VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — In less than 10 days, the Beach It! Country Music Festival will make its debut at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront.
Gates are going up and stages are taking shape on the sand.
“Similar to Something in the Water, we want everyone to come and have fun,” said VBPD Sgt. Nicole Kosmas with the department’s special events unit.
Another three-day festival in the resort area means big crowds and Virginia Beach Police plan to have all hands on deck.
“We have canceled days off and restricted leave,” Kosmas said. “So we will all be down here and throughout the city, because we are not going to leave our city empty. But we will have all the extra personnel down here.”
Kosmas said this time around, traffic impacts to Atlantic Avenue will mainly focus on 5th Street to 1st Street.
“The big difference is not shutting down Atlantic Avenue,” she said. “Because Something in the Water had one of their main gates going into the festival from the western side of Atlantic."
Police said Beach It! organizers hired about three security companies to work inside the venue, but police officers will cover the surrounding area.
“You will have bikes during the day, you will have bikes during the night, and then we will also have a large amount of officers on foot,” Kosmas said. “As well as UTVs or ATVS on the beach.”
And across the resort area, security cameras will provide extra eyes for police officers.
“Beach It! will have their own camera system inside,” Kosmas said. “So we will be able to use that and they will be able to link into ours on the boardwalk.”
Kosmas said they are ready to welcome the country music crowds.
“We are not here to throw the hammer at everybody. We want them to come down, have fun and if we meet an issue, we will assess it.”
There is no bus shuttle service for Beach It! unlike with Something in the Water and organizers are encouraging people to rideshare and get dropped off by 9th Street.
The Beach It! Festival has set up stretches from 8th Street where the main entrance will go, to 3rd Street.