Pharrell wants to shift the dates for Something in the Water 2024, but not everyone agrees

VIRGINIA BEACH — In a love letter to his millions of followers on social media last week, Pharrell Williams announced the popular Something in the Water festival will be back again next year. But after rain and high winds delayed the start of the three-day event and forced organizers to cancel the third day, Williams said he wants to hold it on a different weekend.

“Next year we will shift the dates because this rain ain’t playing, but we will be! Next year, more acts, more merch, more food … just more!” Williams wrote.

While moving the festival to another weekend could increase the odds for better weather, doing so raises other logistical challenges and runs the risk of undermining the festival’s original intention, say some Virginia Beach community members who want the dates to stay put.

“That date was selected obviously for a reason, and we hope the city takes a hard look at it,” said John Zirkle, president of the Virginia Beach Hotel Association.

[ Cut short by weather, Something in the Water still had big moments ]

The first Something in the Water festival in 2019 and this year’s event were held in Virginia Beach in late April to correspond with College Beach Weekend.

The festival was born out of a need to solve issues with the unofficial gathering, when crowds of students — many from historically black colleges and universities — came to the Oceanfront and partied before exams. With no city-sanctioned events held, thousands of people milled around Atlantic Avenue. Violent incidents occurred in the past during the weekend, though not a rate different than other major holidays that drew people to the Oceanfront. Despite that, racial tensions plagued the weekend and many locals viewed it as troublesome.

Former Virginia Beach Police Chief Jim Cervera originally reached out to Williams to help, and the music superstar who grew up in the city, pulled the festival together in record time.

College Beach Weekend hasn’t had a significant turnout since 2018, though the pandemic likely played a role in 2020 and 2021.

Changing the festival date could leave a gap.

“There was a thought process by the city and all the stakeholders that we wanted to grow Something in the Water, and we wanted the kids that would normally come in for College Beach Weekend to come in and enjoy themselves with something to do, and the festival provided that,” said Deepak “D” Nachnani, owner of Coastal Edge surf shop and president of the Atlantic Avenue Association, a business and community group. “That was the intention from the very get-go.”

City officials have not yet discussed the prospect of a different date for the 2024 festival, according to a Virginia Beach Convention and Visitors Bureau spokesperson.

Fourteen blocks of the Boardwalk and beach were closed to non-ticket holders during the festival this year. How the footprint would be handled if it is held during a busier time of year in the resort area is yet to be determined.

If the festival moves to another date, and College Beach Weekend is resurrected, Zirkle and others want something to take its place.

“You need to have some programming going on if that were to happen,” Zirkle said. “I hope it stays on those dates; it works well for everybody.”

The festival’s economic impact in April, at a time when business can be slow at the Oceanfront, is also a factor. A city commissioned study will provide some insight. It will be released in a couple of months.

But early estimates, during what would otherwise be a mediocre month for overnight stays, show resort area hotel bookings reached nearly 85% on Friday and Saturday nights of the festival, Zirkle said.

“We had a banner weekend,” he said. “It was a huge success.”

Coastal Edge and other local businesses, vendors and artists participated in free community events held in the public beachfront parks, which drew hundreds of people and positive exposure.

“I really wish we could find a way to keep it in the month of April,” Nachnani said.

As for the weather, several other outdoor large events at the Oceanfront held in summer or fall have been negatively impacted in the past, including the East Coast Surfing Championships in August and the Neptune Festival in September.

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“That’s the risk we run,” said Nachnani. “The weather is so hard to predict.”

Cervera, who retired from the Virginia Beach Police Department in 2020, now teaches community policing strategies across the country.

He believes Something in the Water’s positive “aura” — whenever it is held — will be felt in Virginia Beach throughout the year.

“It brought the community together,” Cervera said, describing how police worked with Williams to gain community support and ease racial tensions in Virginia Beach.

Going forward, Cervera believes the festival will overshadow College Beach Weekend.

“If they change the date, I don’t think it’s going to affect mid-April,” he said. “The momentum will be building.”

Stacy Parker, 757-222-5125, stacy.parker@pilotonline.com