Coliseum Central’s Whimsical Winter Wonderland returns to the Hampton Coliseum (1000 Coliseum Drive) on November 18 from 12-5PM. This FREE, festive celebration includes fun for the whole family. Aerialists, jugglers, and illusionists will entertain guests on the main stage and holiday-themed decor will provide ample opportunities for photos. In addition, there will be roaming characters and stilt walkers, a variety of photo booths, face painting, balloon and glitter tattoo artists, and carnival-style games.

We are excited to announce that this year the Whimsical Winter Wonderland will expand to include activities outside the Hampton Coliseum! New for this year:

New indoor activities include enhanced games, Princess Meet & Greets, inflatable amusement fun park for the little ones, and axe throwing with foam velcro axes.

Celebrate the season and promote your organization by serving as a Whimsical Winter Wonderland sponsor. Click here to learn about sponsorship opportunities.

Disney on Ice: Magic in the Stars comes to the Hampton Coliseum (1000 Coliseum Drive) October 19-22. Take a magical journey through the timeless stories of Cinderella, Aladdin, Toy Story, and Cars, and today’s favorites including Encanto, Frozen 2 and Moana. Celebrate with Tiana, Rapunzel and the Disney Princesses and meet Raya from Raya and the Last Dragon. Click here for more information, or to purchase tickets.

The Jazz Legacy Foundation’s 11th Annual Gala Weekend returns to the Hampton Roads Convention Center (1610 Coliseum Drive) November 9-12 with a star-studded lineup, including Boney James, Jeffrey Osborne, and Sheila E. The Jazz Legacy Foundation’s mission is to preserve the Art of Jazz through music education. Click here for more information or to purchase tickets.

The Bodacious Bazaar Fall Show comes to the Hampton Roads Convention Center (1610 Coliseum Drive) November 10-12. This three-day shopping extravaganza features hundreds of vendors, artists, crafters, and several of Virginia’s finest wineries. Click here for more information.

If you missed Retail Alliance’s Virginia Retail Matters live, you can watch it on WTKR News 3’s website. This video includes a presentation of an in-depth retail study conducted by Main Street America and the 2024 Outlook on Virginia legislation that impacts the retail sector. Watch the replay here. To purchase a digital copy of the full research report, click here.

Guest speakers include Matt Wagner, Chief Program Officer at Main Street America, expert lobbyists from Virginia Retail Federation, and leadership from Retail Alliance. For more information or to register, click here.

Usher in the Fall season at the Bluebird Gap Farm Fall Festival (60 Pine Chapel Road) October 21-22. The festival runs from 10AM-5PM each day with a variety of children’s activities, hayrides, master gardening, punkin’ chunkin’, live entertainments, and much more!

Admission and activities are free. Food and pumpkins are available for purchase.

Virginia Peninsula Foodbank needs your help to keep their shelves full so that they can continue to provide healthy meals to those in need. It is estimated that one in 7 individuals, or more than 50,000 people in our area are affected by food insecurity. That number continues to increase with rising food and fuel costs.

There are many ways to help:

To learn more about how you can help, click here.

October 24
8AM-2PM
City Hall
22 Lincoln St.

Coliseum Central wants to hear from you- our business owners and managers. We understand that running a business can be challenging, and we are here to help. Coliseum Central staff would like to meet one-on-one with retailers to discuss your concerns and ideas. The feedback you provide can help us focus our resources in areas that better serve our businesses.

We’re committed to the success of our businesses and look forward to working with you. If you are a Coliseum Central retailer and would like to schedule a meeting, click here.

Coliseum Central is offering District businesses an opportunity to be part of our seasonal billboard campaigns. Campaigns will have a theme and highlight a specific segment of businesses. For example, our summer campaign, “Play around in Hampton this Summer,” highlighted sports and entertainment businesses using fun taglines.

There is no cost to participate. Adams Outdoor Advertising will create the ad and businesses will have final approval before it runs. Billboard campaigns will run for up to two weeks at three locations- two on I-64 at Rip Rap Road in Hampton (east- and westbound) and one on High Street in Portsmouth, reaching motorists heading to I-664.

Our winter campaign, which runs November 1-December 24, will highlight holiday shopping and dining. If you are a Coliseum Central Business and would like to participate, please click here and:

Deadline to submit materials is October 20. If you have any questions, please contact Angie Ewton at aewton@coliseumcentral.com.

Mark your calendar! Coliseum Central’s Whimsical Winter Wonderland returns to the Hampton Coliseum (1000 Coliseum Drive) on November 18 from 12-5PM. This FREE, family-friendly event will usher in the holiday season with aerialists, roaming characters stilt walkers, inflatables, a variety of photo booths, face painting, balloon and glitter tattoo artists, and carnival-style games. This year’s event will expand to include the outdoor portion of the Hampton Coliseum and will include 14 new activities. Stay tuned for more details!

Celebrate the season and promote your organization by serving as a Whimsical Winterland sponsor. If your organization is interested in a sponsorship opportunity, please contact Eboni Council at ecouncil@coliseumcentral.com.

Coliseum Central is revamping coliseumcentral.com. In addition to a fresh, new look, the updated website will also have new features and functions including a trip planner, enhanced home page and business pages, and a virtual tour. Website design is expected to be completed this Fall.

Make sure that your District business is properly represented on our new website. Click here to view your current business page. To submit or update your businesses information, click here. To submit photos (up to 5) and logo, email Angie Ewton at aewton@coliseumcentral.com.

The BayPort Foundation Crawlin’ Crab Half Marathon & 5K takes place October 7-8. Saturday events include the 5K and the Kids 1K, while Half Marathon runners take to the streets of Hampton on Sunday. All races will end in front of the Hampton Coliseum (1000 Coliseum Drive), where participants and their guests can enjoy live music, food, and refreshments at the Post-Race Party. For more information or to register, click here.

The Hampton Brick Convention is coming to the Hampton Roads Convention Center (1610 Coliseum Drive) on October 14-15. This ultimate Lego event gives fans the opportunity to view incredible displays, play with thousands of bricks in multiple building zones, and purchase new and retired Lego sets. For more information or to purchase tickets, click here.

Add your events to the Coliseum Central website calendar! Click here and complete the form with the details of your event. Once submitted, events will be published on the site calendar within one business day.

Virginia Retail Matters presented by Retail Alliance takes place on September 22 from 11:15AM-2:00PM at the Renaissance Hotel (425 Water St., Portsmouth). This luncheon will include the presentation of an in-depth retail study conducted by Main Street America and the 2024 Outlook on Virginia legislation that impacts the retail sector.

Guest speakers include Matt Wagner, Chief Program Officer at Main Street America, expert lobbyists from Virginia Retail Federation, and leadership from Retail Alliance. For more information or to register, click here.

Coliseum Central is compiling a list of low-cost marketing opportunities and networking opportunities for small business owners. We will continue to update this list as new information is obtained. To view the current list of opportunities, click here. If you have events or opportunities you would like to share, contact Angie Ewton at aewton@coliseumcentral.com.

Onelife Fitness (2190 Coliseum Drive) will be opening this winter in the former Farm Fresh location in Coliseum Marketplace Shopping Center. Stop by the Preview Center on location to learn more about the programs and amenities and join now to get Founding Member rates. Amenities available in this 60,000 sq. ft. facility will include:

Click here for more information, to take a virtual tour of the facility or to join online.

September 18
11AM-3PM
Parklawn-Wood Funeral Home
2551 N. Armistead Ave.

October 1
9:30AM-2:30PM
Immaculate Conception Catholic Church
2150 Cunningham Dr.

Hot Pot 757
Coliseum Crossing
32 Coliseum Crossing

Cava
Peninsula Town Center
2033 Coliseum Drive

Hampton broke ground Friday, August 18 on the Lake Hampton Resilience Park. This is the first of three innovative resiliency projects designed primarily to reduce the impact of flooding on the area around Newmarket Creek. Lake Hampton Resilience Park will reduce flooding and pollution by retaining more water and filtering runoff. It will also become a thriving habitat for birds and other wildlife and create a shared use path that will connect to the existing Waterwalk Trail park. Click here for more information.

The Embassy Suites by Hilton Hampton (1700 Coliseum Drive) recently completed a multimillion-dollar makeover, which included the renovation of all 295 suites and painting the open-air atrium lobby and corridors. The suites, including two presidential suites, are decorated in neutral colors of gray and white and include new, modern furniture and fixtures. For more information, click here.