THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 26, 1995 TAG: 9511250056
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY BILL REED, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 164 lines
RESORT INNKEEPERS are putting a little twinkle in the holiday season and - hopefully - a little jingle in their jeans at a time when business is usually slow.
They have erected a jazzy Boardwalk light display to attract locals and out-of-towners to the Oceanfront to ogle, eat, drink and make merry from now through Jan. 7.
After a year of planning, the event - called Holiday Lights at the Beach - opened early last week for a trial run.
It began Monday night with a VIP tour that included more than 100 invited guests who drove the entire length of the blinking 25-block Boardwalk display. The guests then attended a special reception at the Princess Anne Inn at Atlantic Avenue and 25th Street to nibble finger food, sip free beverages and talk about the experience.
On Tuesday night, dubbed media night by event organizers, more than 600 cars queued up on Atlantic Avenue to take the 2-mile, seaside tour. Most viewers were provided complementary tickets through radio and newspaper promotions designed to drum up future light show customers.
The first two nights were considered a ``shake-down cruise,'' said Bobby Melotti, who's in charge of the light show for Cellar Door Productions of Virginia. Cellar Door is the entertainment company that is coordinating the program under the name of Beach Events.
The system, as Melotti refers to it, includes some 250,000 twinkling lights arrayed across the Boardwalk in the shapes of fish, pirate ships, gingerbread houses, musical crabs, mermaids, seals and fishing Santas. It also includes the coordination of traffic routing into the light show at Atlantic Avenue and 8th Street and the deployment of 200-plus volunteers to keep cars moving and keep pedestrians off the Boardwalk between 5 to 10 p.m. each night.
There have been some glitches, to be sure. Since workmen began erecting the light displays between 8th and 33rd streets, thieves have filched 100 to 150 light bulbs a day, said Melotti. These have to be replaced at considerable cost and manpower.
And there are the usual electrical outages caused by human interference and the weather.
Then there are the strollers, joggers and rubberneckers who complain about being chased from the Boardwalk after dark to accommodate light show patrons.
In addition, Atlantic Avenue traffic patterns have been changed to ease motorists in and out of the show without disrupting neighboring businesses. Lanes are marked off with orange traffic cones and signs. Nevertheless, motorists continue to ignore them or fail to see them, creating nightly snarls.
Police officers and sheriff's deputies have been assigned to handle tie-ups that may develop.
Other than that, said Melotti, the program has started off on the right foot and he says he intends to be on hand for most of the event to see that any problems are ironed out.
The light show will be closed on Christmas Eve. On New Year's Eve, the Boardwalk will be closed to motorists, but will be open admission free to pedestrians.
Funding for the holiday lighting was approved last June by the City Council, which took $750,000 from the Tourism Growth Investment Fund. Owners of hotels bordering the Boardwalk also were encouraged to invest in decorative lighting for their properties to add to the holiday atmosphere at the resort strip.
On Wednesday night customers who lined up for the light show had to shell out $7 per vehicle. The fee will remain in force until the show concludes Jan. 7.
Included in the ticket price is a ``Holiday Bucks'' coupon booklet that provides more than $200 in discounts at Oceanfront businesses. These range from restaurants and shops to a condominium and a tax consulting service.
As further inducement to linger in the resort area, the city is offering free parking at four Oceanfront lots. One is on Pacific Avenue at 25th Street. Two bracket 19th Street at Pacific Avenue. A fourth is located at the end of the Rudee Loop on Atlantic Avenue. Motorists also will be accorded free curbside parking at more than 700 Oceanfront spaces, because the city has removed the meters until the spring.
The idea, said Mary Pat Fortier, executive director of the Virginia Beach Hotel and Motel Association, is to keep visitors at the Oceanfront, once they've seen the lights.
The concept of the post-season revenue generator originated with Fortier, Sandy Jackson and Cathy Pender. The latter two are veterans of the resort hotel business.
The trio persuaded the city to invest $750,000 in the Boardwalk lighting system, cajoled businesses into staying open during the holiday season and to take part in the savings coupon program. Working with Cellar Door, which oversees most Oceanfront events, the three helped expand the light program with a Christmas parade in early December and a schedule of related holiday entertainment.
An offshoot of their efforts is the opening this weekend of another Oceanfront attraction, which will offer visitors something to do other than gawk, eat and drink.
It is Starship Ice, a 90-by-200-foot portable skating rink located at the municipal parking lot at 31st Street and the Oceanfront.
Protected from the elements by an inflatable plastic covering, the rink will operate through the end of March and beyond, if owner Allan B. Harvie Jr. can persuade the city to extend his lease.
The facility will remain open seven days a week and will offer rental skates, food and concession stands, skating and hockey lessons for youngsters.
Admission for two-hour sessions is $5.50, said Harvie. Skate rentals are $2.50. Hours of operation are 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 9 a.m. to midnight Friday through Sunday.
Harvie, the former owner of the Richmond Renegades ice hockey team, said he is building permanent rinks in Chesapeake, beside the Regal Theaters in the Greenbrier area, and in Newport News off Victory Boulevard near the Super Kmart.
The Oceanfront rink can hold 350 people, Harvie said. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos by David B. Hollingsworth.
Bobby Melotti takes tickets at the entrance to the Holiday Lights at
the Beach tour. Melotti, who is in charge of the light show for
Cellar Door Productions, says the tour includes about 250,000
twinkling lights arrayed across the Boardwalk in the shapes of fish,
ships, musical crabs, mermaids, seals and a fishing Santa.
A fishing Santa Claus, lighthouse and a whale light up the Virginia
Beach Fishing Pier at 15th street and the Oceanfront.
King Neptune grace the Holiday Lights at Beach marque at the end of
the expressway.
Crabs play instuments with musical notes flashing below them near
the end of the lighted tour.
AT A GLANCE
Virginia Beach's Holiday Lights at the Beach will be held from 5
to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and from 5 to 11 p.m. Friday and
Saturday, through Jan. 7, on the Boardwalk from 8th to 33rd
streets.
Admission is $7 per car (cash only). No vehicles larger than
15-passenger vans are allowed. For information, call 491-7866.
More Lights
Virginia Beach's Holiday Lights at the Beach will be held from 5
to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and from 5 to 11 p.m. Friday and
Saturday, beginning Wednesday and running through Jan. 7, on the
Boardwalk from 8th Street to 33rd Street.
The cost is $7 per car (cash only). No vehicles larger than
15-passenger vans are allowed.
For information, call 491-7866.
Norfolk Botanical Garden's Garden of Lights display will be held
from 5:30 to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 5:30 to 11 p.m.
Friday and Saturday beginning Wednesday and running through Jan. 1,
at the gardens on Azalea Garden Road.
The cost is $7 per car Monday through Thursday and $9 on
weekends. Buses cannot be accommodated.
For information, call 441-5830.
Newport News Park's Celebration in Lights will be held from 5:30
to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 5:30 to 11 p.m. Friday and
Saturday beginning Thursday and running through Jan. 1, at the park,
at the corner of Fort Eustis Boulevard and Jefferson Avenue.
The cost is $6 per car and $25 per bus.
For information, call (804) 247-8451.
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