Hampton moves longtime beach concert series to downtown park, citing capacity concerns

A recent announcement that a longtime summer concert series in Hampton is relocating has raised some eyebrows.

In a Facebook post, the city announced that Groovin’ by the Bay would be moved from Buckroe Beach to Mill Point Park — downtown — because of capacity concerns.

Confusion ensued — the beach is a larger space.

But the city believes the crowd will be easier to manage at the park without adding beachgoers to the mix.

“The capacity challenges are not as much a reference to physical space or any issue with the concerts, but to capacity for crowd-management from a special events perspective,” city spokeswoman Robin McCormick wrote in an email Wednesday morning.

McCormick said the concerts draw anywhere from 100 to 4,000 depending on weather and performers. The city believes Mill Point Park is better suited to manage traffic, parking, restrooms, litter control and rules enforcement.

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The city has temporarily moved the concert series from the beach in the past during busy holiday weekends for the same reasons.

This summer, the beach has been busier than in previous years, according to McCormick. She’s not sure what’s caused the increase but said it could be because Hampton recently invested about $6 million in improvements for the Buckroe Beach area.

Moving the concert was “the logical option as opposed to adding another potential crowd of 4,000 to the existing capacity at the Buckroe venue, given the varied and simultaneous uses of the beach and park,” McCormick wrote.

The city has been offering the free concert series since the mid-1980s. The concerts have been branded under different names, but McCormick said it’s grown in popularity since it shifted to the current mix of oldies, Motown, beach and pop several years ago.

Moving the concert has meant canceling some of the performances that were originally scheduled for this summer because of conflicting events at the downtown park.

The concerts, at 5 p.m. Sundays, will be at Mill Point Park for the rest of the summer. Performances this year will include a show by the Janitors on Sunday. The rest of the summer lineup includes Myra Smith (July 17), Intangible Cats (July 24), Wonderland (Aug. 21) and Joselyn Best (Aug. 28).

Jessica Nolte, 757-912-1675, jnolte@dailypress.com