The Biggest little Festival of the World! 12th anniversary Feb 22 - 25, 2018
BJBF Newsletter January 2018
A short preview of the excellent artists to perform at BJBF2018
Hey there, all you jazzing & bluesing babies out there,
with less than 6 weeks to go to the 2018 edition of the Biggest little Festival in the World we sure hope that you already got your tickets!
If not, do so as soon as possible!
You certainly don't want to regret missing this best-ever festival of music&arts in the beautiful highlands of Chiriqui, Panama's westernmost province!
Panama is the place to be in February! Give the snow&cold a break and come down to the valley of eternal spring with temperatures of around 80 F and two oceans nearby. You won't regret it!
Very good news: A lot more bang for your bucks!
A HUGE increase in value for less bucks is waiting for you! Thanks to having two alternating stages available at the new venue you will be able to enjoy 21 shows on the fairgrounds from Friday to Sunday instead of just 8 from Saturdays to Sunday as in previous years! And you will get this for lower ticket prices!
Ticket prices and seating information:
3-day tickets
1-day tickets
General admission
$ 109.50
$ 49.50
Preferred seating
$ 184.50
$ 74.50
Platinum seating
$ 375.00 $149.00
Ticket prices are subject to sales tax and service charge.
Seating details All seating areas will be fully chaired. No need to bring your own. (see also the seating layout below):
General admission 3-Day: Open-air, same level seating, 600 seats Preferred Seating 3-Day: Access to shaded elevated seating area at main festival events at the fairgrounds (shaded but not protected from rain), 500 seats Platinum Seating 3-Day: Limited number of elevated, covered and padded seats on the sides in front of the stage at main festival events at the fairgrounds. 120 seats Fedora Club Membership: Limited number of memberships available. Platinum seating. 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 member 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. Fedora Club members will also enjoy a reserved area with a private bar at the Garden Party at Finca Lerida on Feb. 22, 2018
(Over $630 value!!) $500.00 + Tax & Service Charge
For more information and to buy your tickets online please click here: The BJBF ticket page
The fabulous Jose Ramirez Projectfrom Costa Rica has been added to the 2018 line-up. We are very happy to have these excellent musicians come to perform in Boquete for the first time ever!
Due to special circumstances we had to replace Panamanian accordionist Samy Sandoval by his excellent accordionist collegue Osvaldo Ayala. See more information below.
The final line-up Finally, here's the detailed day-today festival program:
One very special treat that you certainly shouldn't miss: Zydeco squeeze-box master Dwayne Dopsie will play a 'mano a mano' show with the great Panamanian accordion master Osvaldo Ayala on the main stage on Friday, Feb. 23. This is a show that you'll never see anywhere else! Some more info (video) about the new festival venue
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 Caldera river. New info: For your information, and to give you a better impression of the fairground area here is a short video by John Hampton about the annual Boquete Flower&Coffee Festival. The stage you'll see at the end of the video is the small permanent stage on the fairgrounds. The BJBF main stage will be set up at the far end of the fairgrounds, a short distance from the flower displays.. Enjoy! https://youtu.be/5RWQNHxUkdU Garden party, jam sessions and after hours parties
Jam sessions Ticket prices and points of sale for jam sessions will be published soon on our websiteand facebook page. There are no online sales for jam session tickets yet, and there are no jam packages available. Please check locations and times of these events in the detailed day-today schedule posted above and watch out for further information on our website and facebook page..
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. Tickets for $25 (plus sales tax&service fee) are available online via the ticket page of our website. There will be a special area with a private bar at the Garden Party reserved for our Fedora Club members.
After hours parties Party animals listen up:For all those who just can't get enough there will be after hours parties at the Boquete Brewing Company. There will be no cover charge!
Please check our website, future newsletters as well as our facebook page for more details and possible short-notice changes. 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.A collector's item - The BJBF commerative tile Like in the last five years festival visitors will have the chance to take one (or more) of our beautiful festival tiles home with them. This is the sixth edition in this line of festival tiles and it will not be the last one! The size is 6x6 inches, they come in various color versions and they go for $20 a piece only! There is also a limited supply of tiles of previous years available.
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. A good overview of lodging options in the Boquete area can be found on the website of Habla Ya, a Spanish language school in Boquete.
Boquete hopes to see you in February! 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.
In order to stay in the loop you may also consider to follow us on our facebook page or join our facebook group.