Schedule
Sunday, October 1st
9:00am – 11:00am
Location
Hilton Virginia Beach Oceanfront
3001 Atlantic Avenue
Virginia Beach, VA 23451
Peacock Ballroom
Attendance
$35 – Adult
$25 – Children under 16
Tickets include a continental breakfast, access to the event, Q&A Session and Autograph Opportunities
Sponsors
Let’s celebrate our hometown heroes.
The Neptune Festival invites you to celebrate excellence at Neptune’s Final Toast in honor of our Hometown Heroes. Local heroes will be honored during Boardwalk Weekend at a Sunday breakfast by the sea.
Many of those who have chosen to live in our community have also chosen to make their professions in ways that provide valuable and critically needed services to all of us. They do this every day – quietly, efficiently and effectively. The Neptune Festival has established a program to recognize these organizations each year through representatives chosen by their organization’s leaders.
They are the defenders of our community and our country, our soldiers and police officers, sailors and firefighters, marines, airmen, emergency medical service volunteers and coast guardsmen, and they are those who teach our children. What they do for us all is epic in the truest sense – they are our hometown heroes.
CALL FOR 2023 MILITARY NOMINATIONS
CLICK HERE to nominate an Armed Forces Service Member as a 2023 Neptune Festival Hometown Hero.
2023 Keynote Speaker
Frank Beamer
Frank Beamer, the first Tech alumnus to guide the Hokies’ football program since the 1940s, won more games at Tech than any other head football coach. Prior to Beamer, no other grid coach in Virginia Tech history had served more than 10 seasons as head coach. Beamer was also the most-tenured active FBS head coach, having been at his current school consecutively longer than any other coach in the nation at the time of his retirement. With a victory in the Independence Bowl, Beamer led the Hokies to 23 straight bowl games, making him one of four coaches all-time in college football history to accomplish that feat.
BEAMERBALL BY THE NUMBERS
- 1 Consensus National Coach of the Year 1999
- 2 ACC Coach of the Year Honors 2004 & 2005
- 3 BIG EAST Conference Championships
- 3 BIG EAST Coach of the Year Honors
- 4 Atlantic Coast Conference Championships
- 5 ACC Coastal Division Titles
- 6 BCS Bowl Appearances
- 13 Seasons with 10 or More Wins
- 23 Consecutive Bowl Appearances
- 25 Jersey Retired in 2002 (Now worn by a different player as an honor on a weekly basis)
- 25 Sets of Siblings Coached at Virginia Tech
- 41 Wins over AP Top 25 Opponents
- 104 NFL Draftees
- 100 Graduation Rate
- 136 Blocked kicks during his tenure at Virginia Tech
2022 Hometown Heroes
We’re taking this opportunity to celebrate some of our own hometown heroes. Thank you for all that you do!
Joshua Whitlinger
Virginia Beach City Public Schools
Captain Chris West
Virginia Beach Dept Of Emergency Medical Services
Master Firefighter Jessie J. Clark
Virginia Beach Fire Department
Officer John Wilson
Virginia Beach Police Department
Master Deputy Sheriff Heidi Evertson
Virginia Beach Sheriff's Office
YN2 Cheyenne E. Faux
United States Navy
Staff Sergeant Brendan T. Hussey
United States Marine Corps
OS2 Timothy O. Polman
United States Coast Guard
Other Neptune Events
We’ve got events happening from May to October, and we hope that you can join us for all of them!
