C'mon baby let the good times roll!
Boquete goes New Orleans with a Mardi Gras parade in the streets of Boquete on Thursday March 1st! YEAH, we know that carnival will be over by then but we'll do it just the same! Check out the details below, and don't forget to bring costumes, umbrellas, beads, and join the second line....help us to turn Boquete into a little New Orleans for a couple of hours!
Laissez les bon temps roulez!
It's gonna be a great festival! Take a look at the detailed program below....we'll have a host of events planned for the 4 days of the festival, and a lot of them are admission free!
The festival program
Pre-festival activities Saturday, February 25, 2012
5 pm - 8 pm Wine tasting fundraiser at La Casa del Risco, Hacienda Los Molinos. Tickets are $18, available at Mailboxes ETC., the Tuesday market in Boquete or at the door. Call +507-6519-7876 for tickets to be held at will call.
Thursday, March 1st, 2012 Boquete goes New Orleans! 1pm â€" 3pm New Orleans style street parade with the
Smoking Time Jazz Club from New Orleans. The parade starts at the Boquete central park and ends at the Panamonte Hotel, an easy walk of less than a mile.
3pm-5pm New Orleans traditional Jazz party with
Smoking Time Jazz Club in the beautiful tropical garden of the Panamonte hotel. No cover
7pm - 9pm Special concert with
Betty Bryant and Caesar Sherrard, John Dodge & the Day Brothers at the BCP theatre in Boquete. Tickets are $13
10pm -??? After party with
Mitch Woods at Mike’s Global Grill. No cover
Friday, March 2nd, 2012 1pm - 4 pm Free concert in the Boquete central park with the
Boquete Blues Band B3, the Smoking Time Jazz Club from New Orleans, and a surprise band
5pm â€" 8:30pm Saskia Laroo (NL) and Jazzkia, funky Latin Jazz at Las Ruinas restaurant
7pm - 9 pm Ron Hacker playing at the Machu Picchu restaurant
10pm -??? After-party jam at Baru restaurant, hosted by
B3, the Boquete Blues Band. No cover
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Saturday, March 3rd, 2012 12 noon - 7 pm Open-air festival at the amphitheatre at Valle Escondido
Doors open at 11 am
Betty Bryant, Grand lady of Jazz from L.A.
Smoking Time Jazz Club, street band from New Orleans
Mitch Woods, Boogie Woogie and Jump Blues master
Saskia Laroo and Jazzkia from the Netherlands
Andy Egert Blues Band (Switzerland) with
Bob Stroger (Chicago) on bass
10pm -??? After party jam at Amigos restaurant, hosted by
Caesar, John Dodge & the Day Brothers, Boquete's favorite Jazz band. No cover
Sunday, March 4th, 2012 12 noon - 6pm  Open-air festival at the amphitheatre at Valle Escondido
Doors open at 11 am
Ron Hacker. Low down, dirty blues from San Francisco
Carlos Ubarte Jazz Quartet with special guest
Idania Dowman (Panama)
Johnny Sansone, Mitch Woods & B3, Boquete's own Blues band. Blues &Zydeco from New Orleans
Rigoberto Coba Jazz Big Band (Chiriqui), a 17 piece band specially put together for our festival!
8pm -10pm Farewell dinner at Casona del Cuzco, musicians and staff only.
The program is subject to change. Tickets for Saturday, March 3 or Sunday, March 4 are $20 a day, or $30 for a pass for both days (adults), or $ 5 per day/ 7.5 for a two-day pass for juniors below 18. Tickets are available locally at Mailboxes ETC. on Boquete main street, the Tuesday Market in Boquete, as well as at the front desk of the Valle Escondido hotel, and at the door.
The festival venue The open-air festival on Saturday and Sunday, March 3 and 4, will take place at the amphitheatre in Valle Escondido, come rain come shine! Don't forget to bring a hat and sun protection but be also prepared for eventual light rain (Boquete's famous rainbow-producing Bajareque) as well as the evening cool. A light rain jacket and light sweater come in handy, after all we're at 3000ft elevation here! A true piece of art: Our brandnew collectible festival tile 
This great 6" by 6" tile was designed and manufactured by the
Tucan Tile shop in Boquete. It is presently available at the Tuesday market and you'll be able to purchase it also during the festival. Price is $20. We're planning to make it a collectible series with a different piece of art every year. Unfortunately we can't ship them because of the high cost of shipping anything from Panama but if you want to reserve your copy before coming here just send us an email to
info@boquetejazzandbluesfestival.com You can now book your tickets for the festival online via our website! Just click here and check out the various options. Just print out the confirmation mail, bring it to the festival and you're in! In the same way you can also become a member of our Club of Friends of BJBF. You'll get a festival pass and benefits worth $ 84 for a payment of $ 60 (see details below).
Don't wait until late February or March to get your tickets! With booking your tickets and/or your club membership early you'll help us tremendously to pay our bills and pay for the flights of the bands we'll fly in to Panama! Looking for a place to stay? We've got discounts for ya! Check out (click) the hotels listed at the bottom of the column on the right or click on the logos below. (the list is going to be updated continously). Also check our website for new entries. Tell them that you're coming for the festival, and you'll get a discount rate. March is high season in Panama, so book early! Thank you for patronzing our sponsors!
Wanna see a little more of Panama while you're here? March is the best time to visit Panama! There's an incredible amount of things to do and to see while you're here in this tiny country filled with natural wonders. The canal, the Casco Viejo (old city) in Panama City, endless beaches, island hopping, deep sea fishing, scuba diving, whale and dolphin watching, mountain hiking, bird watching, river rafting, tree top zip lining....you name it, Panama's got it! The Boquete area is the land of some of the world's best coffees. If you wanna learn more about how coffee is grown and processed we recommend to book a tour to Rich Lipner's
Finca dos Jefes! For your vacation planning we highly recommend to contact Panama's fastest growing travel agency
The Panama Travel Group. Can't find better deals for any kind of side trips and adventures at very competitive prizes!
In addition, here's a link to two great 8 and 9 day tours that Mrs. Joyce Small, one of our volunteers and former owner of a travel agency in the US has worked out in cooperation with The Haven Spa&Hotel in Boquete. Cool stuff! Check them out
here!
How can you support the festival? It's not too late for that! There are lots of ways to help us with the festival:
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Help us spread the word. Tell your friends about it. Forward this newsletter to all your friends
and ask them to sign up, too, by clicking here! -
Visit our website frequently. Show us your love by clicking on the facebook 'Like' button on every page to help us generate traffic and get a better search engine rating
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Donate! If you're living in the Boquete area please attend the pre-festival fundraising events (free Sunday morning concerts, wine-tastings etc.)
and donate. Every little bit helps! If you're living somewhere else you can still donate via our website by clicking
here!
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Buy our merchandise (T-shirts, bumper stickers, shopping bags, mugs, baseball caps, posters, and our wonderful new festival tile).
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Join our club of friends of BJBF and enjoy great benefits! (see below)
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Be a sponsor! If you own or run a business in Boquete/Chiriqui/Panama please consider becoming a sponsor. We NEED your financial support to make the festival happen! Your logos will show up in this newsletter as well as on our website, our flyers and the festival program, and they will stay there for at least 6 months after the festival! Can't get any cheaper publicity than that!
Last but not least: Come visit the festival! The festival organizers and our great group of volunteers have completed most of our work.
Now it's entirely up to YOU Jazz&BLues aficionados to make this festival a success by coming here, buy tickets, purchase some of our merchandise and let the good times roll! Do the coolest thing and join our Club of Friends of BJBF! For a yearly membership fee of $ 60 you'll get benefits worth $ 84! Check out the details
here. You'll help us a lot financially by signing up, and you'll make us feel real good by showing us your support and friendship!
Can't attend the festival but still want to support our drive to get the Blues to Panama? Poor you! But we've got a solution! Just go to our website to the
Program/Tickets page and donate whatever you think it's worth! Hopefully we'll then see you here in a later year! Thanks for showing us your love!
Any suggestions, questions, need more information? I'll be glad to hear from you and to help you as much as I can. Just shoot me a mail via the contact form on our website by clicking
here! Here's hoping that this fourth edition of our festival newsletter will make you want to put on your traveling shoes...
Please forward it to your friends and ask them to sign up also. Help us to spread the word and to put Panama on the world-wide blues map!
Just 20 more days to go! All systems are GO! Everything is coming together nicely....Are you getting as excited as we are? We're striving to bring good jazz and blues to you, and we'd looooove to see you here on the first weekend of March!
Hans
Don't ask what the festival can do for you - ask what you can do for the festival!
These are our main sponsors at the time of publication. Click on the images to learn more about their business....
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