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The official BJBF2017 program booklet is now ready for viewing and downloads (see attached file). Please also check more details about the festival program, performing artists, tickets etc. on the festival website: http://www.boquetejazzandbluesfestival.com BJBF2017Program.pdf

The traditional New Orleans-style BJBF street parade - not to be missed! Let the good times roll again! In 2012, the Boquete Jazz and Blues Festival has introduced the first ever New Orleans style street parade in Panama, and it wasd a huge success right from the start. As usual, the 2017 festival will again be kicked-off with a BIG BANG, the one and only New Orleans style street parade in Panama… decorated vehicles, costumes, beads and all! In addition, the parade will feature a Panamanian folkloric roots&traditions group organized by the city of Boquete, with 16 traditional Pollera dancers, 3 "diablos sucios“ with their fantastic masks and costumes, live traditional music, members of the Boquete bomberos and a street band of the Nacional Police department of Chiriqui. A pre-party with face painting starts at 9am on Thursday, Feb. 9 at the BCP communal theater. Parade marching order will be set up in the BCP parking lot. The parade will leave the parking lot at 12pm and will end at 1pm at the Boquete central park to join the BJBF free concerts with three great bands and a student workshop in the park from 1pm until 4pm. Everybody is invited to join the parade! Be there or be square! Get your costumes, beads and stuff ready and let the good times roll! Take a look at the festival website http://www.boquetejazzandbluesfestival.com/galleryarchives.html to get an idea of the fun we had at previous parades!

If you are waiting to buy your festival tickets do not wait! Tickets are selling fast! All VIP tickets have sold out. General admission tickets are still available. The Musical Dinner show at The Rock restaurant on Wednesday has sold out. Jam Packages have sold out! The Thursday night Jam at Mike's has sold out. The Sunday night Jam at Mike's has sold out. There are only limited amounts of tickets for individual jams and for the Panamonte garden party available. Don't wait...and miss the fun! Tickets are available for purchase at http://www.boquetejazzandbluesfestival.com/the-ticket-page1.html

Hello Boquete Jazz and Blues Festival Fans, As you know, the 2017 Boquete Jazz and Blues Festival will be held February 9ththrough the 12th 2017. We have already signed the “Low Rider Band”, “Carolyn Wonderland”, “Dwayne Dopsie and the Zydeco Hell Raisers” and “Maria Rivas”. We have five slots yet to fill. To that end we are negotiating to bring back several of your favorites. But that announcement will come later after the contracts are signed. What you need to know now is that ticket sales for the 2017 BJBF will begin on May 1, 2016. Before we begin sales, I want to explain some changes we have made to our schedule. The most significant of these changes is that we have added two additional shows at the Valle Escondido Amphitheater. Specifically, we will have a Friday performance starting at 5:30 pm and ending at 8 pm. The main reason for this to relieve the overcrowding we experienced at the Sabor Jam last year. How will this work? Advanced Sales General Admission Weekend tickets which cost $110 for the 2016 festival will sell for $120 and include entrance to the Friday night performances at the amphitheater. That means you get two additional performances for $10. That is five dollars a show. Remember in 2016 you paid $20 for entrance to the Sabor Jam. So you will actually be saving $10. Since there is plenty of room at the amphitheater, this solves the problem of the overcrowding at the Friday Jam. It also helps the festival in that we don’t have to move so much equipment around which is labor intensive, hard on the equipment, and ultimately very expensive. When you buy your ticket online you will have a choice to buy either a single day ticket for Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. Or, you may buy a weekend ticket that includes all three days. You will also be able to choose General Admission or VIP tickets. VIP tickets will include cushioned front row seats with an option to sit in a reserved shaded area at the top of the amphitheater. VIP tickets also include heavily discounted drinks and snacks . As to Friday night, I can tell you that nine member “Low Rider Band”, whose real name we can’t mention because of a ridiculous law suit, but who is famous for such hits as “Low Rider”, “Cisco Kid”, and “Spill the Wine” from the album “Eric Burdon Declares War”… THAT BAND will perform on Friday night. We have yet to sign the Jazz band that will open for them. But, I promise that whoever we do sign they will be great! For Boquete Hello Boquete Jazz and Blues Festival Fans, As you know, the 2017 Boquete Jazz and Blues Festival will be held February 9ththrough the 12th 2017. We have already signed the “Low Rider Band”, “Carolyn Wonderland”, “Dwayne Dopsie and the Zydeco Hell Raisers” and “Maria Rivas”. We have five slots yet to fill. To that end we are negotiating to bring back several of your favorites. But that announcement will come later after the contracts are signed. What you need to know now is that ticket sales for the 2017 BJBF will begin on May 1, 2016. Before we begin sales, I want to explain some changes we have made to our schedule. The most significant of these changes is that we have added two additional shows at the Valle Escondido Amphitheater. Specifically, we will have a Friday performance starting at 5:30 pm and ending at 8 pm. The main reason for this to relieve the overcrowding we experienced at the Sabor Jam last year. How will this work? Advanced Sales General Admission Weekend tickets which cost $110 for the 2016 festival will sell for $120 and include entrance to the Friday night performances at the amphitheater. That means you get two additional performances for $10. That is five dollars a show. Remember in 2016 you paid $20 for entrance to the Sabor Jam. So you will actually be saving $10. Since there is plenty of room at the amphitheater, this solves the problem of the overcrowding at the Friday Jam. It also helps the festival in that we don’t have to move so much equipment around which is labor intensive, hard on the equipment, and ultimately very expensive. When you buy your ticket online you will have a choice to buy either a single day ticket for Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. Or, you may buy a weekend ticket that includes all three days. You will also be able to choose General Admission or VIP tickets. VIP tickets will include cushioned front row seats with an option to sit in a reserved shaded area at the top of the amphitheater. VIP tickets also include heavily discounted drinks and snacks . As to Friday night, I can tell you that nine member “Low Rider Band”, whose real name we can’t mention because of a ridiculous law suit, but who is famous for such hits as “Low Rider”, “Cisco Kid”, and “Spill the Wine” from the album “Eric Burdon Declares War”… THAT BAND will perform on Friday night. We have yet to sign the Jazz band that will open for them. But, I promise that whoever we do sign they will be great! For Boquete Residents, we will also start greatly discounted Boquete Residence ticket sales on May 1st. Please keep your eyes on the local social media pages for information about those tickets and instructions on how to get your Boquete Residents tickets. It is early. There will be other exciting news. Stay tuned! s, we will also start Boquete Residence ticket sales on May 1st. Please keep your eyes on the local social media pages for information about those tickets and instructions on how to get your Boquete Residents tickets. It is early. There will be other exciting news. Stay tuned! John Wolff director/producer BJBF 2017