VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Thanks to a City Council vote Tuesday night, Virginia Beach is about to get some help managing all the festivals heading to the city.
Virginia Beach City Council voted to create a 90-day festival task force to create standards for festivals like Something the Water and Beach it, which will help with the finances.
Beach It, the Jackalope Festival and, of course, Something in the Water are three giant festivals that took over the Oceanfront in 2023. Thousands packed the beach, hotels and restaurants despite inclement weather.
Now, City Council says they need to create and revise standards for festivals like these. During a November 14th informal meeting, Vice Mayor Rosemary Wilson said "nothing had been done in 20 years."
City leaders said they get a lot of requests from festival organizers for financial support. The 90-day festival task force will create a process to determine how much funding, if any, should be provided by the city.
"The goal of this is to broaden these festivals that we bring with more guardrails," Councilman Chris Taylor said in the November meeting.
The task force will consist of 17 members, some coming from the Resort Advisory Commission and the Virginia Beach Hotel Association.
The Minority Business Council was added to the list after Councilwoman Sabrina Wooten raised concerns about a lack of diversity.
"Is there a way to incorporate representatives who represent diverse communities?" Wooten asked.
The task force passed 8-0-1, with Councilman Chris Taylor abstained in Tuesday night's City Council vote.
"At the root of it it’s gonna be good, but that’s my reason for the abstention. I just didn’t get to full understanding of the scope and the project," Taylor said Tuesday.
Vice Mayor Wilson said after the task force is finished, they could create a commission that would be involved with the festivals in a broader scope.