
DATE: Sunday, September 28, 1997            TAG: 9709280098

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY GREG GOLDFARB, CORRESPONDENT 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   81 lines

FESTIVAL REIGNS AT BEACH ORGANIZERS OF THE NEPTUNE CELEBRATION ARE PLEASED WITH TURNOUT.

Connie Pappas stood inside her food vending booth at the Virginia Beach Neptune Festival Boardwalk Celebration on Saturday wearing a light coat and making gyros as fast as she could, as hungry customers stood quietly in line waiting to buy one of the hot sandwiches.

``Business is excellent. I sold out of Italian sausages last night,'' said Pappas, a Virginia Beach resident and owner of the Greek Foods vending company. ``It's a little bit windy out here today, but it didn't hold the people back. I just hope it doesn't rain.''

Despite the weather forecast, which calls for a chance of rain today, Pappas and festival organizers say that even if the wet stuff comes, this year's festival has already proven itself to be one of the most - if not the most - successful festivals in its 24-year history.

``It's been a wonderful festival,'' said Delceno Miles, a member of the festival's board of directors and its executive committee. ``It has gone from being a small, three-day event for locals to being one of the premier events on the East Coast. I'm so impressed with the cultural diversity here. That's something we've worked hard on to achieve. This year, we have something for everybody, and we expect next year's festival to be even bigger and better than this one.''

Stretching from First Street to 28th Street and featuring hundreds of different food and crafts booths, as well as live entertainment, special attractions and sports competitions, the festival actually took off last weekend at the Oceana Naval Air Station, where almost 500,000 people turned out for a country music concert and an air show featuring the Blue Angels.

This weekend's remaining festival highlights include a Grand Parade today on Atlantic Avenue, beginning at 1:30 p.m. featuring former NFL quarterback and local businessman Bernie Kosar as grand marshal. The parade will run from 16th Street to 31st Street. Another popular event finishing up today is the Sandcastle Classic, running from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., from Sixth Street to Ninth Street on the beach.

The festival officially ends at 6 p.m. with a ceremony at the 24th Street Park, where awards will be presented in volleyball, running, cheerleading, fishing and surfing.

Nancy Creech, president of the Neptune Festival, said that even though the festival's boardwalk celebration weekend now draws about 300,000 to 400,000 visitors, there was still room to add several new attractions to this year's event, which may lead to the festival breaking its own attendance record.

``We had expected between 600 and 700 people for the new wine festival,'' Creech said, ``but we ended up with almost 1,200. We also added a surf fishing tournament this year, which had 33 teams signed up. We also added a soccer classic for adults, which drew 400 participants; plus, this year people could play `inflatable beach games,' such as football, soccer, golf and baseball on the beach.''

Final attendance and financial figures aren't in yet, but Creech estimates that by this evening, nearly 1 million people will have attended. One of those enjoying the festival Saturday was Yvonne Simrel, an insurance company secretary from High Point, N.C., and her family, who have attended the festival for the last three years. She says they'll probably come back next year.

``We always come to the Neptune Festival,'' she said. ``I really like the cheerleading competition. It's good to see all of the team support the children and the teams have for each other - even when they lose. It's all a good experience for the children.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

D. KEVIN ELLIOTT/The Virginian-Pilot

Alan Matsumoto of Roanoke takes time to work on his sand sculpture

Saturday at the annual Neptune Festival in Virginia Beach.

Photo

D. KEVIN ELLIOTT/The Virginian-Pilot

Danville, Ill., residents Evelyn and Lloyd Lucas, reflected in a

wooden mirror sculpture, take in the sights at the Neptune Festival

on Saturday. Among today's events are the Grand Parade and the

Sandcastle Classic.

Graphic

TODAY'S EVENTS

[For complete graphic, please see microfilm]