Oceanfront visitors make most of final day on beach

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) – Memorial Day marks the unofficial start of summer, but it wasn’t the weather many had hoped for.

Thankfully, some visitors at the Oceanfront were finally able to get some beach time on Monday, the last day in the city for many.

Some say they enjoyed the down time though.

“We played a lot of board games,” said Christine Walter.

Christine and Donnie Walter brought their kids to visit their grandparents this weekend, and said they were happy they could finally get in some beach time Monday.

“It’s always a good time to get out of the city and come down here,” Christine Walter said.

Red flags were flying all weekend long at the beach because of rough water conditions, but some still stuck their feet in the water, and most enjoyed time in the sand.

“We came and looked at it but the waves were strong,” said Brigette Dickson.

Dickson and her kids were visiting from North Carolina – and were finally getting to enjoy the beach on their last day here after a rainy Memorial Day weekend.

“There were ants in their pants all weekend,” Dickson said. “They were excited to get in the water.”

Bridgette’s kids are first-time visitors to the Oceanfront and couldn’t wait to build sandcastles and play on the beach.

In addition to keeping the Dicksons and many others off the beach, the weather forced the 20th annual Coastal Edge Steel Pier Classic to delay the first two days of the competition.

Surfers started bright and early at 6:20 Monday morning to try to get all 12 hours worth of heats in the final day.

Contest Director Wes Laine said they’ve got a lot of great surfers in town this weekend, and some of the competitors are even from Virginia Beach.

“We’re excited because we have great waves, light winds, clean conditions, a little bit of fog but this year’s a big year for us because we’ve got this event rated a WSL (World Surf League) 1,000, so a lot of the best professional long boarders from all over the world are here in Virginia Beach,” said Laine.

Another event bringing people out to the Oceanfront this weekend is the Surf Art Expo.

It started in 2008 in partnership with the Coastal Edge Steel Pier Classic.

Founder Jodie Woodward said a lot of surfers are artists too, so this just helps enhance the event.

Woodward said the first year they started with only a few vendors. Now, about 50 artists participate.

“Artists come from all over up and down the East Coast – Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Florida, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, because they’ve heard about the show,” Woodward said.