Seawall Music Festival

Great day in the city!It's usually super hot when this event comes to town, but good music by local artists/bands and the great outdoors makes for a great day along the Elizabeth River!!The event is free to attend and it's for the whole family!There are several food vendors...a few vendors selling novelty items and you may see one or two vendors selling desserts.This year the City decided to rotate acts between two stages which was a bit aggravating. One act would perform for about 90 mins then we'd be asked to move (lawn chairs) to a larger stage area to hear/see the next act.Nevertheless, the bands featured this year we're a hit while some were a miss. The crowd at 3pm... a minimum of 20. Perhaps the hot temperatures deterred people away but as time went on... the crowd began to increase. Seems as though the more popular the band the larger the crowd. This event is held yearly so definitely look out for it every Memorial Day weekend to take place in Portsmouth, Va. Parking is free in the garages and free after 6pm for street parking. Bring about $20 for pocket change. And if you plan to catch the ferry that's nearby remember you'll need the exact fare.Have fun and enjoy life

I think its great that Portsmouth is trying to attract tourists and locals out towards the waterside, but this festival really needed some more activities, vendors, and entertainment.There was a live band playing as I was disembarking the ferry. What a great welcome! However, that was probably the highlight of this festival. There were about 5 vendors selling trinkets and other items. Nothing really attracted my eye.The food vendors were only Jay's Barbecue, Shakey's, Dominos Pizza and Mr. Cream Cones. I ended up getting fries from Jay's Barbecue because I was starving and needed something to hold me over during the ferry ride back to Norfolk. There were two workers in the booth for Jay's Barbecue. One was cooking, the other was preparing food and taking the money. I found it quite disgusting that the hand that he wore a glove on was used to prepare food AND take people's money. So UNSANITARY. Unfortunately I was hungry, desperate for food, and already gave him my money. Not only was the food dirty, but they didnt have enough money to give people correct change. He shorted a LOT of people (including me) because he didnt have the right change. He considered this extra cash his "TIPS". Why am I tipping for dirty food? Never again!