Neptune Festival has rainy first night, excitement for weekend ahead

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — Friday’s rain put a bit of a damper on night one of the Neptune Festival but it’s full steam ahead as organizers and festival goers say they are ready for a weekend full of fun at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront.

“It’s great free entertainment, they always have great acts it’s usually a great place to see people,” one visitor Joe Simmons said.

Reasons that people like Lori McMullen, have been coming back for 3 decades.

“I’ve seen it grow immensely, you know you look down the boardwalk as far as you can see that way, as far as you can see that way, there’s just tents and when I first started coming it was not this big at all,” visitor Lori McMullen said.

The three-day boardwalk weekend draws over 400,000 visitors, and this year’s 33-block long celebration of beach life promises to be the biggest.

“We’ve got the grand parade, we’ve got everything going on dock dogs, touch a truck, the free family fun zone, healthy haven, beach yoga,” Neptune Festival’s Director of Marketing Melanie Gazzolo said, “It needs to be something for everyone and that’s what we strive to do every single year.”

Now with the rain behind us.

“We’re still pressing ahead,” Gazzolo said.

Plus lots of sunshine expected.

“Get out here over the weekend, why not if the weather’s gonna be great,” Simmons said.

The oceanfront is the place to be

You can meet some of your favorite WAVY 10 team members at Neptune Festival. For a full list of who will be there and the full line up of festival events, click here .

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