VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — Pharrell’s much-hyped Something in the Water festival is now just four days away.

The inaugural festival will flood the Virginia Beach Oceanfront with concerts from a host of national acts, a pop-up church, basketball on the beach and many other activities and events.

Business owners at the Oceanfront say they’re excited about the event and are preparing for the large crowds. 

“These are the kinds of things we need as a city to put us on the map,” said Three Shops Coffee owner, Brad Ewing.

Click here to visit WAVY’s Something in the Water coverage page

Ewing says this year comes with a whole new vibe than previous College Beach weekends.

“Those kids are going to have so much to do, and that’s been the biggest difference. We’ve shut our entire city down on a yearly basis to protect it and now it’s fully open with lots of fun things.” 

The general manager of Beach Bully BBQ, Morgan Phipps, agrees — this year visitors are being embraced. 

“It’s something big we get to be proud of, but it’s giving everybody a purpose, it’s giving everybody something to do and something to be amped about.”

When it comes to the food, she says they’ve got a solid food prep plan and the employees are thinking ahead too. 

“A lot of us are locals, so we don’t have too many people that live more than a couple miles away and the people that don’t in most cases are going to bunk up with the people that do,” Phipps explained.

Ewing says he thinks in the long run it could help get businesses needed infrastructure.

“I think its going to call to question things like street parking and more sidewalks and things like that that locals are already talking about, and hopefully those things become more viable options,” Ewing added.

To add a fun touch, Three Ships Coffee is creating a SITW coffee bag for festival goers to take as a memento created by local artists.