Events & Festivals in Virginia Beach

Costumed daredevils dash into 40-degree Atlantic surf while drums pound and horns blare on the Boardwalk. Bonfires crackle, cocoa fills the air, and plungers earn hot soup plus bragging rights.

Naturalists guide small groups into Rudee Inlet to spy harbor seals bobbing among ice pans and winter seabirds. The boat's cabin smells of coffee and sea brine.

Runners pound the Boardwalk to bagpipe tunes and cheering leprechauns. Post-race party pours green beer while Irish fiddles echo under the Neptune statue.

Neon deltas paint the sky above 15th Street while DJs spin oceanfront tunes. Kids can feel kite-string tug and taste kettle corn dusted with cinnamon sugar.

Two days of old-school funk and go-go bass lines rumble across 24th Street Park. Vendors smoke jerk chicken, and the air smells of citrus-scented fog machines at night.

Over 250 painters and sculptors line 20 blocks of wooden planks. Sun-glinted jewelry clinks as gulls cry overhead, and salty air mingles with fresh-popped boardwalk popcorn.

Classic-rock tribute bands crank guitars behind the Neptune statue while beach volleyball thumps nearby. Cool spray drifts from misters as sunburned dancers sip frozen lemonade.

Floats draped with seaweed-green fringe roll down Atlantic Ave while marching bands echo off hotel façades. Candy sails into the crowd and salt spray drifts from open Jeeps.

Live bands blast every mile along the oceanfront, ending with a finish-line concert at the Convention Center. Runners feel cool dawn sand beneath shoes at the start chute.

Sixty-plus breweries pour pumpkin ales and citrusy IPAs beside live bluegrass. Smoked-pork nachos perfume the air as DJs spin vinyl inside the Convention Center hall.

Lantern-led walks around 18th-century Ferry Plantation House reveal cold spots and distant fiddle music. Crushed-oyster paths crunch underfoot while pine smoke curls from chimneys.