PUNGO — The Pungo Strawberry Festival will not be held this year, and it is not clear whether it will return to the village.
The festival, which began nearly four decades ago and has become a Memorial Day weekend tradition, has not been held since 2019 due to the pandemic and, more recently, issues with securing enough land near the village for parking.
Parking was the main obstacle this year, according to organizers.
“We were unable to secure the land-use agreements we needed to host our festival in the manner to which we are accustomed,” the executive board of the festival wrote in a statement released on Wednesday, Feb. 8.
“Without sufficient parking, we could not develop a traffic plan to get patrons into and out of the Pungo area quickly and safely,” the statement read. “For those reasons, we decided to cancel this year.”
The board alerted the city about its decision via letter earlier this week.
“We officially canceled 2023, and the primary reason is we cannot secure land agreements with some landowners,” said Todd Jones, chairperson of the board for the nonprofit behind the festival, during an interview on Tuesday, Feb. 7.
The concern is safely getting people to the festival and not needing to turn people away, which could be a logistical nightmare.
“We just outgrew Pungo,” Jones said.
He added that the board hopes to revive the festival in some form.
The popularity of the festival and its location in a community connected to its surroundings by two-lane roads have been part of the challenge of sustaining it.
Owners of a key property used in the past for parking declined to participate this year, as they did in 2022, according to board members.
Jones said there have been discussions about how to keep the festival going, possibly in another location. Jones said the city has worked with the festival to explore options, including other venues or times of year.
“No one wants to throw in the towel and say we’re done forever,” Jones said. “Right now, all options are on the table.”
But keeping the festival in the village will be difficult.
“[W]e are not ready to ‘hang it up’ or say goodbye to the festival forever,” Jones wrote in a letter addressed to Virginia Beach Agriculture Director David Trimmer. “We are committed to exploring new ideas that can revive the festival and illustrate the agricultural aspects of Virginia Beach. This likely will not occur in the Pungo footprint we occupied.”
“It’s been in our staple in our family, in my children’s lives, for 37 years,” said Tammy Burroughs Hindle, a board member whose parents cofounded the festival. “Has it outgrown a little two-lane road? Yes.”
Hindle said there have been a number of discussions about what a future version of the festival might look like, including moving it from Pungo or holding linking events throughout the city that celebrate the strawberry crop and agriculture.
“We’re hopeful for a future reset,” Hindle said.
In recent years, more than 100,000 people have been estimated to travel to Pungo along two-lane roads to a gathering that celebrated the area’s rich agriculture tradition and our local ties to the military.
Among other things, the festival featured musical performances, a parade and dignitaries such as an honorary “Witch of Pungo.”
Food included fresh local strawberries for sale, strawberry jams and jellies and a popular strawberry taco confection.
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