Peace Marked Memorial Day On Miami Beach

By Olivia Guthrie, Miami Times Contributor (@Depotmsa) (Olivia Guthrie for The Miami Times) (@Depotmsa) (Mark A. James) (COURTESY OF YAKSTA), the Miami Times

May 31, 2022

Memorial Day weekend in Miami offered a slate of fun events and opportunities to honor the nation’s service members, and drew big crowds from across the county and out of town.

The Hyundai Air & Sea show happened in Miami Beach Saturday and Sunday, May 28 and 29 at Lummus Park, where a large group gathered for a spectacular aerial exhibition.

Veteran Joe Graham and his partner, Gail Camp, in town from Charlotte, N.C., for their son’s wedding this past Saturday, were there. The couple only caught part of the show, but the first-time attendees were happy to have been able to honor those who have served through supporting the event.

The show highlighted aerial technology and offered demonstrations from the five branches of the U.S. military, as well as first responders. Flybys of Air Force aircraft were a sight and sound to behold, large Navy vessels cruised along the shores, and military men and women jumped out of planes in a spectacle everyday civilians don’t usually get the privilege to view.

Miami Beach visitors enjoying ocean breezes under overcast skies as Air Force Aircraft fly above during the Hyundai Air & Sea Show in Miami Beach May 28, 2022.

(@Depotmsa)

The weekend’s overcast skies held off from opening up their floodgates –the expected rainfall didn’t begin until the end of the show, allowing the crowd a chance to experience the full affair.

Ms. Steadman, who declined to give her first name, has worked for the air and sea show for the past three years and loves it.

“The show has been magnificent, and the people have been great,” she enthused. “Thank God for all the soldiers.”

Trinidadian soca singer Patrice Roberts performing at the Best of the Best Concert at Bayfront Park May 29, 2022.

(Mark A. James)

On Sunday, the 16th annual Best of the Best Concert was held at Bayfront Park in downtown Miami. The Caribbean music festival brings various artists from the islands together for one unforgettable performance in Miami. A large stage is the focal point, with food and merchandise vendors selling Caribbean delights around it.

A patron of the festival this year was Keisha Page. A Miami local, she’s been coming every year since it began. She enjoys the annual event and has fond memories and stories from past years.

“It’s nice to be out,” she said. “It’s raining and people are still having fun!”

Delores Kitchen – a Black-owned Jamaican family restaurant located in Hallandale Beach – was one of the vendors at the event. The business opened three years ago after the family’s matriarch passed away, and was named in her honor.

Yaksta

(COURTESY OF YAKSTA)

“It was a pleasure man, to have your own Caribbean people plus Americans, ’cause you know everybody loves Jamaican food,” Jacqueline Charles, one of the restaurant’s owners, said of the experience.

But the main attraction of Best of the Best is the artists. A variety of musicians thrilled festivalgoers, from old-timers like Beres Hammond to up-and-comers like 10 Tik.

Reggae/dancehall performer Yaksta, from St. Mary, Jamaica, also performed. He’s been making music professionally for six years, but it’s been his passion since he was a child. The weekend marked not only his first time at the festival, but also his first time performing in America as a mainstream act.

“What really sparks the interest is understanding cadence and key,” said the artists, whose biggest single, “Ambition,” is available to stream on various digital platforms. “Music is a magnitude and it's also something that actually can push not just you vibrationally, but a generation of people,” he said.

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