The AVP Gold Series Championships of beach volleyball brought a Hawaii or perhaps California type feel to Chicago this Labor Day weekend. Hawaii and California are two states where the Pacific Ocean coastline, specifically the beach culture, has a tremendous impact on shaping the way of life.
The laid back Pacific beach zeitgeist, which celebrates everything that we (in every state, but especially here in Chicago where we have long and brutal winters) love about summer, came to Oak Street Beach for a four day beach volleyball tournament, capped by Alix Klineman and April Ross beating Sarah Hughes and Summer Ross 25-23 and 21-16 in the women’s final.
The men’s final featured Taylor Crabb and Jake Gibb defeating Tim Bomgren and Chaim Schalk 21-14 and 21-17. If you’re into beach volleyball, then this is definitely your World Series. What’s really amazing about the event though is that it’s entirely free to spectators. How is that possible? The Championships Festival Village.
The village features numerous companies giving away free samples and raising brand awareness.
For some AVP Beach Volleyball photos, click through the Tweets below:
https://twitter.com/PaulMBanks/status/1035982411132293120
It was also dominated by health and fitness lifestyle brands, including: Larry and Lenny’s protein cookies, Brew Doctor Kombucha, Bai Bubbles sparking antioxidant infusion, Power Crunch and Snapstick protein bars, Kicking Horse coffee, and much much more.
In other words, you could get, for free, all the types of foods and drinks available at your gym’s cafe/snack bar. The AVP Gold Series was also very interactive for spectators, who had the chance to take part in fun competitions and win giveaways.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, is currently a regular contributor to SB Nation, WGN CLTV and Chicago Now.
Follow him on Twitter, Instagram, Sound Cloud and YouTube. The content of his cat’s Instagram account is unquestionably superior to any and all of his.