Ultimate Beach Day Draws Thousands

Treasure Island is one of those beaches that’s synonymous with real fun.

“This is a festival beach,” said city spokesperson and Bands on the Sand coordinator Jeff Jensen. “It begs for a music festival.”

Numerous factors add up to make it so: impossibly wide beaches, lax alcoholic beverage regulations, enough parking and locals who know good music when they hear it. Memorial Day Weekend’s Bands on the Sand event epitomized this.

By noon, the sprawling stretch of sand behind the Bilmar was packed with beachgoers of every type. The festival’s perimeter was lined with vendors hawking everything from local honey to velvety pimp hats.

On deck to take the stage were satirical Florida folk maven Grant Peeples, sweet-voiced Americana songstress Rebekah Pulley and straightforward beach bum rockers Sunza Beaches.

Jeannie and George Heath were among the droves who made the haul over the Howard Frankland.

“We were here last year for Fourth of July,” Jeannie said, which is when TI’s festival proclivity showed up on the radar – now they bring their little one out whenever there’s an event.

Randy Davis was volunteering back stage, helping bands lug their equipment on and offstage. As a local, he said, he’s happy about the boost to the town’s economy.

“The turnout is fantastic,” he said – good news for nearby hotels, restaurants, and retailers.

Bands on the Sand is in its third year of existence.

It replaced a musical happening of a substantially different variety.

“There used to be an event out here for about 20 years called Sun, Sand, and Symphony,” Jensen said. “It was an older crowd.”

After a while, he said, the event started to fizzle.

‘“Sponsors were tough to get. That demographic doesn’t drink a lot of beer,” Jensen said.

 Jensen said the event cost around $30,000 to put on, even though the music only lasted for about 90 minutes.

By contrast, Bands on the Sand features ten hours of music for about the same cost – and the beer sure does flow.

This year’s event culminated just after 10pm with well-known jam band Cope. They played their encore against a backdrop of a phenomenal fireworks display.

One can only imagine what next Memorial Day weekend’s Band on the Sand festivities will bring.