VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) – By now you may have heard of that huge beach party in Virginia Beach called Floatopia.
It quickly became a flop when 10 tons of trash lined the shores and made a splash on social media.
Now locals are calling for an emergency meeting to see that it doesn’t happen again.
The Ocean Park Civic League wasn’t quite ready to speak on camera just yet however, league members tell 10 On Your Side, along with the trash, residents in the area reported beachgoers urinating in their yards and other unruly behavior.
They say enough is enough.
“It’s pretty crazy and sad to see the beach like that,” said Virginia Beach resident Darrius Williams.
Video of a trashed-out Chic’s beach went viral, making headlines across the country and all the way to the UK.
“You would think after Something In The Water, a big concert like that, that something like that which wasn’t as big as Something In The Water, they’d be able to clean up,” Williams said.
The 10-ton mess was so upsetting, members of the Ocean Park Civic League are calling an emergency meeting to gather their grievances and approach the city.
The main question many people want answered – how do we stop this from happening again?
“I think today has just been a day of getting people back together and gathering information. I think the next day or two we’re going to be putting our heads together and figuring out what next steps to take,” said Drew Lankford, with the city Public Works Dept.
Lankford said figuring out who’s behind Floatopia is challenging since the event spread via social media and word of mouth.
“So it’s not like one person we can call up,” he said.
We’re told event organizers should’ve applied for a permit to avoid the mess.
“We could’ve made sure there were porta-johns out there, a lot more trash cans, increased police presence, additional parking,” Lankford said. “I don’t know if they just don’t want to be known because they don’t want the city to say ‘no you can’t do it’ or they’re just not familiar with process and how it works.
Lankford said city officials welcome events at the beach but they want it to be a positive experience for everyone – and locals agree.
“Virginia Beach just had something good with Something In The Water to make national, international headlines. Please don’t mess that up for us,” Williams said.
The Ocean Park Civic League meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Thursday at the Ocean Park Volunteer Rescue Squad facility.
