Situated at beautiful Historic Virginia Key Beach Park, a natural preserved beach right on the Atlantic Ocean just across the bay from downtown Miami, Florida, the 10th Annual Virginia Key GrassRoots Festival of Music & Dance is a 3-day music & arts festival preceded by 4 days of Workshops, Dinners & Dances produced as a part of the four seasons of the GrassRoots Festival: a 30 year running non-profit organization dedicated to providing a family-friendly celebration of music, dance, art and education; a music lovers paradise.

Cactus Jack and the Gatekeeper had already been camping on the beach for a few days when Tamiami’s dead cat showed Monday. Jesse came south from Okeechobee with a mountain of groundscored fruit. Lazlito would always remind us, “Don’t let your canta lope”. Last year it was Portuguese man-o-wars, this year it was fried iguana fingers and giant raccoons bathing in the cooler. Just off the coast of downtown Miami by early afternoon the Hobo Kamp had moved in and homesteaded security home base.

He’s a vegetarian, a yankee and the doctor said he’s not healthy enough for sex. Mom said that’s three strikes. He was only good at cribbage and rolling bones. The no see ums were out, or as Ma Roux called them, wings and teeth and come to find, there are no buffaloes in North America. Only bison. Hmmm. Being a security officer does not make you a vertebrae zoologist.

They are here because it was cold where they were from and their Oldsmowagons were encased in “shell ice” like a wolly mammoth. Winter in the mountains es no beueno. Donna would be playing in Key West that week and Bonita Springs later. The weather was perfect golden Florida.

Vibración familia. They all knew each other from New York and North Carolina. San Lazarus was raised after four days but the raccoons wouldn’t stop licking the sores on his legs.

“Dammit”

Late at night the trash pandas would lurk about, ripping open the cooler and bathing in it. There would come a raccoon wearing a grey cat onsie. Camped with Security Home Base they hooked up with Smokahontas who was still on the road running from Interpol. Smokahontas and Lightnin’ Liam, by no means were they flat earthers, but they had some curious ideas. He believed in ghosts and she in dragons.

At some point late-night Bfly got all loosey-goosey and dipped her hand a bit too deep into the blender while making daqueiries. Blood spurted all over the camp as she was reminded of the old addage, “the ninja bites back”. her finger in a blender, the ninja bites back. Tough titty said the kitty but the milk tastes good.

Next up, terrible tequila and  strawberry margaritas and a warning on the back of the Ninja not to stick fingers too far down in the teeth. Such things should not be necessary.

Bucket had always though of her as deisel and she surely was all of that. But there was so much more. Seeing her here with her Shakori family she was definitely in the proverbial pocket.

Hillbillies had invaded the island and they were not kidding around. In the correct order of operations the plan was to shoot the boar, trade that for a truckload of sweet potatoes and shoot the deer that comes to eat it. High science to be sure.

On the beach Baitbucket groundscored a surf leash which got repurposed as a girlfriend leash. When one is prone to wandering this is the case. Sparky the Pickle Queen. Three meals a day, showers and indoor plumbing, and then wash your own dishes in a kitchen overlooking the ocean.

Pilliaged Cactus Jack’s white tequilla, later they would purchase their own tequilla on Key Biscane. Cactus Jack would wake up with a La croix michelada. He invited all his friends to the party, some from high school when they still had ink wells on the desks, some from the todayland.

The Hobo Kamp was made of some who were gluten free and some who were vegetarians. She didn’t know there was no such thing as Celiac.

Visit the Grassroots website and like their social media channels on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.

Jesse was last seen driving away and trying to cook a pork butt in the back of his van. Wrinkle spray does not go on the face. Number one, you are a yankee. Number two, a vegetarian. And the doctor said you’re not healthy enough for sex. That’s three strikes big guy. Bye Felicia.

Sometimes it may seem like every festival is our favorite but the fact is they all have strengths and are uniquely special. Grassroots is a beautiful week on the beach and a celebration of varying musical cultures. See you next year under the coconut palms.

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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.

 

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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.

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It’s the Donna the Buffalo show. Herd of em? This is where it all started for Pepe a.k.a. La Rosa Nostra straight across the water from beautiful downtown Miami. Ka-oili admitted to his pineal becoming uncalcified at Trumansburg. That’s plenty of Buff love. And some Roosevelt Collier who blew away No Resolutions only a few weeks earlier. Keep reading, dear reader. There’s more.

He’s the original party diva. That’s right. Dr. Thermometer will be joining the wranglers at the Kamp Happiness Fallout Shelter for silly nights of primordial camping fun. Be on the lookout for some of his vegetarian pot stickers and piano stylings. Please be prepared to show your lanyard at the door.

After a two year hiatus, the GrassRoots Organization is thrilled to announce the return of the 9th Annual Virginia Key GrassRoots Festival of Music & Dance. Taking place March 11-13, 2022 at Historic Virginia Key Beach Park in Miami, FL, the 3-day, 3-stage family-friendly camping music & arts festival blends the best of Americana, Latin, folk, roots and world music all on the sandy shores of the Atlantic Ocean. Hosted by festival founders and Americana stalwarts Donna The Buffalo, the 9th Annual Virginia Key GrassRoots Festival will also present music from pedal steel legend Roosevelt Collier and Miami’s own Grammy and Latin Grammy nominated reggae funk fusion masters Locos Por Juana, Los Wizzards, Electric Kif, Cortadito, Fabi, Elastic Bond, Afrobeta and many more. While immersed in the broad range of world music, the festival will also host a Sustainability Fair, Yoga, Live Art, Music Workshops, Dance Workshops, Children’s Activities and more. Visit their website and like their platforms on Facebook and Instagram.

Situated just minutes from downtown Miami on Virginia Key, the secluded and serene Historic Virginia Key Beach Park features sandy beaches and miles of nature trails abutting the pristine, calm waters of the Atlantic Ocean; perfect for tent camping on the beach with friends and family.

Better still, spend the week on Virginia Key with tent, vehicle and RV camping available starting on Monday, March 7 prior to the festival. Never miss a Monday show.

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places originally as the Coloreds Only beach for Miami-Dade County, Historic Virginia Key Beach Park has undergone a revitalization starting in 1999, and as a committed partner since producing the first Virginia Key GrassRoots Festival in 2012, the non-profit GrassRoots Organization and its numerous volunteers have contributed each year to building working replica structures of the originals that existed during the parks heyday including six small rental cabins, a Tea House, and replicas of the Historic Lifeguard & First Aid Office and Historic Mini Train Ticket Booth and Beach Shack.

Ticket and Camping are on sale now. See y’all on the beach.

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