People once again lined the streets of Norfolk for the decades-old NATO Festival and Parade Saturday. Supporters say NATO remains just as popular locally as ever, even though a day earlier, President Trump again called NATO “useless” during a speech in Arizona.
“For me, it makes me want to participate in something like this even more,” said Megan Vega, of Hampton, who came to the festival with her 4-year-old son. “I went over to the Ukraine tent earlier, and I was really fascinated. I found myself kind of wanting to engage, because my heart just goes out to those people.”
The NATO festival and parade in Norfolk dates back to NATO’s arrival in the early 1950s. This year, the crowd was bolstered by a cruise ship docked outside Town Point Park.
A recent Pew Research Center Poll shows most Americans value the alliance, though support among Republicans has plummeted to 38% in the last year.
“Trump doesn't want NATO's help right now because they were not willing to help us and support us. But still, they're here and as you can see, everybody's getting along,” said Taryn Couitt, whose husband is deployed on the carrier USS Ford in the Red Sea. The carrier just passed the longest deployment by any U.S. carrier since the Cold War.
Representatives from the 32 NATO countries say Norfolk remains welcoming.
“I think that's a testament to some of the people. I think that they use their hearts and their minds and just are good people, everyone's great,” said Canadian Chief Jason McMaster, who has been in Norfolk for roughly 18 months.
There was a long line at the Canadian booth, where McMaster wore a hockey jersey while handing out maple candy and rubber ducks with the Canadian flag. The Canadian delegation in Norfolk has grown over the last year. Several other countries said the same thing, as NATO’s two commands, Allied Transformation and NATO Joint Forces, continue to add staff at their headquarters on Naval Station Norfolk. The city is the only home for NATO in North America.
The French contingent handed out little Eifel towers. France pulled out of NATO command structure in the 1960s, without leaving NATO, when French President Charles de Gaulle hoped to gain more independence from American foreign policy. It returned in 2009 and now runs the Allied Transformation Command in Norfolk. The working relationship at the military level hasn’t declined in the last year, even with the U.S., said French Major Meava Douaud.
“We didn't notice any change because all the nations work hard together, and the mission is still the same. So it doesn't matter,” she said.
