VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — If the Virginia Beach boardwalk is proof that cement and sand can go well together, it’s only fitting that a skate park meant to impress is built steps away right along the Atlantic Ocean.
“There is a lot of action sports enthusiasts here,” George Alcaraz said. “But [we] never thought we’d get it to this level to bring it to the national scene.”
The action sports Jackalope Festival returns to the heart of the Oceanfront for the second year, following its debut year in which Virginia Beach served as the host city for the Canadian-based enterprise.
In 2023, the adrenaline sports-filled festival saw a turnout of more than 30,000 visitors, peaking at 16,000 on the second day of the three-day event. According to an analysis of the city’s 2023 festivals, it sparked between $12 million and $14 million worth of economic impact and generated more than half a million dollars in tax revenue back for the city.
“The first edition was awesome. We were surprised by the love and welcome of everyone in the market,” founder Micah Desforges told 13News Now.
"What we have is unbelievable and it’ll bring it to that level we need for action sports," Alcaraz said, who's overseeing the logistics and construction of the festival grounds' buildout.
The expectations for year two of the festival are to take it to higher heights with a revamped pirate-designed skate park as the festival’s center stage, and a vertical ramp that will stand twice as large as the one audiences saw last year.
“In terms of the vert skateboarding, the half pipe... in the past we always did demos. But we figured now it’s time to focus on competitive levels. We bought a brand new ramp, a 'G' ramp made from Germany and it’s twice the size of the ramp we used last year. You’ll see it’s visually more impactful and it’s a contest instead of a demo,” Alcaraz said.
Despite less-than-ideal weather on the festival’s second day last year, more than 90% of attendees surveyed said they were either “likely” or “very likely” to return to the festival in following years.
With Jackalope currently in the second of a three-year contract with the city, Desforges believes they can now begin ramping up the total purse amounts for the weekend.
"Increasing the cash prize is something we’re working on, making sure we always have equal pay between men and women, girls and boys is a priority," Desforges said. "In the vert ramp we have a $20,000 cash prize, $10,000 for the men and $10,000 for the women. And in the street competition, we have $30,000. $15,000 for the men and $15,000 for the women."
The city-sponsored festival is free admission.
The 2024 Jackalope programming includes:
- Skateboarding
- Bouldering
- Base Jumping
- Skimboarding
- Freestyle Motocross
- BMX Demonstrations