A country music festival at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront is in the works — and the City Council will be asked next week to approve a $1.5 million incentive to support it.
Beach It! is slated for June 23-25 and will take over 1st through 8th streets at the Oceanfront. The festival, produced by Country Nation-Live Nation, will feature two stages and emerging artists and A-listers alike, according to documents included in the agenda for the City Council’s next meeting.
Although there’s no official word on the lineup yet, a proposed sponsorship agreement with the city would require producers to provide a list of acts by March 30.
The council will vote Tuesday on a request to appropriate $1.5 million from a tourism investment fund to sponsor the festival.
It’s a similar deal to the $2 million in financial sponsorship lawmakers approved in December for Pharrell Williams’ Something in the Water festival — the largest financial incentive the city has approved for a festival.
According to documents included in the council’s agenda, the city’s financial sponsorship of the festival will be determined by the amount of admissions taxes generated by the festival. The actual amount the city would pay could vary, but $1.5 million is the current budgetary amount.
Other parts of the proposed sponsorship agreement include “in kind” services Virginia Beach will provide, such as waiving the rent for the festival’s use of the boardwalk and beach and electricity for vendors. Virginia Beach also will provide public safety, public works and fire department services.
In return, Country Nation-Live Nation will “produce a professional country music Festival that highlights the City of Virginia Beach.” The promoter pays for acts and advertising and will provide the city with economic impact reports.
Country Nation-Live Nation also will give the city 50 VIP passes.
Country Nation-Live Nation has produced 39 music festivals in the past nine years, including several on beaches in Fort Lauderdale and Atlantic City. The company has not officially announced the festival, but a spokesperson for Virginia Beach said Live Nation is expected to provide more information about it Tuesday.
“If successful, Country Nation-Live Nation would like the City to be the home of ‘BEACH IT!’ for 2023 and future years,” the council agenda documents state.
The addition of the country music festival to Virginia Beach’s roster of music festivals comes after the Patriotic Festival moved to Norfolk in 2022. It was held in Virginia Beach for 17 years, but is booked in Norfolk again this year at Scope over Memorial Day weekend.
Cianna Morales, 757-957-1304, cianna.morales@virginiamedia.com
