Spring food trucks and summer festival returning to Esquimalt Lagoon in Colwood

A section of beach near Esquimalt Lagoon in Colwood, B.C., on Friday, May 21, 2021. (CTV News)

Colwood's Ocean Boulevard will shut down for one day this summer as a popular beachfront festival returns.

The Eats and Beats summer beach party will be back at Esquimalt Lagoon on July 30, after a two-year pandemic hiatus.

The road will be closed for the daylong festival, which features live music and more than a dozen food trucks.

Before the pandemic began, Eats and Beats attracted about 8,000 visitors to the Colwood waterfront.

"One of the things that's so wonderful as we're transitioning out of COVID, for now, is that we're really trying to bring [back] all of these sorts of events that were really successful in 2019," said Colwood Mayor Rob Martin.

"So we're really hoping that we see that energy again," he said. "For Eats and Beats itself, the actual festival, we're really being aspirational. We hope that we're probably going to see 5,000 people or so."

Beginning in May, Esquimalt Lagoon will also host food trucks on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sunday evenings. Live music is also scheduled to take place on Saturday nights.

The weekend food truck days will last until the end of August, and are not expected to cause any road closures.