It’s back!

Of all those whom Pharrell Williams has made happy, Virginia Beach government officials and business owners could be at the top of the list with the return of the music superstar’s Something in the Water this spring.

Williams’ three-day music festival debuted in April 2019 at the Oceanfront and was a smash hit, with 25,000 tickets sold in less than half an hour, prompting the sale of an additional 10,000 tickets, which also sold out.

SITW’s economic impact on Virginia Beach was $21.76 million, and the entire Hampton Roads region benefited to the tune of $24.11 million, according to a joint report from Old Dominion University and the city. Virginia Beach’s costs were roughly $1.1 million, which was covered by an estimated tax revenue of $1.19 million. Hotel occupancy for the region that weekend was 86% or higher, spreading all the way up to Williamsburg.

“It was, by far, the largest event we’ve had in Virginia Beach, period,” says John Zirkle, who operates two hotels in the city and is president of the Virginia Beach Hotel Association. Many people who didn’t even have tickets to the three-day concert came for the festival’s other activities, he adds.

City leaders are similarly excited about the prospects for the 2023 festival, which returns to Virginia Beach April 28-30, after two years of COVID-related cancellations and the festival’s 2022 detour to Washington, D.C.

In November 2022, Williams, a 49-year-old Virginia Beach native, Grammy-winning musician and businessman, was joined by the city’s mayor and other officials as he announced Something in the Water would return to the city. The announcement, which was made during Williams’ Mighty Dream forum in Norfolk, was a surprise for many, given the contentious relations between Williams and Virginia Beach officials that had spilled into public view a year earlier.

In October 2021, a letter Williams wrote to City Manager Patrick A. Duhaney landed in local media like a hand grenade. Williams was pulling the SITW festival from Virginia Beach in 2022, he wrote, saying, “I love my city, but for far too long it has been run by — and with — toxic energy.”

Williams was angered by the city’s response following the March 2021 police killing of his cousin, Donovon Lynch, as well as what he considered negative attitudes among city leaders toward Williams’ economic development projects. Williams explained that SITW had been intended to “ease racial tension, to unify the region [and] to bring about economic development opportunities” amid spring break festivities.

Virginia Beach officials tried to change Williams’ mind, but in July 2022, Williams held the second SITW festival in Washington, D.C., with no indication he would bring it back to the beach.

“I was shocked and hurt by it, because it was such a huge success,” says George Alcaraz, who owns two restaurants in Virginia Beach as well as events promotion company Resort Management LLC. “I don’t know what [Williams] did, but I swear … it was magical.”

Seeking solutions

Planned in less than a year, the 2019 SITW festival came about after Virginia Beach’s then-police chief, James Cervera, approached Williams for help in easing racial tensions during College Beach Weekend, which attracted students from historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) up and down the East Coast. In recent years, the event had been marred by violence, and some Oceanfront business owners were worried.

“They had a problem with the students when they came down [for spring break],” Williams told Virginia Business in January 2022, and Cervera “asked me what I thought we could do. He was the one that agreed with me when I said, ‘Let’s do a festival.’ The next thing you know, the hotel association, the restaurant association and all those things, they all showed up.”

Alcaraz, who helped organize the first SITW, recalls a jubilant atmosphere in April 2019. “When I saw our safety personnel out there, doing high fives and hugging our guests who came to Something in the Water … I’ve never seen that before. That was a miracle.”

But when the pandemic led to the cancellations of the 2020 and 2021 SITW festivals, “the fear built back up” surrounding the prospect of big crowds at the Oceanfront, Williams said. On top of that, he said in early 2022 that he felt city leaders were concerned more about the future of the festival than the loss of his cousin’s life. “While we have a community that’s getting to accept such toxicity and extending toxicity, I can’t be a part of that.”

Williams didn’t entirely abandon his hometown. For instance, his $340 million Atlantic Park surf park project at the Oceanfront is still in development. But he also pointedly focused more of his attention on Norfolk. He hosted his Elephant in the Room and Mighty Dream business forums in fall 2021 and 2022 there and joined a team of developers vying for the opportunity to redevelop Norfolk’s Military Circle Mall property. As of early January, Norfolk officials were still negotiating with Williams’ group about its proposal.

Williams and his spokespeople didn’t respond to interview requests for this story, and city officials declined to give many details, but Williams met with four Virginia Beach officials in New York City last August, and that’s likely when relations began to thaw.

Taylor Adams, Virginia Beach’s deputy city manager and director of economic development, joined Duhaney and then-City Council members Linwood Branch and Aaron Rouse (who is now a Virginia state senator) on the trip, which coincided with Williams throwing out the first pitch at a Yankees-Mets game.

The group discussed Atlantic Park, in which the city has a $53.4 million stake. To be located on the former Dome site between 18th and 20th streets, the surf park is being developed by Williams and Virginia Beach-based Venture Realty Group, but it has seen some delays due to financing. While the group had hoped to start construction in late 2022, a groundbreaking date still has not been set.

During the New York meeting between Williams and city officials, the Something in the Water festival also came up in conversation, Adams says, but it was not dwelled upon.

“The real intention of the meeting was really just to work on the relationship and work on getting to a more productive place in our communication with each other,” Adams says. “I think the sincerity of that gave us a way forward. It’s important to give Pharrell a lot of credit. I don’t want to put words in his mouth, but I think there is a power in Virginia Beach being his home.”

In late 2022, the city approved making a $500,000 financial contribution to the SITW festival, as well as footing the bill for an approximately $2 million city sponsorship funded through its Tourism Investment Program. The festival’s organizers would retain admissions, meals and local sales tax revenues within the festival’s footprint between Fourth and 15th streets, as well as online ticket sales. The final sponsorship amount will be determined after the festival, and if it exceeds $2 million, City Council must vote again to approve the amount.

It may also have helped that the city agreed in December 2022 to settle a federal wrongful death lawsuit brought by Lynch’s family and estate for $3 million, though the matter was still not finalized in early January.

In his announcement that SITW was coming back home, Williams acknowledged that demand for the festival “in Virginia Beach and the 757 [region] among the people has never wavered. If anything, it has only intensified. College Beach Weekend continues every year, and the city of Virginia Beach leaders have been eager to reconcile and move forward.

“I need to come back home. There is a pervasive feeling by almost everyone that the festival belongs in Virginia Beach, and the time is right to bring it back.”

Also, with more time for preparations this year, city officials’ expectations and plans have grown. Says Adams: “This one will be larger.”

More than music

The prospect of a larger Something in the Water has Virginia Beach and Hampton Roads officials understandably excited. Adams expects the city’s hotels to have a “hard sellout” well before the festival, which would be “unprecedented.”

“There are weekends in the summer where we’ll sell out the resort,” he says, “but to sell out the resort in late April, that’s unheard of.”

Zirkle, with the hotel association, agrees: “I’ve been telling folks this is kind of like getting a bonus Fourth of July weekend or Memorial Day weekend. It’s that kind of impact — with even more demand, to be honest.

“It has an effect on everybody, because these folks will be going throughout the city. Airbnbs and rental homes will be used as well — the restaurants, the attractions, the adventure parks, the aquarium — it’s just good for everybody.”

The festival’s main draw is, of course, its big-name music acts, such as Williams himself and Virginia musicians Missy Elliott, Pusha T and Dave Matthews, all of whom performed at SITW in 2019. But it also features a variety of other activities and marketing promotions. Sony and Timberland were among the brands with a presence four years ago, and this year’s festival is set to include more partnerships, as well as opportunities for local businesses to get involved.

“I’ll tell you what I love about Pharrell and his team,” says D. Nachnani, Atlantic Avenue Association president and owner of Oceanfront clothing shop Coastal Edge. “I think there’s a real thoughtfulness in bringing our business community, our art community and our music community into the fold of the overall experience.”

The city’s contract with the festival also includes language that confirms that the event is much more than just music to Williams. Under “responsibilities of the producer,” organizers will “create a festival where young people will meet others who are pushing business and culture forward,” and “where these bright young minds may find their first job out of college, or they will be inspired to start a company of their own.”

For a city that relies heavily on tourism, the festival also is a prime opportunity for positive publicity. Condé Nast’s Traveler magazine recently named Virginia Beach as one of the 23 best places to visit in the U.S. in 2023 — citing the return of Something in the Water as one of the reasons.

“After the first festival, there were articles internationally, nationally, regionally — in all sorts of publications, related to Something in the Water,” says Kate Pittman, executive director of the city’s ViBe Creative District. “That brought attention to Virginia Beach, and the ViBe District was fortunate enough to be mentioned in many of those publications. Something in the Water has had a lasting impact on the reputation of the district.”

As the festival grows, so do its logistical challenges. But if the first event four years ago is any indication, Williams’ team appears up to the task, Alcaraz says.

“The magnitude of the infrastructure and what he did throughout the resort was incredible,” he adds. “I didn’t see or hear any problems.”

There were of course some issues, mostly revolving around parking and traffic, and some restaurants complained that barriers restricted customer access and hurt their businesses. Pittman notes that the ViBe District was particularly impacted by ongoing road construction, but city officials have promised to get a better handle on traffic congestion this time around.

Another potential speed bump is the ongoing labor shortage. Staffing for hotels and restaurants continues to be a challenge everywhere and will test Virginia Beach during the festival.

But now that the city has SITW back, it hopes to never let it go.

“It was hard to see it go to D.C., losing that momentum,” Pittman says. “But we’re so, so happy to have it come back. I think everybody loves a comeback story.”  

Virginia Beach at a glance

What was once Princess Anne County became the city of Virginia Beach in 1963. Located where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Chesapeake Bay, the approximately 310-square-mile beachfront city is a major East Coast tourism draw. Other local industries include defense, bio and life sciences, advanced manufacturing, maritime and logistics, IT/cyber and offshore wind energy. Regent University and Virginia Wesleyan University are based in Virginia Beach, as well as campuses for Tidewater Community College, Old Dominion University and Norfolk State University.

Population

457,672

Top employers

Naval Air Station Oceana Dam Neck Annex (10,227)

Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story (5,020)

Sentara Healthcare (4,900)

GEICO General Insurance Co. (3,600)

STIHL Inc. (3,300)

Major attractions

Virginia Beach’s 3-mile boardwalk along the Atlantic Ocean draws beachgoing tourists from around the world. For a more secluded beach experience, visitors enjoy the city’s Sandbridge area, sometimes referred to as Virginia’s Outer Banks. But the resort city also has access to the Chesapeake Bay,
providing even more beach access. The city is also home to attractions such as the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center, the historic First Landing State Park and the Cape Henry Lighthouse.

Top convention hotels

The Founders Inn and Spa
240 rooms, 40,000 square feet
of meeting space

Marriott Virginia Beach Oceanfront
305 rooms, 25,000 square feet
of meeting space

Holiday Inn Virginia Beach – Norfolk
317 rooms, 22,000 square feet
of meeting space

Wyndham Virginia Beach / Oceanfront
244 rooms, 16,247 square feet
of meeting space

Boutique/luxury hotels

The Cavalier Resort
400 rooms, 26,912 square feet
of meeting space

The Westin Virginia Beach
Town Center
236 rooms, 11,266 square feet
of event space

Hyatt House Virginia Beach / Oceanfront
156 rooms, 1,943 square feet
of meeting space

Beach Quarters Resort
168 rooms, 2,400 square feet
of meeting space

Notable restaurants

Becca Restaurant & Garden
American, contemporary, beccavb.com

Orion’s Roof
Asian-fusion, orionsroofvb.com

Steinhilber’s
American, steinys.com

Terrapin
American, terrapinvb.com

Waterman’s Surfside Grille
American, watermans.com