VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Virginia Beach City Council members said Tuesday they felt “blindsided” by the abrupt postponement last week of the Something in the Water festival, only hours after tickets went on sale.
Some members said “disappointment” wasn’t a strong enough word for what they felt Friday afternoon, when a letter posted on the festival’s social media said Pharrell Williams’ hallmark music festival would move from October to April. Hundreds of people had stood in line that morning for tickets.
However, city council members said they wanted to learn the lessons of this experience and move forward, albeit with more of a seat at the table.
“It seems like we’re at the table, but we’re not really at the table,” said Council Member Sabrina Wooten. “Decisions are being made, and we’re not in the decision-making process.”
The topic encompassed more than 30 minutes of the city council’s informal session on Tuesday afternoon.
One of the council liaisons to the festival team, Council Member Jennifer Rouse, said she had learned about the decision to postpone the festival about an hour before the rest of the council did. The rest of the council learned at the same time as the general public.
“We were in an information vacuum,” Rouse said. “We had more questions than answers.”
“We felt what you call blindsided at that point,” said Dr. Amelia Ross-Hammond, the other council liaison to the festival team. “They have to build trust back with this city because we’re not a toy. People need to understand that we try to be people of our word.”
Several council members expressed concern for the people who had lost money -- not just those who bought tickets, who the festival said would receive refunds, but also people who paid for flights and hotel rooms. There are also business owners who made decisions based on the announced schedule for the festival and now must regroup.
“It’s cost a lot of people some serious money,” said Council Member Barbara Henley. “Folks at the Oceanfront have spent a lot of money or made commitments and now they’re not going to be able to have the income that they had anticipated.”
Members discussed solidifying ways to collaborate with the festival differently in the future, possibly moving from the previous Memorandum of Understanding to a three-year contract.
“Going forward, I think we have to be more proactive than reactive,” Mayor Bobby Dyer said. “We have to be part of the decision loop … Through this adversity, we can find the opportunity to move forward.”
Rouse said she came away with the impression that Pharrell didn’t feel the festival would be its best if the October date were pushed through and thought he could make it better by waiting until April.
“He connects Virginia to really big things,” she said. “For the public who felt caught off guard, we were caught off guard as well, and for the public who felt frustrated, we shared those frustrations with the team and with the city. They (the festival) want to make an intentional effort to rebuild credibility and trust.”
The festival was initially set to take place Oct. 12-13 and coincide with the release of Pharrell’s LEGO biopic “Piece by Piece” on Oct. 11, chronicling his childhood in Virginia Beach. Information about ticket sales was released on Sept. 12, only a day before tickets went on sale, and a lineup still hadn’t yet been announced when the cancellation took place.