Rebel music, Boynton-style: City hosts first Reggae Fest

BOYNTON BEACH — The sounds of guitars and drums, and the aromas of Caribbean cuisine, filled the air Saturday at Centennial Park as the city welcomed its inaugural Reggae Fest.

In addition to four bands playing the popular music style created in 1960s Jamaica and most often associated with the late Bob Marley, there were Jamaican delicacies a-plenty on hand: jerk chicken, oxtail and breadfruit, to name just a few.

Hundreds of people danced to the beats echoing from the Boynton Beach Amphitheater as vendors happily greeted them.

Sherry Velozo of Miami was one.

Velozo, with her partner Johnny Pedri, created Blunteez — handcrafted pendants Velozo makes from wrapping crystals in copper wire, with a dual purpose: a ring on one end to hold a pair of glasses, keys, IDs or a marijuana blunt. The accessories were a hit, Velozo said.

“Reggae concerts are always the best,” she said. “They’re my favorite. Everyone is chill vibes, even the cops.”

Before returning to a new customer, Velozo pointed out some of her carefully crafted pieces. A ghost made of sea glass. A seahorse priced above her typical range of $30 to $50 for its detail. A kitten with a tail made fully of copper.

Velozo wasn’t the only vendor busy Saturday.

One tent was filled with plants, potted in miniature pairs of jeans. Another held dozens of gnomes, perhaps ahead of Christmas. In between them sat a man selling sea urchin jellies, for home décor. And, off to the side, another — this one explaining the benefits of cannabidiol, or CBD, to a short line of four festivalgoers.

“Reggae is very popular in the area,” said Nancy Stewart, executive director of Festival Management Group, which organized Saturday's event. “It attracts people of all ages, creates unity and love and peace, so we thought it was a good family-friendly event.”

The gathering did just that. People of all ages laid out their blankets, sat on the grass and swayed with the melodies surrounding them.

The festival took nearly a year to plan, as most of the group’s events do, Stewart said, with vendors being primarily local.

Because it was a music event, many people attended to see certain performers. Four bands comprised the lineup — The Original Wailers, Kash’d Out, The Resolvers and Fortunate Youth.

For some, it was a reminder of home.

Susanne Lynn, 60, moved to Boynton Beach from Brooklyn two months ago. Both of her parents are Jamaican, she said, as she awaited a warm plate of roasted breadfruit, sweet plantains, pork and chicken coming her way. She was standing on line at Rusty’s Carib Cuisine.

“It’s amazing,” she said of the festival. “It makes me feel definitely at home, being relocated, and knowing that I can find my people and my stuff.”

Lynn was there with her mother, a 10-year resident of the area who was celebrating her birthday, and her two aunts — her tribe, as she called them.

“It feels like it’s a big party for her,” Lynn said. “82, and she still can swing the hips.”

Her mother's and her own continuing youth, Lynn suggested, could be attributed to breadfruit. But more than that, she said she was pleased to see the diverse crowd that turned out for the festival.

“I can tell that there’s a new dynamic,” she said. “There’s a liveliness. If you look at the crowd, it's a beautiful mix.”

Jerome Samuels of Rusty’s, and Greenacres-based trucking company Right Away Logistics, felt it, too, as he looked back at the food tent he’d earlier helped set up.

“We’re from the Caribbean,” said Samuels, who hails from Montego Bay, Jamaica. “We’ve got to try to survive in America. Even we need a little piece of the American Dream.”

Jasmine Fernández is a journalist covering Delray Beach and Boca Raton at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at jfernandez@pbpost.com and follow her on Twitter at @jasminefernandz. Help support our work. Subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Marley's hot on the box: Boynton hosts first-ever Reggae Fest