NEON Festival Returns to Downtown Norfolk for 10th Year

Thousands of people gathered at the Chrysler Museum of Art in downtown Norfolk for the 10th annual NEON festival Oct. 16-17.

The free two-day festival celebrates hundreds of local artists by drawing from the passion and creativity in Hampton Roads, Virginia.

This year’s festival marks the first one as a program assistant for Olga Oswald, who has worked at the art museum since 2023.

“It’s a lot of logistics, organizing, emails and meetings, but it’s worth it in the end to see an event of this scale come off smoothly,” said Oswald.

Within the museum’s grounds attendees enjoy glass blowing demonstrations, an art tour through Norfolk’s NEON district, yoga and live music and dance.

The downtown area was officially designated as Norfolk’s first arts district in 2013, revitalizing an area that had become underutilized in the mid-to-late 2000s and currently features over 80 public art pieces.

Oswald isn’t just an organizer for the event, she’s also a participant.

“It’s a great experience to be around glass and art, paintings, sculptures, photography. We have a little bit of everything.”

The dates for next year’s festival have not yet been announced.