Department
4:30 - Rubber Ducky Race on Beaver Dam Creek
Event partners include:
- Town of Damascus
- Damascus Police Department
- Damascus Volunteer Fire Department
- Virginia Disaster Assistance Team/Highlands Community Services
- Trails to Recovery
- US Forest Service
- And more.
A little backstory on the event name from Chris Bell, Damascus Town Manager: "Not sure why this particular encounter stuck in my head, but it was day 2 or 3 after the storm when I sent a group of volunteers to help clean and sort debris in the dog park adjacent to Trestle 17. One of the volunteers returned later that afternoon and mentioned he had come across an old VHS tape from a 90’s movie entitled “Hope Floats”. Now I don’t believe it’s Sandra Bullock’s best performance and Rotten Tomatoes only gives it a 27% rating, but I found irony in the name and believe it captures the spirit of our little town."
If your organization would like to partner in this event, please contact [email protected].