Join us for the July OPCL meeting at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation Brock Center at 7 pm on July 9. Updates are on the agenda about local projects. The OPCL meetings will be at the CBF Brock Center in July, August and September. We thank them for their generous support of the civic league! Meetings will return to OPVRS in October.

Minutes from the June meeting:

Thank you all the wonderful neighbors who donated to make the fireworks happen! If you haven’t donated- please make a donation if you love the fireworks! We will make the second payment this week and we also raise money now for the payment that is made in the winter (when no one is thinking about fireworks!!) . It’s very much a year to year thing whether or not fireworks over the bay can happen. This year was greatly affected by tariffs and huge demand due to 250 yr celebrations. We don’t know what next year will bring. So donations now are still very important!

Thank you to Baylake Pines– our partners! Thank you to our neighbors who leave the beach clean! It looked great out there this morning! Thank you to all the volunteers who put the donation envelopes on every single mailbox and door knob! Thank you to all our first responders, OPVRS, the US Coastguard, the Fire Marshall who keep us safe! Thank you to the Ocean Park Civic League who keeps track of donations and helps get the word out!

And of course- HUGE thank you to Jill Doczi who coordinates it all and without whom the fireworks would not happen. We love you JILL!

EPIC July 4th parade today in Ocean Park! Proud to carry on a decades long tradition!! Thank you to all the wonderful neighbors who came out and joined in! Thank you to the Ocean Park civic league for making it legal (event permit in hand-thank you President Danny Murphy). Thank you to the Ocean Park Rescue Squad for coming out with us! Thank you to UNCLE SAM (neighbor Shane!) and the Doczi family for leading the parade! Thank you to the McIntyre family for getting all the flags and handing them out! Thank you to Lauren Harrington for the cool popsicle treats!!

FIREWORKS ON MONDAY JULY 6th 9:15! DONATE PLEASE!!

An ADA compliant public kayak launch has been a part of the Pleasure House Point plans since its acquisition and preservation in 2012. This is the Pleasure House Point Management Plan which details the history and extensive planning for this area. The wetlands restoration envisioned in the plan was postponed for some time but is now complete.

There have been references on and off to the kayak launch project and also recently at a spring 2026 BAC meeting. We were assured ample public engagement was planned. That process has now begun with the Open House scheduled by the city for July 27th from 6- 7:30 pm at the Bayside Rec Center. Concept Plans for the launch project will be presented at that meeting and public input is sought and appreciated.

LATEST UPDATE: All Go for 9:15!

Jill says: “Nobody on the city or pyrotechnic side is concerned about weather. We’re just going to wait for the NOAA projected radar to see what that says. Either way, the barge leaving the dock. We’ll either shoot a little early, hold off, or shoot on time.

In case of bad weather: If the barge leaves the dock, the fireworks will go off. It is the captain’s call on the barge’s movement. There is the option of waiting a bit or shooting early if there are random storms. If there is something bad enough (wind or rain) that we cancel, then money goes toward next year. Watch the here for updates!! In the past It was too long a process to secure all the needed permission and permits from police, rescue and fire depts to be able to have a rain date.

Jill says: “I know people have concerns about weather. Just remember, we live in Virginia Beach, where the conditions are notoriously difficult to predict. We also have a LARGE city, and weather forecasts for Pungo may not be the same as Shore Drive. When you type “Virginia Beach” into your favorite weather app, it doesn’t take into consideration what is going on right here.

You will receive updates as needed on the website, through email (if you’ve subscribed to them) and on social media. People higher up than I am have access to state-of-the-art, real-time information and use it accordingly as we get closer to launch time. Our event permit includes a required weather safety plan. The final call to any weather situation is made by the captain, the Coast Guard, marine police and the fire marshal with the utmost of safety for our residents and the crew in mind. We are not at that point currently.”

Make plans to decorate yourself, your dogs, beach carts, skateboards, scooters, bicycles, etc. and join the community for a patriotic celebration of our country’s independence. The July 4th Ocean Park parade will start at 10:00 on July 4th at the Surry – Albermarle intersection. We will start lining up at 9:30! Look for Uncle Sam to give directions!

We have a generous donation of popsicles from Lauren Harrington to be given out at the end of the parade! Thank you Lauren!

A word of caution: Ocean Park is not an approved golf cart community so only DMV licensed golf carts driven by licensed drivers are legal: use your own judgement about participating if you are not street legal. Ocean Park is not a designated golf cart community