Festival fatigue? Virginia Beach approves fall music event, but not before airing concerns

VIRGINIA BEACH — A new rock and pop music festival is headed to the Oceanfront this fall, despite concerns raised by City Council members about potential clash with the Boardwalk Arts Festival and residents of the resort area feeling “festival-ed out.”

In a 7-4 vote Tuesday, the council approved a $750,000 cash infusion for the event promoter, Audacy, a national radio company which owns several local radio stations. Council members Barbara Henley, Rocky Holcomb, Chris Taylor and Sabrina Wooten were against it.

The city money will buy radio advertisements for a fall marketing campaign that will hype Virginia Beach as a tourism destination.

Last week, the city’s Convention & Visitors Bureau announced plans for Audacy’s fall festival Oct. 20-21 at 31st Street. Roughly 12,000 people are expected to attend.

But in the wake of the announcement, artists and officials with the Museum of the Contemporary Art Center expressed concerns about the location and dates, which overlap with the popular Boardwalk Art Festival. More than 150 artists will display and sell their creations in tents Oct. 20-22 from 24th to 35th streets.

One potential compromise was proposed at Tuesday’s council meeting — to shift the music festival farther south. But Vice Mayor Rosemary Wilson, who lives in a high-rise condominium overlooking the Boardwalk at the south end, bristled at the idea.

“There are a lot of people that live down there and they are festival-ed out,” Wilson said. “You almost feel like you’re in jail when they start putting up the fences and you can’t get out.”

Several festivals, including Something in the Water and Beach It!, took over the south end of the resort area this year. Nancy Helman, director of the Convention & Visitors Bureau, told Wilson the fall festival could move to the central part of the resort area, possibly on 17th Street.

“It’s not unusual to have multiple events going on at the same time, but I understand about the fatigue on the south end,” Helman said.

Before the vote, at Wilson’s request, the council decided to amend the festival’s location to be north of 15th Street. She ultimately backed the financial arrangement.

But Henley wouldn’t support it.

“To not even recognize that it was going to be such a conflict with the art show really gives me a lot of concern,” Henley said.

The goal of Audacy’s fall festival was to provide “synergy” with the art show, and it would begin in the evening after the show closes, Helman said.

“We have a reputation of being able to handle large crowds, and we have the capacity to do it safely, effectively,” said Mayor Bobby Dyer.

Bennett Zier, president of Audacy Virginia LLC, a subsidiary of the parent company, said city officials suggested the dates.

“We were encouraged to put it on that weekend because they (the city) thought it would be a wonderful match to bring all the arts together,” Zier said by phone this week.

But Henley said she didn’t think the two events were compatible and wanted the city to have a more well-thought out game plan.

“I certainly hope that we’re going to work with the neighborhoods more because it is an imposition to the hotels, the tourists who come down to have a nice relaxing weekend on the beach,” she said, citing recent complaints from tourists about other events disrupting their visits.

Audacy produced a concert series featuring Third Eye Blind and The Offspring during the East Coast Surfing Championships last August at the Oceanfront. Zier said the company only had about six weeks to pull that one together and that it was a success.

Zier said the festival site, date and performers are in flux but will be nailed down soon.

“We can be incredibly flexible,” he said.

Stacy Parker, 757-222-5125, stacy.parker@pilotonline.com