There is a good bit of Island music both from live entertainers and a DJ. There are also the necessary announcements and some raffles and drawings. This is a two day event that runs from 9 AM to 7 PM (or so).

The weather the week of the event had been very wet. There was rain in the morning of set-up day that delayed the start of festivities. Because of the rain we got started at about noon. The weather did co-operate for the rest of the event. There were threatening skies and a few drops along the way, but nothing that slowed the event down. One of the bands was canceled on the opening day. They were from Miami and the weather was too uncertain at the time that they would have had to get on the road to drive to Palm Bay.

One of the filler acts that played to compensate showed off the quality available with the SAC system. There are always hand drummers in this crowd. There was a Sax player that was asked to play a medley to fill some of the time. He invited a couple of hand drummers to accompany him. With the SAC rig I had the best hand drum sound that I have ever heard. The Sax player had already played so I knew that I had a great Sax sound, but the hand drums were amazing. You could hear the fingers slid across the skins.

The second day of the event both scheduled bands played as well as the dance groups and track artists that were scheduled. The first band, Alize, I work with several times a year. The other band from Jacksonville has played the event the last three years. During the second band’s set there was an old gentleman in the crowd who was introduced as Byron Lee’s former bass player (of 35 years). Byron Lee is one of the primmer acts in the islands. After the show I stopped to say hello to the artist. He was effusive in his praise of the quality of the sound. This was made possible, in part, because of the quality of the SAC mixer that was driving the system.

This is always a good event. The island people are wonderful. There were vendors and rides for the kids. It is a good family event. The Palm Bay Regional Park has come a long way in the 12 years that the event has been held there.