Miami, FL – The 2005 South Florida Family Reggae Festival is set to take place this Sunday, December 4th, open from 10am to 10pm at the Coconut Grove Expo Center at 2700 S. Bayshore Drive in Miami.
This year’s festival headliners are Reggae music icons, the Grammy Award-winning supergroup, Third World, and “The First Lady of Reggae,” Marcia Griffiths O.D. (I-Threes / Bob Marley and The Wailers). Other festival headliners include the cultural Reggae music messenger, Chrisinti, and the Fourth Dimension Band from So. Florida.
The annual festival is a FREE one-day interactive musical event celebrating the wide cross-cultural and multi-generational appeal of the Caribbean’s greatest export: Reggae Music.
The late Clint O’Neil will be the inaugural recipient of the South Florida Reggae Pioneer Award as part of the 2005 South Florida Family Reggae Festival. Festival organizers released this official statement; “The purpose of the South Florida Reggae Pioneers’ Award is to recognize those who have played a vital role in the development of the Reggae industry here in South Florida. The reggae landscape in South Florida would be drastically different today if there had been no Clint O’Neil, or others like him, 25 years ago. It is an honor, a privilege, but also an obligation to acknowledge them.”
The festival will also present the South Florida Reggae Showcase featuring up and coming artists from the area in tribute to Clint O’Neil. During his twenty-plus years on the air hosting WLRN’s Sounds of the Caribbean, the late disc jockey was the true champion of rising talent giving countless artists, producers, and radio personalities their first break in Miami, thanks to him.
Other key features of the festival will be a Caribbean Marketplace (for general vendors) and the official Reggae Music Row which will highlight the many musicians and reggae related businesses that are now based locally, and “meet & greet” with reggae artists, producers, and radio personalities. There is also an indoor children’s play area and Caribbean Puppetmasters: Sugar & Spice the Clowns.
