DATE: Saturday, October 18, 1997            TAG: 9710180343

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B2   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY KENNAN NEWBOLD, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   60 lines

WEEKEND FESTIVALS READY TO WITHSTAND RAIN TENTS AWAIT PATRONS BOTH IN STOCKLEY GARDENS AND IN TOWN POINT PARK.

With a collective sigh, organizers of this weekend's local outdoor festivals are bracing for bad weather and doing the one thing they can to combat the threat of rain and draw people outdoors: They're putting up tents.

``The show must go on,'' was the first thing organizers of both the 1997 Stockley Gardens Fall Arts Festival and the 10th annual Town Point Virginia Wine Festival said of their plans Friday.

The National Weather Service on Friday forecast rain and drizzle all weekend, with the possibility of heavy surf advisories and gale-force winds on Sunday.

And that was enough to put off at least one event.

The Fall Festival and Auction at Tidewater Central Church of the Nazarene in Virginia Beach was postponed until Oct. 26 because of the weather forecast.

``We were going to have a tent,'' said church pastor Robert L. Dixon,``but if the nor'easter hits, we decided it would be best not to be out under a tent.''

Their biggest problem now is storing the items for the auction, which raises money for retreats and summer camp for members of the church youth group.

``We have lots of things donated, and we have them sitting all around, kind of in the way,'' said Dixon.

The bigger festivals say they don't have the luxury of waiting and are forging ahead.

Organizers of the 10th annual Town Point Virginia Wine Festival were at Town Point Park on Friday afternoon making last-minute preparations for the rain - putting tents up over all the wine-tasting tables, which are usually left open. They expect everything else to proceed as planned.

``We deal with this at all of our events in the park. We face this challenge every weekend,'' said Robin Evans, communications director for Festevents. ``We're still going to have the live music, the cooking . . . and all the wineries are still coming.''

Minor changes were made to the Stockley Gardens Fall Arts Festival.

Festival coordinator Bettina Blank said all they're doing is making sure the sides of the tents over the artists' booths are nailed down.

``We don't do too much tremendously different because the artists' booths are already in tents,'' she said.

Blank predicted that the biggest effect the rain will have on the festival is that fewer people will come out, resulting in fewer sales for the artists. More than 130 artists from all over the United States will have work on display.

Other than that, it will be business as usual.

``The main stage is covered, so we're still going to have music,'' she said. ``We'll celebrate a nice fall rain.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo

VICKI CRONIS/The Virginian-Pilot

Also ready for the rain on Friday was a 1,000-pound bronze

sculpture, created by Kevin Gallup. The lion was lowered into place

at Old Dominion University's Webb Center. The Monarch is ODU's

mascot.

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