Virginia Beach city attorneys moved to toss out a last-minute lawsuit seeking to block a new holiday light show, calling the legal challenge completely bogus in a court filing submitted on Friday.
The legal battle centers on the city’s newly minted Holiday Trail of Lights, which is slated to open alongside a competing commercial attraction on November 20. Adventure Park, a business operating on the grounds of the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center, filed the lawsuit to halt the city’s display before it opens its doors next week.
According to the complaint filed in Virginia Beach Circuit Court, the city’s new attraction breaches a noncompete clause established in a 2021 contract between the park and the aquarium’s foundation. Adventure Park contends that the Holiday Trail of Lights directly cuts into the market share of its own holiday display, Lumi Skywalk, which is also set to open on the aquarium grounds on November 20.
The aggrieved business is pursuing heavy financial compensation, asking for as much as $10 million in lost profits from the city, another $10 million in damages from the foundation, and $1 million in damages from IMGoing, the entertainment contractor producing the Holiday Trail of Lights along the aquarium’s nature trail.
City attorneys pushed back hard against those claims, arguing that Adventure Park’s Lumi Skywalk is never mentioned in either the contract between the city and the foundation or the separate agreement between the park and the foundation. Because of that omission, the city argues the company possesses no legal standing to demand damages.
“Adventure Park never had the contractual or property right — exclusive or otherwise — to conduct a holiday lights exhibit on Aquarium property, much less enjoin, exclude or limit the relocation of the City/IMG’s existing Holiday Lights attraction,” the city’s response states.
City attorneys pointed out that a specific section of the 2021 contract restricting “a competing facility of the same type as the Adventure Park” within a 50-mile radius was designed to govern an adventure park operation, not a seasonal holiday light display.
Virginia Beach decided to shift its annual holiday light show to the aquarium this year after running the event on the Boardwalk for decades. The city’s legal filing notes that the Boardwalk show operated within that same 50-mile radius for years without ever being viewed as a competing facility when the original contract was signed.
With both holiday light attractions still scheduled to open on the aquarium grounds on November 20, a judge will now have to decide whether the city’s response is enough to throw out the case before it ever reaches a courtroom trial.
Keep reading
How Hot CPI Data and Fed Policy Are Shifting Rates, Bonds, and Global Markets
Higher-than-expected inflation data for October 2026 forced a sharp reassessment of Federal Reserve policy as bond yields surged...
Winter Preparedness Guide: How to Protect Your Home, Family, and Pets
Cooler temperatures have arrived in Alabama, prompting tips to help residents protect their homes, communities, animals, and families...
Wyoming VFW Commander’s Felony Theft Case Dismissed After Helmet Arrest
An Air Force veteran returning from the Netherlands was arrested at Washington Dulles International Airport on July 23,...
Stronger Storm to Bring Rain and Wind to Western Washington This Weekend
A wet and windy pattern has returned across western Washington, bringing a stronger storm set to hit this...