❤️ What's happening this weekend in the 757

Good morning, 757!

Fall officially shows up next week, but the region already made its call. This is jet noise and Oktoberfest season, and both of them peak at the same time this weekend.

The Blue Angels go up at 3 p.m. Saturday and again Sunday over Oceana, admission is free, and London Bridge Road is closing on and off from today through Sunday. So here is the fork in the road. If you are going, leave earlier than feels reasonable and write off the afternoon. If you are not going, remember that half of Virginia Beach will be, which makes Saturday the easiest day in weeks to walk into a Peninsula event and still find parking.

And since we are talking about getting places: a lot of the free stuff this weekend is on the Peninsula, and you can reach all of it without paying a toll. The HRBT and 664 are free, they are just crowded. It is the Downtown and Midtown tunnels that cost you. So if you have been mentally deleting the Hampton and Newport News picks, stop. The Egyptian Festival in Hampton is free to get in and free to park, and 664 will not charge you a dime to get there.

Three ways to use this issue, depending on who you are. If you have a small kid and one free morning, go to the Yorktown Folk Festival: free, on the water, walkable end to end, nobody in a hurry. If you are out past 9 and want something that is not a park, Come From Away closes Sunday night at the Wells, a performance they added after the run sold through. And if you work Saturdays like half this region does, your weekend is Friday night at Fort Monroe with the telescopes, which is free, and Sunday morning at the Great Bridge market, which does not need a ticket.

Four more worth the calendar:

Let's get to it.

Josh

🎉 Egyptian Festival runs Friday, September 18 through Sunday, September 20 at St. George Coptic Orthodox Church, 187 Semple Farm Road, Hampton. Egyptian home cooking, kids' games, hieroglyphics, and free tours of the church itself. Open 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. Admission and parking are both free, and 664 will not charge you a toll to get there.

✈️ 2026 NAS Oceana Air Show runs Saturday, September 19 through Sunday, September 20 at NAS Oceana, Virginia Beach. Gates at 8 a.m., flying from 10, and the Blue Angels go up at 3 p.m. both days. Admission and parking are both free, with free shuttles from the outlying lots. Backpack-size bags are fine and everything gets X-rayed, lawn chairs and strollers are welcome, but coolers and outside food and drink are not. Bring an empty or factory-sealed water bottle and refill it free on the flight line. London Bridge Road closes on and off all weekend, so leave earlier than feels reasonable.

🍂 Fall Fest at Mount Trashmore runs Saturday, September 19 · 10:00 a.m. through Sunday, September 20 · 4:00 p.m. at Mount Trashmore, Virginia Beach. Two days of local makers, a long row of food trucks, live music, and games out on the hill. The Trashmore lot fills fast on air show weekend, so come at the front end of the day.

Town Point Park turns into a Caribbean block party with DJs, food, and dancing, warming up Saturday's main event. Gates at 4, tickets required, and kids 10 and under get in free with a paying adult.

Seven years of steins on Shore Drive, with the Happy Dutchmen playing polka all evening. Free to get in. The beer is not.

Amateur astronomers and NASA Skywatchers set up telescopes at the north end of the old airstrip. Free, properly dark, and one of the few night things that actually works with kids.

The Virginia Symphony plays outdoors on the Elizabeth River. Free, but you have to register first, so do that before you leave the house. Seating opens at 6:30, parking is free after 6, and blankets are fine while lawn chairs are not. Coming from the Norfolk side, this is the one night a tunnel toll is worth it.

Three of the biggest acts of the nineties on one amphitheater bill. If you ever owned a CD binder, this one is aimed squarely at you.

Crab dishes, wine pours, and live music on the water at Portside Park, with a community bike ride and walk bolted onto the front of it. Ticketed.

Sixty-six years of this one. The parade steps off at 10 from Denbigh High School and runs about a mile to Sherwood Shopping Center, then the festival takes over Courthouse Way. Free, all of it.

Historic Main Street hands itself over to local bands, storytellers, and dancers for the day. Free, waterfront, and walkable, which is a rare three-for-one.

The main event: live music, island food, vendors, and nine straight hours of it in Town Point Park. Gates at noon, and downtown parking is paid.

Sixty years since the Enterprise first went out. Williamsburg Regional Library is throwing it a party in the Patricia Schell room, and nobody there is going to look at you funny for wearing the uniform.

Steelpan across three generations at Downing-Gross. Free admission, and the room is small enough that you feel the drums as much as hear them.

The best rivalry in the 757 and it is not close. Spartans host the Pirates at 4, it is Greek Night, and both teams arrive with something to settle.

New projectors, new computers, and a show that flies you out to go looking for the edge of the universe. Registration is required and it fills, so do not wander up at 6:55.

Produce, artisan goods, and food trucks strung along the Intracoastal in Great Bridge. No plan required, home by lunch.

Splash pools, an unleashed fenced area, and jets overhead all afternoon. Bring the dog, watch the air show from a barstool, skip the Oceana parking entirely.

Park volunteers fire Revolutionary War cannon at the Yorktown Battlefield Visitor Center, with demonstrations at 1, 2, and 3. Genuinely loud, over before anybody gets restless, and the battlefield pass is good for seven days if you want to come back.

The Newfoundland town that took in nearly 7,000 stranded passengers on 9/11. It lands differently in a Navy town. This is the closing performance, added after the run sold through.

🚧 Road closures scheduled ahead of NAS Oceana Air Show this weekend. London Bridge Road closes intermittently Thursday through Sunday for the air show, so check it before you point the car at Oceana.

🏈 Battle of the Bay: Hampton, Norfolk State meet with momentum on the line. Hampton and Norfolk State both arrive Saturday with momentum, and 13News Now breaks down what each side has on the line at a 4 p.m. kickoff.

🏆 Hampton Roads native takes home Emmy Award. Portsmouth's Rhea Seehorn won her first Emmy on Monday night, Best Lead Actress in a Drama Series for her role as Carol in Pluribus.

☕ Dutch Bros Coffee plans expansion with two new Hampton Roads locations. James City County's planning commission approved a Williamsburg drive-thru 7-0 at 496 McLaws Circle, and a second shop is in the works at 796 Lynnhaven Parkway in Virginia Beach.

⚓ From driving Navy ships to driving economic development in Suffolk. Capt. Janet Days, who in 2023 became the first Black woman to command Naval Station Norfolk, is now the city of Suffolk's economic development director.

Thank you for reading The 757 Current!

Forward this to the person who keeps saying there is nothing to do here. They're loved, but they are wrong.

See you out there,

Josh