NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — Twenty-seven years and counting.

The Virginia International Tattoo is a big deal to downtown Norfolk and the greater Hampton Roads area. It’s one of the big economic drivers for the city and a way to give back to those who sacrifice so much for our freedom.

Some 6,000 hotel room nights are already booked for this weekend and more tour buses than ever will descend upon Scope Arena to get a glimpse of this year’s show, but before all these people book their trips, there’s a lot that goes into coming up with the perfect recipe to draw them in.

“Planning starts with the ingredients, and then the next step is how do we get them all together,” said Scott Jackson, Virginia International Tattoo producer and director.

Jackson said a lot goes into planning the perfect show, as they work with an officer and senior enlisted from each band to talk about flow. He said there’s never a moment of silence, so the bands must be ready to go right after one another. There’s also about 100 people who are behind the scenes working to make sure every piece is in place.

“I’m also a big baseball fan, so I like to think about someone’s up to bat, someone’s on deck, someone’s in the hole,” Jackson said. “So every time a group is performing, we know who’s on deck. What’s the next group? Who’s going to be after them? So that we’re always lined up.”

So how did the Tattoo get started? Well in the 17 and 1800s in the Netherlands, in order to get soldiers home from the bars to do a roll call, instead of saying last call, you’d say tattoo.

“In Dutch, you say tattoo,” Jackson said. “That means tap off, so the commanding officer would send someone with a snare drum to play a rhythm and yell out ‘tattoo, tattoo,’ and that meant all the bars closed and, bit-by-bit, the soldiers reported back to base.”

It’s a celebration of freedom and military history all in one, and what better place to have it than in Hampton Roads.

Visit Norfolk President and CEO Kurt Krause said about 35,000 people will come for the Tattoo, and another 15,000 will come for NATO Fest.

“There’s 50,000 people coming in — 50% of those are from out of town, so that just is bringing a lot of folks to this wonderful city,” Krause said.

From an economic stand point, this is their biggest event, Krause said. They estimate spending for both those events together will be about $6 million, with about $300,000 generated in local taxes. He said it’s a big deal for our area and that we should be proud to have NATO in our own backyard.

“Each year over the last three years has increased, so we’re getting back to those numbers,” Krause said. “We have 86 tour companies, bus companies that are coming in, and that’s as high as it’s been since pre-COVID. So you’ll see a lot of buses running around.”

Hampton Roads Chamber President and CEO Bryan Stephens said he hopes visitors are able to check out other parts of the 757 while they’re here.

“I mean, people come in from around the world to this Tattoo and they see what a beautiful city Norfolk is and hopefully they’ll go to Virginia Beach,” Stephens said. “They’ll go up to Williamsburg and the Historic Triangle, because there’s a lot of military history up there, and they’ll see what a wonderful region we have, and hopefully, they’ll want to relocate here or move their businesses here.”

Many of the performers from around the world continue to come back because of Norfolk’s hospitality. They say it’s rare to hear someone say, “thank you for your service” back home, and that’s something Hampton Roads does best.

“I can tell you, a bunch of people from around the world have said I’ve never felt prouder to wear the uniform that I do here in Virginia,” Jackson said.

Want to go?

Tickets are selling quickly for this year’s Virginia International Tattoo. There are four different performances, so there are four opportunities to check them out. For a schedule and a link to buy tickets, click here.