The Biggest little Festival of the world! 12th anniversary Feb 23 - 25, 2018
BJBF Newsletter July 2017
A short, yet not fully complete, preview of the excellent artists to perform at BJBF2018
Hey there again, friends of the Boquete Jazz&Blues Festival, here's what you have been waiting for: A full load of exciting news about BJBF2018, the twelfth edition of the Biggest Little Festival in the World!
First of all, let's take a look at the fantastic line up of superb artists who will perform for you at the 2018 festival. Please keep in mind that at this early point in time this isn't final yet, there's more to come, and there might be some changes! Other great news - A change of the festival venue Everybody loved our previous venue, the replica of a Greek-style amphitheater in Boquete's Valle Escondido, no doubt about that. However, as the festival has grown over the years, and we were hitting the capacity limit of the amphitheater we needed to find a new place...and we found it!
BJBF 2018 will take place at the beautiful fairgrounds of the annual Boquete flower&coffee festival on the banks of the Caldera river. It's a large space, situated very close to the city center, just across a bridge over the river. The fairgrounds will feature a large, state-of-the-art stage plus a smaller one, and showtimes will alternate between the stages. There will be a lot more space for vendors and a lot of space for seating festival visitors, and for them to stroll around during intermissions, plus there are no stairs to climb!
Since the great flower&coffee festival (which draws more than 100,000 visitors every year!) will have taken place just a month earlier in mid-January all the flower displays will still be in full bloom presenting a wonderful sight. You'll love it! Now, ain't this good news? We lowered the ticket prices! Check our early-bird offer!
Here are the details:
General admission 3 days for shows at the fairgrounds $87.50 + Tax & Service Charge
Preferred Seating 3-Day: Access to preferred shaded seating area at main festival events at the fairgrounds (shaded but not protected from rain) $147.50 + Tax & Service Charge
Platinum Seating 3-Day: Limited number of covered, padded seating in front of the stage at main festival events at the fairgrounds $300.00 + \Tax & Service Charge
Fedora Club Membership: Limited number of memberships available. Memberships include access to all BJBF events including the fairground, jam sessions and Garden Party. These are the only all-inclusive tickets available! In addition, each person will receive a welcome bag containing a commemorative tile, certificate for authentic Panama hat, poster, and the offer of a discounted rate of $79 incl. breakfast at the Wyndham Albrook Hotel in Panama City valid through 12/31/2018. More details will be published later on our website.
(Over $630 value!!) $500.00 + Tax & Service Charge
Don't miss it!!!
These early bird 3-day tickets for BJBF2018 will go on sale online on July15th!
Street party Instead of our traditional New Orleans-style street parade the festival will kick off with a free-of-charge street party on Boquete's restaurant-lined upper central avenueonThursday, February 22, with several local bands performing, and you'll certainly also see some of the festival musicians sitting in.
Garden party Our traditional festival garden party will be moved to Finca Lerida, a beautiful high-class hotel and coffee farm situated high in the mountains about 7km out of town. Shuttle bus transportation will be provided. Note: The garden party will be held this year in honor of and as a tribute to the late Mr.Rodolfo Chiarifor his most generous support of Jazz music in New York City. Mr. Chiari, who passed away only recently came from one of Panama's most important families.
Jam sessions Our famous and always packed jam sessions are scheduled for Friday night (Baru restaurant), Saturday night (tba) and Sunday night (Mike's Global Grill)
After hours parties Party animals listen up:For all those who just can't get enough there will be after hours parties at the Ladera hotel starting at 12:30am. There will be no cover charge!
Please check our website and future newsletters for more details and admission prices. Festival program The detailed day-to-day festival program will be published later via this newsletter and on our website. Just as an appetizer here's a special treat for you to look forward to: Zydeco squeeze-box master Dwayne Dopsie will play a 'mano a mano' show with famous Panamanian accordion master Samy Sandoval on the main stage on Friday, Feb. 23. An event not to be missed! BJBF and the Arts BJBF is not just about music. As in the years before there will also be displays of the figurative arts with exhibits by Maria Rivas, Al Sprague and others.
In addition, we are very pleased to announce that the world-famous Panamanian painter Olga Sinclairhas agreed to work with up to 200 children on the fairgrounds on Sunday morning, Feb 25! Among a lot of other achievements Olga Sinclair is famous for breaking a world record: On January 18, 2014 in Panama City, Sinclair organized 5,084 children to paint simultaneously for three minutes to break the world record. The piece depicted a set of Canal locks as the event commemorated 100 years of the Panama Canal. BJBF Music for Schools program In the course of this program there will be a show of local students performing on the main stage on Sunday, Feb 25. More details will be published later. Fundraiser event This is preliminary information for anybody who happens to be in Boquete in mid-August: There is a fundraising event being planned at the Ladera hotel on August 12 this year. Performing artist will be the well-known duo John Carney (gt) and Carla Kjearby (voc). Stay tuned for more details. General information for festival visitors Need to know more about where we're at? Our festival website offers a large amount of information about all things Panama and Boquete, including weather, travel, lodging and touristic information. To check it out please clickhere.
Boquete hopes to see you in February next year! That's it for today, folks. I hope this newsletter will get you as excited as we are about the fabulous events ahead! We can't wait to see you here in our beautiful little town of Boquete in the Chiriqui highlands! If you have any questions please don't hesitate to contact us via the email address stated below or via the contact forms on our website which you will reach by clicking here.
