9th Annual NEON Festival set to attract 7,000 art spectators this week

NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — The 9th Annual NEON Festival is returning to Norfolk this week and is expected to attract nearly 7,000 people.

The two-day art experience, being held Oct. 17-18, will feature installations, fashion shows, music performances and pop-up galleries throughout a three-block radius inside the Mermaid City’s NEON District. For the first time ever, 14 local curators and event producers awarded grants by the Downtown Norfolk Council will be featured.

“We have all these new entertainers and DJ’s and artists,” said Rachel McCall, Downtown Norfolk Council vice president. “They were selected by our committee, and then they were given the grant to then create their own programming, and we paired them with one of the local venues that participate in the festival.”

Thursday night’s entertainment will be housed at the newly renovated Chrysler Museum Glass Studio.

“We will be inside the new wing of the Glass studio in their amazing new hot shop,” she said. “People will be blowing glass. We have some live music. We have blood yoga. It should be really fun. And then we have a free dance concert at the Hague School.”

Friday evening, it will host dozens of vendors and local talent on Granby Street.

“There will be skateboarding, there will be lots of DJs,” she said. “There will be artists painting canvases live. We have a few vendors in the street, and then we have the amazing Hampton Roads Pride and Queer celebration of House Music at the plot.”

NEON Festival will shut down multiple streets to traffic starting at 3 p.m. Friday, Oct. 18 including:

• Granby Street from Olney Road to E. Wilson Avenue.
• W. Wilson Avenue from Granby Street to Olney Road.
• Magazine Lane from Olney Road to Brambleton Avenue.

Granby Street from Virginia Beach Boulevard to East Wilson Avenue will also be restricted to local traffic only. On street parking removal within the closure will begin at 3 p.m. as well.

The festival will run each day from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. It is free and open to the public. Chrysler Museum will offer free parking. It’s highly recommended by festival organizers to use the Tide Light Rail, e-scooter or by walking. For more event information, visit https://neonnfk.com/festival/ .

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