VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Organizers for Something in the Water missed a Dec. 31 deadline—outlined in its sponsorship agreement with the city of Virginia Beach—to announce the festival's lineup and begin ticket sales.
The deadline miss is the latest from the music festival, created by Virginia Beach native Pharrell Williams, that has been mired by setbacks since the first event in 2019.
News 3's John Hood contacted the city of Virginia Beach for a comment on this latest setback.
"The Something in the Water Team has asked for an extension for releasing the festival’s lineup and ticket sales. Staff will present this request to City Council and discuss what direction Council wants to take at that point."
Watch: What's in the sponsorship agreement between Virginia Beach and Something in the Water?
News 3 previously obtained a copy of this sponsorship agreement, and we know the city will give the festival $500,000 worth of advancements to be used for the event based on deadlines met.
This includes receiving a lineup by the end of this year, which has not happened as of Tuesday morning. Ticket sales were also not made available by the end of the year.
"I definitely do feel like they do need to get their stuff together," Jaclyn Pryor, who has attended SITW in the past, said.
Watch related: VB leaders frustrated with SITW organizers, threaten to pull plug on festival
This is not the first time SITW organizers faced deadline issues.
In November, they caused friction with their last-minute sponsorship agreement. The festival was originally slated for October 2024 and even opened ticket sales, but Pharrell announced on the first day of ticket sales that the festival would be postponed until April 2025.
"If there is no substantial reason as to why then I can see why people have personal reservations about it," Jamaid Smalls, a Virginia Beach resident, said.
The festival appears to be locked in for April 26 and 27 and will have stages and other events set up from the Fishing Pier down to 2nd Street.
The festival has encountered various stumbling blocks over the years, including bad weather, the COVID-19 pandemic, and a detour in Washington, D.C.
There's also some concern about how the delayed lineup announcement may impact businesses and other organizations that plan events around the festival.
"I'm sure it does impact our group because we started because of this festival," Norman Browning, a member of SITW Cousins, said. "I know the admins are still planning events and working around the clock to get things going for when we do get a lineup for 2025."
