A flop

I like Busy  Signal, but being bored for an hour or two waiting for him to come on stage, is not my idea of an afternoon well spent!

Tamarac is well known and respected by adjoining cities for it's excellent festivals.  

But this was not one.

To begin, it was not held in one of the usual spacious parks, but in an chucked- up area where they have established an amphitheater. This place is so small that you immediately start to feel claustrophobic the minute you get there. 

Most of the people I saw there did not appear to even be patrons, but workers, volunteers,  vendors, security personnel etc. Up to when I left after a boring 90 minutes, the attendance was really poor. Obviously, unlike me, most people knew what to expect, so they stayed away!

Apart from using this, small inadequate place, there were no chairs available and to add insult to injury, we were prevented from bringing our own folding chairs on the shuttle bus!

There were lots of food trucks offering the usual wide range of delicious dishes they usually offer right there on the last Friday of every month, but wine? I only saw one small table offering tasting of the cheap, bad tasting boxed wines.

 Yuck.🤑

I hope those who paid $85 to attend got a better quality of wine to taste.

Stage and sparsely supported VIP area.

The entire affair was not only badly planned but also boring, for although there was background music being played by a DJ, I saw no other form of entertainment after spending more than an hour and a half there.

And I was not the only one who left early, disappointed at the offering, as there was a steady stream exiting, most  leaving with the food they bought.

And many grumbled.

Crowded sidewalk but noting spectacular happening. Mostly vendors.

Sparse attendance.

Before leaving I made sure to call a friend from Miramar whom I had encouraged to attend, to tell her not to bother wasting her gas to come up, as this festival was nowhere close to the standard of Tamarac festivals which we all love so much and enjoy.

Yup, in my book, this one was a big flop.

Much better!

 The 4th July Independence celebration was well organized as usual.

 In other words, things are back to normal in Tamarac, after the confusion that reigned 6 days before with the Caribbean Heritage celebrations at the same venue. (https://joan-myviews.blogspot.com/2025/06/such-confusion.html).

Bravo Tamarac City👏.

So, as usual, we enjoyed the music provided by VAM Band, food from the trucks and camaraderie.

I was ready for the rain😊

And the little rain that came was welcomed by those who came prepared, as it cooled down the place. 

The Mayor got soaked but didn't miss a beat😁

Carol, Mayor Gomez, Joan 

Donna, our Trini friend dropped in too😊

VAM band worked up the crowd

Then it was time for fireworks.

Last year, they had a drone show and it was good, but the child in me prefers good, old-fashioned fireworks!

Thank you Tamarac, we love and appreciate these regular music sessions at the Sports Complex, when the organization is seamless.

Juneteenth

Juneteenth is a holiday celebrated on June 19 to commemorate the emancipation of enslaved people in the US. The holiday was first celebrated in Texas, where on that date in 1865, in the aftermath of the Civil War, enslaved people were declared free under the terms of the 1862 Emancipation Proclamation.

Every year we have an event at a Tamarac park to mark the day and 2025 wasn't any different.

This year the celebration took place on the 14th June at the Tamarac sports complex.

 There was a big difference this year though. 

It was in terms of the attendees.

I have never seen so few at this event and can only assume that this is as a result of how much ICE is harassing non-white people.😡

For their modus operandi is to harass, arrest and even assault anyone that is not white under the guise that they are " criminal undocumented immigrants". 

That's totally disgusting.

Despite the clear dangers, those of us who ignored the possibility of an ICE raid and the ensuing inconvenience, turned out and had a good time.

Music, poetry, dance and a nice variety of food trucks.

Celebrating in Tamarac

It was 90 degrees in the 6 pm sun, but we found good shade in between some food trucks, as we got ready to enjoy the 4th July celebrations at the Sports Complex in Tamarac.

Since Tamarac is the nifty city, Sonja and Camille came up from boring Miramar to groove with us😁.

 And they had a great time.

And guess who was working non-stop on the holiday? Yup our venerable, ever-present Community Center manager Michelle Sendik 😊.

Those who weren't able to walk too easily from the shuttle bus stop to the field, had her ride service waiting to help out! (Our shuttles were brand new dreamliner buses to boot too!).😊

Driver Michelle

I also saw the other Michelle, the energetic Mayor Michelle J. Gomez, appropriately decked out in stars and stripes, actively engaging with constituents and visitors as usual.

 The music was fantastic. 

That band, 'The Jam Band,' really knows him to put on a great show. And it's lead singer, a young lady, was versatile and unstoppable.

 Her repertoire was drawn from popular songs from every genre of music and she delivered with amazing pitch, intensity and energy.

 Unbelievably, they kept us rocking  for an hour and a half hour,  before taking a short break and resumed for another hour, up to when the fireworks begun! 

An absolutely amazing and flawless performance.

Where we sought sanctuary from the sun was far from the band stand, but excellent for the fireworks which were a fitting finale to what was another entertaining event, put on by my favorite city.

There was lots for the kids, young and young at heart to do too.

Our 91 year old friend Phyllis doesn't stay long at these events, but she never misses any❤️.

Good music, lots of good food choices from the trucks, first class entertainment, camaraderie and lots of fun all the way.

Another enjoyable celebration at 'the 'city of our dreams.'

Celebrating independence

 Miramar, could be described as the "little Jamaica" of Broward County in Florida. For despite having close to 135 ,000 residents with an equal number of Hispanics and blacks, the entire city council is either Jamaican or descendents.

So it is not strange to find the city hosting several events to celebrate Jamaica.

That's where my friend Carol and I headed to kick off our Independence celebrations (2023).

The crowd got much larger as night fell.

While those who came to eat stayed outside where they had a host of food trucks, the action was inside the hall, due to the unpredictable weather, I suspect.

Admittedly,  we got lost as we initially thought the event was at their fancy City Hall, so kept disobeying our GPS. When we finally followed it's instructions, we arrived at an abandoned building, as the venue had changed. 

But we finally made it to the correct location.

The crowd became much denser after nightfall.

My only disappointment is that I did not hear enough of the past festival songs when we were there.

But all's well that ends well and we had a good time.