50th Annual Neptune Festival kicks off this weekend

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) – The Neptune Festival is set to begin Friday afternoon and run throughout the weekend for its 50th year anniversary.

The event is slated to draw hundreds of thousands of people to the oceanfront boardwalk, the festival spanning from 1st Street all the way to 33rd Street.

There’ll be many things for people to enjoy, including daily concerts, artists displaying their work and the International Sand Sculpting Championship.

Melanie Gazzolo, Director of Marketing and Special Events with the Neptune Festival went in detail about what people can expect from the first day of the 3-day event.

“Well, we have more than 200 artists setting up shop on the boardwalk right here and another 200 more shopping food and nonprofit vendors that open up on the boardwalk and they open up at 12 p.m.,” Gazzolo said, “Our sand sculpting championship opens up at 9 a.m. and it runs the whole weekend in fact that one runs all the way through next Sunday, Oct. 6.

But wait, there’s more!

“We’ve got concerts in the park at 21st Street and 31st Street parks, Dock Dogs, Touch-A-Truck, and all kinds of fun things happening.”

The festival starts at noon today.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WAVY.com.