NORFOLK, Va. — The Patriotic Festival is making its big return for Memorial Day weekend next weekend after festival organizers canceled the event in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Organizers moved the event to Norfolk from Virginia Beach citing the need for indoor space. The move has many people in the Mermaid City excited.
Peter Freda, the owner of Granby Street Pizza is one of many people excited to see the Patriotic Festival come to Norfolk.
“I think it’s going to be a tremendous weekend for the city,” Freda said.
Festival events will take place at Scope and at Town Point Park on Memorial Day weekend. Freda said his staff has already started preparing for what it hopes will be a busy three days.
He said that means having extra hands on deck. Almost all of his staff will work that weekend and it's possible the business will expand its hours if they see high demand.
“I’m sure it’ll be substantial because there’s going to be a lot of people downtown," Freda said. "And we deliver a lot to the hotels and we do a lot of takeout.”
Hotel staff members are also getting ready to welcome thousands of people to the area. Visit Norfolk CEO Kurt Krause said the three-day event has downtown hotels filled up.
“They have been sold out for I’d say a month,” Krause said.
He said the economic impact will be great.
“This is bringing in another $3 million in from the outside," Krause said. "The tourism industry, the visitor economy, the impact annually is one billion dollars into our city.”
Mary Miller, the president of Downtown Norfolk Council, said this is a great way to kick off the summer season.
“To get everybody out, to kick off our visitation in downtown is just going to be fantastic,” Miller said.