46th annual Neptune Festival celebrates art, culture in Virginia Beach

Posted: Sep 29, 2019 / 03:21 PM EDT / Updated: Sep 29, 2019 / 11:40 PM EDT

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) – Thousands gathered for the largest outdoor party in the 757 during the 46th annual Virginia Beach Neptune Festival.

As the summer comes to a halt and the water begins to cool down, thousands gathered in Virginia Beach to celebrate fun, art and culture at the 2019 Neptune Festival.

Many came for the 250 artisans selling paintings, sculptures, and other hand crafted artworks, others were there for the world renowned sand sculptures.

Photo Courtesy – Neptune Festival
Photo Courtesy – Neptune Festival
Photo Courtesy – Neptune Festival
Photo Courtesy – Neptune Festival

Others were there to test their fitness along 36th Beach Fitness Park with activities that included strength training at the beach and Neptune’s run with varying races.

View this post on Instagram

Anything is possible when the right people got your back. Photo delivery from this morning’s @neptunefestival 8k is up on our FB page! Feel free to tag & share. Enjoy! . . #northendrunclub #werunVB #commUNITY #VBstrong #neptune8k 📸: @barryclarrk aka @sweatographer

A post shared by North End Run Club (@northendrunclub) on Sep 28, 2019 at 2:43pm PDT

Photo Courtesy – Kaitlin Holbrook, Barry Clark

Residents also honored the victims of the Virginia Beach mass shooting that happened on May 31 of this year as well as pay tribute to the first responders for their help during the tragedy.

VB PD Chief Jim Cervera gets standing ovation at event to honor police,fire,ems, victims and their families from VB mass shooting pic.twitter.com/vYKPt4x13S
— Deanna Bettineschi (@DeannaWAVY) September 29, 2019