Spring Break Reggae festival set for Saturday
Those looking for a jammin’ time can head to the South Cape Spring Break Reggae Festival.
Hosted by Dixie Roadhouse, in conjunction with Rack’em Billiards and BackStreets Sports Bar, the event will take place Saturday from 1 to 11 p.m. There will be 25 bands playing on five stages.
“Ten hours of nonstop, live reggae music,” Alan Lessard, general manager at Dixie, said.
Dixie will have one stage set up inside, with two more stages located outside of the venue. Rack’em Billiards and BackStreets Sports Bar will feature more of the scheduled bands on their stages.
“There’s going to be three bars, with a total of five stages,” he said.
The gates open at 1 p.m. at Dixie, with the bands to start performing at about 2 p.m. Advance tickets are $10 and can be still be purchased today at: www.eventbrite.com; the admission day of is $15.
The bands will take the stage at BackStreets at 2:30 p.m. and at 4 p.m. at Rack’em.
“We have Spred The Dub,” Lessard said. “A huge band out of Fort Lauderdale, very well known.”
Other headliners include Influential, out of Kingston, Jamaica, and Bumpin Uglies.
“They’re from Annapolis, Maryland,” he said.
There is Resinated, from St. Petersburg, Fort Lauderdale’s The Resolvers, and Sowflo, of Naples.
“They’re a really well-known band in this area for Jamaican style music,” Lessard said.
While a majority of the bands hail from various areas of Florida – Tampa, Pompano and Fort Lauderdale – there are other groups from out of the state, even out of the county. Seventh Chapter’s members hail a mix of backgrounds – Trinidad, the U.S. Virgin Islands and United Kingdom.
“Most of what we have here in-house will be traditional reggae music,” he said.
At 7 p.m., the bands on Dixie’s inside stage will wrap up.
“Then we’ll kick off our regular Saturday night party,” Lessard said.
Only ages 21 and up will be permitted inside at that time.
“Everyone who has a wristband for outside gets into Dixie for free,” he said.
Ages 18 and up can enjoy the outside stages until 11 p.m.
Along with the long list of performances, there will be vendors on site.
“We’ve got a lot of local favorite vendors,” Lessard said.
There will be Jamaican food and merchandise, as well as local restaurant food trucks.
“I think that the public is as excited about this as we are,” he said.
“The response has been huge,” Lessard said. “The feedback has been enormous.”
Organizers are estimating a turnout of between 3,000 and 4,000 people.
“We’d like to get 5,000,” he said. “We just hope for it to be big.”
Backpacks, coolers and lawn chairs will not be permitted at the outside Dixie stages.
“We plan on doing it every year,” Lessard said of the festival.
For more information on the South Cape Spring Break Reggae Festival and a full lineup of the scheduled bands, visit the festival’s page at: www.facebook.com/southcapereggaefest.
Dixie Roadhouse is at 1023 S.E. 47th Terrace.
Rack’em Billiards is at 1011 S.E. 47th Terrace.
BackStreets Sports Bar is at 915 S.E. 47th Terrace.