VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — Something in the Water has decided to postpone the second installment of its festival.
The 2020 festival was slated to start April 20 this year, but coronavirus concerns prompted organizers cancel the music and cultural arts festival.
“Please use this time to keep building, creating, and progressing. The SITW team certainly will. There are a number of timely community-centric displays of goodwill that we are working hard to ensure still happen this April — things like planting of a new school garden, public art, SITW Restaurant Week and more,” the festival’s announcement read.
The good news is that all tickets will be honored at next year’s festival — from April 23-25, 2021.
Purchasers of tickets will be notified by Friday about how to obtain a refund if they can’t attend the 2021 festival.
“It definitely is a gut punch initially,” said Ginger Capps, whose family owns and operates The Breakers Resort Inn on 16th Street and the Oceanfront.
The entire hotel had been rented out by Red Rocks Entertainment for about three weeks in April in order for staff to work the event, according to Capps.
“We are going to miss them,” Capps said. “It’s sad for the entire region to lose Something in the Water.”
Capps said luckily they didn’t have to issue any refunds as the Red Rocks booked out the entire hotel again for next year’s festival.
The festival told guests they will return April 23-25 with another three-day concert lineup.
The festival is the latest to postpone following an outbreak of COVID-19 in the United States. South by Southwest, Coachella and Stagecoach have canceled their planned events, among many others across the country.
Earlier this week, Virginia Beach City Council received a briefing on the festival. At the time, it was still scheduled to go on.
During the meeting, Virginia Beach Emergency Management Director Erin Sutton said they were assessing the special events on the following seven factors:
- Crowd density
- Nature of contact between participants
- Indoors or outdoors and layout of venue
- Whether the event will be attended by registered and non-registered participants
- Number of participants from countries affected by the COVID-19 outbreak
- Age of the participants
- Status of declared public health emergency
Those who have tickets but are looking to get a refund will receive information on how to do so in the coming weeks.
There is now concern, aside from the COVID-19 outbreak, that the event Something in the Water was created to replace will reappear.
College Beach Weekend historically has drawn thousands of college-aged students to the Oceanfront the last weekend in August.
The unofficial gathering, which had no organizer or sponsorship by the city, was often marked by violence.
“There was such an amazing difference between last year’s event… To think about going back to at time where didn’t have those planned events… It’s on the radar,” Capps said.
