VIENNA, VA — While last year’s ViVa Vienna festival over Memorial Day weekend was cancelled, the 2021 event will go on with restrictions.
The Rotary Club of Vienna provided an update Monday to Town Council on planning this year’s event. ViVa Vienna is scheduled for Saturday, May 29 through Monday, May 31.
“It’s not the normal ViVa Vienna that we would love to be doing…but we are living in a COVID era, so one, we’re trying to make sure that this is a safe event but also a fun event,” A.J. Oskuie, chair of ViVa Vienna, told Town Council. “So we’ve really done our homework. I’m very happy with the end result right now and where we stand 47 days before ViVa Vienna.”
ViVa Vienna will take place in its regular location along Church Street between Lawyers Road and Mill Street, parts of Center Street, Mill Street, and Dominion Road as well as the area of the Caboose, Town Green and Freeman House. It will also operate on the W&OD Trail, Caffi Fields and the parking lot adjacent to the Vienna Community Center. The Town Green stage will serve as the entertainment stage.
Due to COVID-19 the format will be altered for the safety of attendees. Based on the governor’s executive order 72 establishing COVID-19 restrictions, the event will have three zones with limited capacity as well as entry and exit points: rides and games, entertainment, and vendors. The Rotary Club calculated capacity limits for each zone based on the executive order guidelines.
“We’ve already been busy meeting with the Fairfax County Health Department,” Rotary Club member Gunnar Spafford told Town Council on Monday. “We’ve been putting our documents together, meeting the carnival people, making sure we have everything covered.”
Zone A will have games and rides with up to 750 people with wristbands available for purchase online and at the event. The zone will operate in two-hour blocks with 15 minutes set aside for cleaning. This zone will be the only paid admission area. The rides operator, Cole Shows Amusement Company, has COVID-19 protocols, including rides operating at 30 percent capacity.
Zone B will have entertainment with new shows every hour. This area will be limited to 75 people. Up to six performers will be on stage with 10 feet of distancing between each. Squares for up to five people will be set up in the audience with 10 feet of distancing between each.
This year, vendors will operate at Caffi Fields instead of Church Street. Zone C will be dedicated to vendors with up to 550 visitors at a time and about 160 vendors, Spafford said. In previous years, ViVa Vienna typically has around 300 vendors.
Should the governor’s restrictions be changed, the Rotary Club will hold a meeting to determine if changes are possible for ViVa Vienna. The cutoff date for any changes will be May 15.
Oskuie said the event is being promoted as a “town-centric” event due to the capacity limits. An awareness campaign will be published in the Vienna Voice in May to inform residents that they cannot simply show up to go on the rides.
Stay up to date on ViVa Vienna details at vivavienna.org.
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