HAMPTON ROADS, Va. (WAVY) — It’s not the typical sunny Memorial Day weekend.
High winds and rain altered and even cancelled many events in Hampton Roads over the weekend, starting with the Mermaid City.
Live music, action sports and more at the Patriotic Festival that were originally meant to be held on the outside plaza of the Scope Arena had to be moved inside.
But Norfolk wasn’t the only city affected by the bad weather.
Virginia Beach’s Glow in the Park event at the Virginia Aquarium was completely cancelled.
Another cancellation for the resort city was the Salute to Summer concert.
The music was supposed to start by 7 p.m., but by 6 p.m. there was no set up or artists to be found.
Virginia Beach lifeguards said their work was affected by the weather too.
“It was safer not to have the guards on the lifeguard stands today with the high winds, but instead constant patrols with the supervisors on ATVs and pickup trucks going along the shoreline,” said Lieutenant Evan Crawley with the Virginia Beach Lifesaving Service.
Crawley talked of their obligation to look out for the public’s safety especially with the threat of high riptides during the weekend.
“Any red flag day that you see the red flags flying, it’s our job to educate the public on staying knee to ankle deep in the water,” he said.
He also spoke of the high danger people could face if anyone were to venture too deep into the water.
“Anything past that and you could get swept out and have a hard time coming back to shore.”
He said if the rain comes down later in the weekend, lifeguards won’t be on ATVs, instead patrolling the beach safely in trucks.
He also encouraged everyone to stay out of the ocean.
