HAMPTON — After two years of being placed on hold, the Blackbeard Pirate Festival is finally returning to downtown Hampton this weekend at Mill Point Park.
According to a release from Hampton Parks and Recreation, the festival will feature re-enactors, cannon battles, mermaids, music, vendors, lectures, and fireworks.
Local musical act the Clan MacCool Band will take the stage at Mill Point Park to kick off the weekend festival. This “Pirate’s Parlay” — a festival preview — runs on Friday, June 3, from 6-8 p.m.
The main festival will be held Saturday, June 4, from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., and then on Sunday from noon to 6 p.m.
The festival will feature various “character vessels,” including a Blackbeard’s sailing ship Adventure, Royal Navy vessels, and merchant vessels engaging in battles on the Hampton River on both Saturday and Sunday.
In addition to living history interpreters and professional character actors, there will be other musical performances, including Mark Miller/Rust Cutlass, The Brigands, Chaste Treasure, Press Gang, the Natterjacks, and Field Musick Virginia.
Jeremy Moss, author of “The Life and Tryals of the Gentleman Pirate, Major Stede Bonnet,” and Dr. Jamie Goodall, author of “Pirates of the Chesapeake Bay: From the Colonial Era to the Oyster Wars,” will offer free lectures at St. John’s Church. The lectures are sponsored by the Hampton History Museum.
A fireworks display over the Hampton River will take place on Saturday, June 4, at 9 p.m.
For more information on the upcoming festivities, please head over to the City of Hampton’s website.
