Newport News wants to launch a major festival within the next two years to bring in more tourism dollars and help local businesses.
Mayor Phillip Jones announced the development of a festival during a City Council retreat Thursday amid a discussion of key priorities he wants to focus on this year. He envisions the festival being comparable to Norfolk’s Cousinz Festival or Virginia Beach’s Something in the Water and said he hopes to recruit national musical talent for the event.
“Something similar, where it’s a time for the community to come together, where you get a very big national act, (where) you’re able to leverage waterfront property and also be able to spotlight local businesses and companies,” Jones said. “We’re currently in talks with a lot of tier-one entertainers, and we’ll have much more detailed information forthcoming in the summer.”
Jones said many Virginia cities receive tourism dollars and sponsorships from the state to host festivals that draw visitors and encourage local spending. Gov. Glenn Youngkin recently announced roughly $800,000 in state grant funds for 81 events and festivals as part of the Virginia Tourism Corporation’s Special Events & Festivals Sponsorship Program.
While cities such as Norfolk, Hampton and Virginia Beach received multiple grants for various functions, Jones said Newport News had no significant event to bring in much tourism revenue. To address this, he said the city needs to launch an annual festival — this year or next.
“I’ve always thought that Newport News, we need something of a festival to call our own,” Jones said. “There’s so much talent, there’s so much energy in Newport News that we deserve to have our own festival.”
He noted the city has “a beautiful waterfront” and cited Victory Landing Park as a potential festival location. The city must determine where to allocate resources and talk to the right people.
“We don’t need something as big as Something in the Water, but we have a lot of interesting things we can do in Newport News,” he said.
Posted by Jerry Gammon, Community Contributor
Sunset at Victory Landing Park in downtown Newport News, VA; behind the Victory Arch. Victory Landing Park was cited as a potential festival location.
Several council members expressed interest in the idea, with Cleon Long noting it could help bring in tourism dollars, and Tina Vick saying the festival could promote the city’s waterways, depending on the location.
While Jones has no specifics on when a committee may be formed to plan the festival, he said Vice Mayor Curtis Bethany and Councilman John Eley will be serve as council liaisons in the planning process.
He said a primary goal will be to increase and elevate the city’s brand. While Jones said it’s too early to estimate potential costs or revenue goals, he sees the festival as a long-term investment, likely to see more profit in subsequent years versus its inaugural event.
“My understanding (is that) most of the festivals don’t break even until Year 3,” Jones said. “I just know that we need to have an investment as a city if we want to generate more tourism dollars. It’s a flywheel. The whole process is a flywheel. You need to attract a national talent. You need to be able to prove that you can sell tickets, and ultimately, we want to bring everyone to Newport News.”
Josh Janney, joshua.janney@virginiamedia.com