Concerts & Events in Wade Hampton

Founded in 2010, the EHCL's Greenville Road Warriors don't have the rich legacy of their parent squad, the NHL's legendary New York Rangers. But judging from their first two seasons, the team is eager to make up for lost time. The Road Warriors took the league by storm in their debut season, earning the top playoff seed in the Eastern Conference before losing in overtime of Game 7 in the second round of the playoffs. Their quest for Kelly Cup glory continued in the 2011–2012 season, when they yet again made it to the playoffs and fell in the conference quarterfinals. Although championship hardware may have eluded the Road Warriors in their short history, the squad has produced enough top-notch regular-season performances to keep NHL scouts, fans, and trophy-case carpenters on their toes.

Set in the rolling hills of Cuyahoga Falls, the Blossom Festival summer series welcomes the Cleveland Orchestra on August 28, yielding center stage for a night of world-class classical music. Settle into a pavilion seat and treat ears to a cochlear night out as conductor James Feddeck leads the orchestra through a series of heartstring-plucking pieces, such as Britten’s Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Purcell, Bernstein’s Three Dance Episodes, and Elgar’s In the South. Relax as the music and breeze wash over the crowd, letting the smooth rhythms and swaying melodies fight for ears’ adoration and the last stick of gum.

The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion was renovated and expanded to include thousands of new seats, a larger canopy structure, and a state-of-the-art sound system that makes the Houston Symphony’s perfectly punctuated staccatos sound superb. Direct brass ear-horns toward the melodic strings of the Houson Symphony at Dancin' with the Symphony, where guests can choreograph high leg kicks and rhythmic punches beneath the stars.

The idea for an annual barbecue expo began slow-cooking in 2010 at a family lunch. The Boyds thought about organizing a little barbecue competition and ended up luring 8,500 barbecue enthusiasts to their "small" cook-off and fundraiser. Now in its third year, the charitable event continues to develop flavor and raise money for local schools while packing bellies with some of the area's best barbecue recipes.

With napkins in hand, attendees can follow the smoky scents and sounds of sauce-splattered high-fives from the tents of a variety of vendors. Ten teams of grilling gurus face off in a whole-hog cook-off, with the winners earning a cash prize and a spot in the state championship later this year. A new Chick-fil-A sauce competition sifts through the day's top toppings until a winner is crowned. Between bites, guests can also savor the festival's many attractions, including a police dog demonstration, a petting zoo, and a BMX bike show, where riders wow onlookers by performing tricks and bunny-hopping over smokers.

Bear Arms Shooting Range sprang from a moment of serendipity. As the owners looked over the concrete-slabbed facility they envisioned for boat and RV storage, one of them said it would make a "great shooting range." With that, they redesigned the site into an 11-lane indoor range split into a 6-lane 30-yard pistol bay and a 5-lane 40-yard rifle bay. Today, after steady expansion, Bear Arms now also encompasses a 3-D outdoor archery range where sportsmen can go up a 25-foot electric lift to simulate shooting a deer from a hunting stand. Back inside, NRA-licensed instructors train guests to become more responsible firearms operators. Bear Arms' team frequently hosts free events for women and children, along with organizing novelty events such as bowling-pin shoots and zombie target shooting around Halloween.