Atlantic Park's First Full Winter Starts With a Tree Made of Surfboards
November 5, 2026
November 5, 2026
The tree going up at TowneBank Plaza this month is made of 52 surfboards and stands 30 feet tall. ViBe Creative District muralists painted the boards together with students from select Virginia Beach Public Schools. It lights on Friday, Nov. 20, and stays up through Dec. 31.
The tree is the showpiece, but the schedule behind it matters more. Almost everything Atlantic Park has planned for the season repeats: a crawl every Friday, Santa every weekend, a lagoon-side lounge you can enter for the price of a beach pass, and a resident parking credit that works at both garages serving the district. A visitor gets one night out of all this. Someone who lives a few blocks away can come back for six weeks.
Atlantic Park opened in August 2025 around Atlantic Park Surf, home to North America's first Wavegarden Cove surf lagoon. The rest of the 10-acre district came together over the following year. The Virginian-Pilot reported that apartments, retail and a long list of restaurants opened during 2026, which made this past summer the first with the whole complex running. The Sitio, a 20-room boutique hotel, opened earlier this year as well.
That makes this the first holiday season with every piece in place: The Hampton Social, Mi Vida, Nami Nori, Wiseguy Pizza, Milk & Honey, Playa Bowls and The Sweet Spot on the food side, plus Faherty, Lululemon, Johnnie-O, Quiet Storm Surf Shop, Wave Riding Vehicles and Sandbox VR for shopping and entertainment. The surfing still runs on its own clock. According to Atlantic Park Surf's FAQ, the park opens to the public one hour before the first session and stays open 30 minutes after the last one. A 55-minute session costs $90 to $161 depending on wave level and season. Most of the winter program happens around the water, in a district designed with summer in mind.
Light the Lineup x Cocoa Crawl runs Friday, Nov. 20, from 6 to 9 p.m. Atlantic Park Surf's event listing describes it as a family-friendly night with:
Opening night is only the first of five. The Cocoa Crawl continues every Friday evening through Dec. 18, with cocoa-themed stops at businesses around Atlantic Park. Here is the run:
Anyone who misses the opening crowd can pick any of the four Fridays that follow and still find cocoa stops along the path, with the surfboard tree lit at the plaza.
Starting in late November, the space around the lagoon becomes a winter lounge with fire pits, heaters, lounge chairs, private cabanas, seasonal drinks from The Hampton Social and photos with Santa on select dates. You need a beach pass to get in.
On Atlantic Park Surf's booking page, an all-day beach pass starts at $10 for anyone 3 and older and is described as lagoon-side access with a view of the surfing. A surf session costs at least nine times that. For a fire pit and a front-row view of other people surfing in December, the $10 pass is all you need.
Groups can book a cabana. Standard cabanas start at $150 for a four-hour block and hold up to six people, but everyone in the cabana still needs their own beach or surf pass. Add six $10 beach passes to the $150 cabana and a full group of six starts at $210 total, or $35 a person, for four hours lagoon-side.
Families get their own weekly rhythm. According to the Oct. 8 holiday announcement, beginning Nov. 28 The Sweet Spot hosts:
Put those next to the Friday crawls and the district has something seasonal four nights a week from Thanksgiving weekend until just before Christmas. Atlantic Park Surf also plans "Surf with Santa" sessions on select December dates, with booking opening in November. Each weekend, one guest who books a Santa session wins a $100 gift card in a drawing. The same announcement said holiday surf bundles and gift card promotions would be announced in November.
The Dome by Rutter Mills keeps its own calendar through the holidays. Live Nation leases the venue, and WAVY reported that it hosted 56 shows and about 125,000 visitors in its first year. From this weekend on, The Dome's lineup includes these shows:
| Date | Show |
|---|---|
| Sat., Nov. 14 | K·Pop Superstars Live |
| Fri., Nov. 20 | Trippie Redd |
| Sat., Nov. 21 | Zach Williams with Cochren & Co. and Christian Hohn |
| Sun., Nov. 29 | The Stray Cats |
| Sat., Dec. 5 | Sabaton |
| Mon., Dec. 7 | Jason Bonham's Led Zeppelin Evening |
| Thu., Dec. 31 | Deon Cole Live |
| Fri., Feb. 26, 2027 | Meshuggah with Testament and Blood Incantation |
Trippie Redd plays Nov. 20, the same night the tree lights and the first Cocoa Crawl runs, so the busiest night of the season is also the opening night. The calendar thins out after the holidays. Once the tree comes down on Dec. 31, the next date on The Dome's list is in late February.
Atlantic Park has two municipal garages. Baltic Garage at 1915 Baltic Ave. has 876 public spaces. The 20th Street Garage at 320 20th St. has 90. Both are open 24 hours a day, every day. Rates go up the longer you stay: $1 for the first hour, $3 total for two hours, $6 for three, $10 for four, with a $24 daily maximum.
Here the season starts to favor locals. The City's Resident Parking Voucher Plan gives Virginia Beach residents a $50 annual credit at participating Oceanfront locations, and both the Baltic Avenue Garage and the 20th Street Garage are on the list, along with metered spaces around Atlantic Park. To apply, you need a valid driver's license, one document dated within the last 12 months showing your name and a Virginia Beach address, an email address and a phone number. A three-hour Friday at Baltic costs $6, so the credit covers eight of those visits, enough for all five Cocoa Crawl Fridays with room left over.
Off-season rules help too. The City says Resort Area surface lots and on-street meters are generally free from Nov. 1 through March 31, with exceptions it lists on its Resort Area parking page. The garages keep their posted rates all year. For a short stop, check the City's page for an eligible free space. For a longer evening, the voucher covers the garage.
For holiday guests who would rather stay at the Oceanfront, The Sitio has three seasonal packages:
A family visiting for Thanksgiving weekend can stay a short walk from the surfboard tree, go to the Nov. 27 Cocoa Crawl on Friday, and see Santa at The Sweet Spot on Saturday afternoon.
Living near the Oceanfront means places like Atlantic Park become part of your week rather than a once-a-year outing, and that kind of local knowledge shapes how we present every home here. When you want to talk about what is changing near your street and how it affects your home's story, Michael Rowland and the Rowland RE team are glad to start your tailored market consultation.
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