With time running out to make plans for April, the Virginia Beach mayor decided Tuesday to enforce a contract that says Something in the Water organizers will have five days to get back on track before the city cancels the festival.
The countdown started Wednesday, Mayor Bobby Dyer said, which gives organizers until Monday.
“We have not received any information regarding ticket sales or the release of a lineup from the festival organizers. In addition, there's been no official communication related to a definitive timeline to receive this information,” Deputy City Manager Amanda Jarratt told the council Tuesday.
Jarratt added the city needs 90 days to prepare for an event the magnitude of Something in the Water — the minimum amount of time for public safety plans and other staffing logistics.
As of Tuesday, the festival’s planned date was 95 days away.
Festival organizers missed a Dec. 31 deadline to deliver a lineup and open ticket sales. At that point, they were in breach of an agreement signed in November that outlined the timeline for certain milestones leading up to the festival. The agreement gave the city the right to cancel the festival and pursue alternate programming if the terms were not met.
In September, organizers abruptly cancelled the 2024 festival scheduled for October, bumping the date to April 2025. At the time, city leaders said they were blindsided and demanded deadlines and a signed sponsorship agreement for the April festival.
Dyer introduced a resolution at the council’s first meeting of the year to enforce the contract, but the council voted to indefinitely defer holding festival organizers to the terms, giving them more time to come up with the lineup and ticket sales.
But time is up, Dyer said at Tuesday’s meeting.
“We’ve reached the point of diminishing returns right now and our back is against the wall.”
Now organizers will have five days from receiving notice from the city on Wednesday to “cure the breach” before the city will cancel the agreement and plan something else for April 26 and 27.
City Manager Patrick Duhaney said the “cure” is something that meets the original contractual requirements — a date for ticket sales, a lineup and festival logistics and security that would coordinate with the city’s public safety and staffing.
Dyer justified the extension the city has granted despite the festival’s numerous delays and cancellations.
“We bend over backwards for a lot of people and organizations trying to get to a yes, and the fact is, we wanted to give it our full effort,” he said.
In previous years, the festival has been a major money-maker for the city and a marquee event to kick off the tourist season. The 2023 festival generated an estimated $27.7 million in economic activity.
