VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — For the first time, members of the public got to drive their cars on the sand at the Virginia Beach oceanfront for the city’s inaugural Jeep Festival.
Event organizer William Younce said they had a big showing of Jeep enthusiasts.
“Virginia Beach does not allow driving on the beach. You have to go to the outer-banks for that,” Younce said. “But we got special permission for this event only, and I think that’s one of the reasons why people came out from all over to take advantage of it.”
Drivers from across the east coast came in for the big event which featured early morning beach cruises next to the water and three sand courses for jeep drivers to test their skills.
“Lot of dips, and jumps, and climbs, and we have over 200 people on the boardwalk just watching the jeeps go across,” Younce said. “Over 900 Jeeps from all over registered for the first year event.”
Jeep owner April Upton drove three hours from D.C. to attend the event. She said she’s already looking forward to coming back.
“So many of us have talked and said we’re so glad the city let us do this. It’s amazing,” Uptom said. “Yesterday I did the beach course, the off-road course where they dug up the sand and made nice moguls and obstacles for us, and then today we just did a nice beach cruise.”
Younce said introducing events like this one to the city go a long way in bringing visitors year round.
“Make Virginia Beach a year round destination,” he said. “It’s not always beaches and bikinis you can have fun in Virginia Beach in mid November in 60 degree weather!”
Event organizers said next year they plan to expand the festival to a three day event because of the growing interest.