VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — Meeting visitors from across the world, Nicholas Mason with Flamingo Joe’s spent many seasons serving classic summer refreshments at Oceanfront.
“Yeah, that’s all I do,” Mason said before shouting “How y’all doing today?” to a group of people passing by. “I just try to try to make sure that everything, you know, stays copacetic, you know?”
He says this season is not as busy as those recent years. Many nationwide travel statistics show yearly growth leveling out since the COVID era lockdown. Mason said for Oceanfront, weather is the main reason for any slowdown.
“It’s been raining,” he said. “That’s really bad for business because don’t nobody want to come out here and eat.”
Atlantic Avenue Association President D Nachnani said things were solid from the middle of May through the Fourth of July, despite some weather hiccups. Even through the swampy humid weekends with extreme heat, the Oceanfront stayed packed.
“It doesn’t bother them because they’re coming for the beach,” Nachnani said. “They are from typically the East Coast and so they get hot and muggy. You know what they don’t want is thunderstorms and lightning.”
They are getting ready for a sunny weekend, with highs staying in the 80s. Nearly perfect weather for tourism.
“When it rains, I feel like it rains on everyone,” Nachnani said. “And when it’s sunny, it’s sunny on everyone. And so I’m glad this weekend is full of sunny weather. And if it isn’t, please don’t tell me.”
Nachnani said the unofficial end of tourism season is right around Labor Day, but he’s looking forward to this fall with a number of music festivals bringing him what he calls bonus seasons.
