A Virginia Beach Neighborhood Association Founded in 1944
Take note of our meeting places for 2026: we will meet at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation Brock Center for the summer meetings: June July August and September and at the Ocean Park Volunteer Rescue Squad for all other meetings. We thank both for the generous contribution of their facilities!
A fun night at the Ocean Park Volunteer Rescue Squad for the Ocean Park Civic League’s Annual Chili Cookoff! So many people to thank who make it happen! Thank you to our wonderful volunteers who plan, organize, set up and clean up! They work behind the scenes soliciting silent auction items, ordering merchandise and donating time and so much talent!!
Thank you to all our chefs for the great food and congratulations to the winners! Best Traditional Chili: Troy Sutorka! Best Non-Traditional Chili: Julie Brooks! Best Vegan/Vegetarian Chili: Caitlin Riley! Best Cornbread: Julie Brooks! Best Dessert: Amy Meverden! Thank you to Betty Dierstein: apron designer and craftsman!
Thank you to the Tidewater Bluegrass Society for amazing music!
Thank you to the Ocean Park Volunteer Rescue Squad for being the heart of our community!
Civic league dues are for the calendar year so we are in 2026 now so time to RENEW or JOIN! Whenever you paid in 2025, your 2026 dues are due now. Memberships start at the start of the calendar year, not at the time you paid last year. Pay with PayPal or Cheddar Up online. If you have questions email Treasurer: Shane Abell .
Support the great work that the civic league does! Only $25 annually for a household! We are trying to keep costs low but they have increased for the civic league too! If you can give more than the minimum $25, it would be greatly appreciated!!
What does your membership pay for? The civic league budget pays for the costs of getting information out – website costs, email blast Mailchimp services, snail mail post office box, IT services. We make contributions to the Ocean Park Volunteer Rescue Squad, Lynnhaven River Now, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, the Friends of Live Oaks and we give a four year $1500 college scholarship every year. The civic league puts on many great neighborhood social events with food, music and fun for the kids: Chili Cook Off, Easter Egg Hunt, Fourth of July Parade, Holiday Light Parade. Spring Fling and Fall Fest are open only to members. Please help support your neighborhood civic league!!
Even if you don’t bring an entry, come enjoy the great food, live music and meet up with your neighbors (we’ve all been inside too long! We start at 6:00 pm! The event is free to all. (donations are very welcome!)
We have items that can be bid on to raise funds for the civic league. We have art work, egret sculpture, rare Bourbon and gift baskets and more! ! Come put in a bid! We thank our local businesses for donating!
Ocean Park merchandise for sale at Chili Night! Sunset T-shirts ($25 adult, $20 Children), Long sleeve t-shirts ($25) and two new items: bags $30 (great as reusable shopping bags and for the beach) and warm beanie hats! ($30)! Cash is appreciated for purchases. Credit card purchases also possible.
Do you make good chili… REALLY good chili? The best cornbread? The BEST cake? Put it to the test! Enter today! We need more entries!! Winners receive a coveted one of a kind Chili Cook Off Winner Apron!
Enter your traditional, nontraditional or vegetarian/vegan chili, cornbread or dessert and win a coveted, specially-designed Ocean Park apron! Not a chef but want to participate? Browse our volunteer opportunities as well: Sign Up Genius Page!
JUST over a WEEK to Chilli Cook off on Thursday, Feb. 5th 6:00 pm at OPVRS! Please Sign up to help out! We need folks to help set up, hand out voting tickets and monitor supplies! You can sign up for a slot here! . It’s a great way to meet your neighbors!
Social Committee Meeting on Monday, Feb. 2nd at 6 pm at OPVRS! We will make final plans and do some crafty stuff…
Due to significant constraints on vendor equipment and staff availability, we have two options for this year’s fireworks display date. The graphic shows the two options and compares them to 2025. For more information about the fireworks go to FIREWORKS on the OPCL website.
2. July 2 (Higher Cost): Requires finding and renting a separate barge, equipment and crew, which are currently scarce due to HRBT/CBBT construction and the increase in number of celebrations of the 250th anniversary.
*Donations are critical: Fundraising was down last year, and 2026 prices are at a premium. We need your support to pull this off!
Safety first: Beach launches are strictly prohibited and illegal. The city will heavily enforce fireworks laws this year.
Keep it local: This is a permitted “private” community event. Promoting it to the general public would trigger requirements for extra security, parking and facilities that we cannot afford.
A few questions have come up in the comments on the fireworks survey. Perhaps others would also be interested in the information. Our Fireworks Chair Jill Doczi, who has been doing this since 2011, responds:
(Additional information on the fireworks: how it got started, dates in the past etc are on the OPCL/Fireworks page on the website)
Why can’t the fireworks show be on July 3, 4 or 5?
We have been informed by the Fire Marshal that we would not receive a permit for July 3 or 4 due to staffing constraints. A fire marshal must be on site for the duration of loading, set up and the show. To have it on July 5, our show would have to begin loading early on July 4 posing the same city staffing issue.
Why don’t we have people stationed at the beach accesses to collect money from those who attend but don’t live in the neighborhood or from neighbors who forgot but may donate on the spot? We place donation signs at each beach access with a QR code for this purpose. Having people collecting cash would not only be unsafe for the volunteers, would also be impossible to track, and sadly could open us up to theft. We discourage cash donations in general so we can provide accountability.
Why don’t we collect donations from the high rises and Westminster Canterbury? We already do. The organizing communities for the show are Baylake Pines and Ocean Park. We collect from every household in Ocean Park including Pelican Dunes, Chesapeake House, Bay Vista, 3556 on the Bay, Aeries on the Bay, Water Oaks and Three Ships Landing. Additional communities like Chesapeake Beach and Westminster help through donations and we thank them for their support.
Why can’t we collect earlier? Great idea! We can start promoting earlier through all our communication channels. Donations are welcomed at any time through the fireworks page on our website. We don’t distribute envelopes earlier because regardless of when we put them on mailboxes, most donations start coming in June. If we distribute too early, the envelopes get set aside and forgotten or lost.
The Bayfront Advisory Commission Meeting on January 15, offered a number of updates on local bayfront projects: interim sidewalks, dune grass planting and PHP kayak launch.
Sign Up here to receive the Baylines Newsletter for updates!
Ocean Park Civic League 