Grassroots at Virginia Key “22: Beaches and Bongos

Welcome back festivarians to the Florida Spring Festival Season and the continued sordid saga of the wook wranglers Home Invasion Tour. Lucy and Peanut Butter managed to pick up a random degenerate at Okeechobee Festival and were transporting him to Miami International Wednesday, but not before they’d have a chance to stick Big Betty out the rear window and spend a few sandy nights on the banks of the Atlantic Ocean. They arrived in Dade County Monday night, drunk, loose and broke. In spite of the bad brakes and the vibrating sound emitting from the dash of the Oldsmowagon, they’d made it all the way to Virginia Key GrassRoots Music Festival. Part of the 30 year running not-for-profit GrassRoots Festival Organization’s four seasons of GrassRoots. Situated at Historic Virginia Key Beach Park, Virginia Key GrassRoots Festival celebrated its 9th Annual 3-Day festival of music and dance March 11-13, 2022.

It had been a month of firsts (Okeechobee Fest for Lucy and boofing bath soaps for Keaton) and this surround sound colorful picture was everything they could want at a music/camping festival. It felt like a nice rest after the freak show at Sunshine Grove. Perfect weather, beachfront fun and three days of eclectic music with a Donna the Buffalo finale. Watch out for that band for sometimes the drummer can be found to homestead your hammock. Joking, not joking. Welcome to Grassroots at Virginia Key: Beaches and Bongos for days.”

“These joints aren’t going to roll themselves.”

Monday: They joined the Tommy Thermometer fiesta grande already in session near the Carousel House and the eastern shore of the island. The kamp happiness interactive camping pavilion was complete with pleasure palace, hammock space, kitchen/ piano bar, Tommy’s sin den and the gifted ez-up from the bartenders at Okeechobee. They slept in open air tents and wasted the days away painting pith hats for Free Range Strange and drinking Busch Lights. Both Jesse and the Doctor were carrying around pillow cases of weed so as a team, we appeared to be set up quite nicely. Not too shabby.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Virginia Key GrassRoots (@virginiakeygrassroots)

Virginia Key is an 863-acre barrier island in Miami, Florida, United States in Biscayne Bay, south of Brickell and north of Key Biscayne. It’s across the street from a mile-long beach near downtown with wetlands, a boardwalk, hiking trails, picnic areas and nearby concessions. The Atlantic Ocean’s azure hues mixed with the white sands and the turtle grass work together to paint a perfect picture of South Florida beauty.

The festival arrived earlier in the week and began setting up the three performing areas. The music would include many types of world music, rock n roll, blues, calypso and more. With delicious homemade dinners, food trucks, merchandise, trumpets and girls dancing there was plenty for everyone to enjoy.

Tuesday: During the warm afternoons, Lucy would swim in the Atlantic and take long walks around the eastern end of the island, arriving at the north beach and facing the immense downtown Miami skyline. Beach goers played in the shade of the Australian Pines and ospreys chirped high overhead. This was her first time at this festival and this part of the island and she was already excited about coming back. Welcome to Miami.

In the historic concession area Tommy Titanium made falafel pitas claiming it was good for fibromialgia. Keaton continued to fall out of the hammock as he was still making up for a real lack of sleep. When the spirit suffers, the body cries out. When he finally woke up, he could be found laying there staring at the the swaying palm trees as their coconuts floated east to the Bahamas.

During Jose Albizu, Lucy ran into Joel for the first time since site ops at summer camp. She was a little salty as she was still waiting on the green light to start planning on a Chillicothe adventure in late May. There was always hope Dee or Turtle would come through. Something about smooth operating with the wooks of Scamp just appealed to her nature. She attempted to remind herself that nature would always provide.

Jesse was spending the late afternoon mixing coconut water with rum and researching a way to prepare jellyfish for a light snack. He’d been stung reaching for the man-o-war thinking it was a sun hat. “This says it’s Vietnam street food. Apparently we can turn it into a salad.” The one he’d brought in from the beach was devolving into some kind of melted goo. Peanut Butter was still afraid he would find the jellyfish in the middle of the night and during a tortured drug reaction, mistake it for his Squishmallow.

Chris Hollywood woke up one of the Kamp Happiness hammocks still wearing his sunglasses. While the rest of the camp had been resting, he had not. As far as Lucy could see, he never did. Jesse, who was homesteading in some parking lot down the street walked by and inquired as to what exactly was going on. Hollywood explained that a party had descended on the island and that he should go get his rusted teacher’s van and join the fray. Professional cigarette rollers unite!

Saturday: Jesse got a job volunteering in the kitchen and his mozzarella grilled cheese layered with shoal grass and jellyfish bladder was a huge hit. His gel tabs also got Dr. Thermometer so high he stayed that way until Suwannee Spring Reunion the following weekend.  He claimed his tuning butt plugs were definitely “out of tune” and the gauge was a little heavy. There were considerable doubts as to whether the effects were a result of LSD or simple dementia.

He really began to slip during the Roosevelt Collier set which lasted late enough into the night for him to require a nebulizer. After the night of dancing, he went off looking for his friend Jen, who he’d not seen since Front Porch Fest when she doctored his bloody foot with duct tape. Confused and lost, he ended up finding a dark spot under the gumbo limbo trees and falling asleep in the poison ivy.

History 

In the historically segregated Miami, African Americans sought after beaches they could enjoy without persecution or humiliation. One such place was a beach located on Virginia Key, known as “Bears Cut” which at that time could only be reached from Miami by boat. This property became an official “colored only” recreation site. Although only accessible by boat from a downtown dock on the Miami River, “Virginia Beach, a Dade County Park for the exclusive use of Negroes,” was opened on August 1, 1945.

Thanks to the Grassroots family for letting the wranglers and kamp happiness be part of the fun. Visit the Grassroots at Virginia Key website and like their social media channels on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Be sure to check out the lineup for the Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival of Music and Dance May 5-8, 2022. By then it will be getting time to head back up into the mountains for the summer, eventually scouring the hills and lakes for Boston and Bfly at Mountain Music Festival in West Virginia. After that, all roads lead to Mr. Beautiful.

Thanks again for making the wranglers your go-to for festival gibberish and hyperbole. Believe what you want. Be on the lookout for wrap-up articles from Okeechobee and Spring Reunion. Yeesh. March is a silly month in Florida. Stay tuned for the FloydFest preview and follow the rest of the crowd as they close out the Florida Festival rush in April and May. After that, it’s anyone’s guess what’s happening next. More research needed.

namaste y’all.