Jacksonville Jazz Festival facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Jacksonville Jazz Festival |
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1998 Jacksonville Jazz Festival poster
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| Genre | Jazz |
| Dates | Memorial Day Weekend |
| Location(s) | Jacksonville, Florida |
| Years active | 1979-1981 (Mayport) 1982–present (Downtown) |
| Founded by | Jake Godbold, Mike Tolbert |
The Jacksonville Jazz Festival is a super cool yearly music party held in Jacksonville, Florida. It's one of the biggest and best jazz festivals in the whole country! People from all over come to enjoy amazing jazz music and fun times. This festival has been happening for over 40 years, bringing famous musicians and new talent to the city.
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What Happens at the Festival?
The Jacksonville Jazz Festival is a big event that lasts for several days. It's packed with live music and exciting competitions.
The Main Music Festival
The festival offers three days of free live music. You can find different stages set up all around Downtown Jacksonville, Florida. Many talented jazz artists perform, making it a great place to discover new music and enjoy your favorites.
Jazz Piano Competition
The festival kicks off with the Jacksonville Jazz Piano Competition. This exciting contest happens at the Florida Theatre. Five talented piano players compete for cash prizes. The winner even gets to perform on the festival's main stage! A famous jazz musician named Marcus Roberts won the very first competition in 1983. He beat out a 16-year-old Harry Connick Jr. who later became very famous too!
Other Fun Events
Besides the main concerts and piano competition, the festival often includes other fun activities. These can include a Jazz Marketplace where you can find cool items, a Jazz Jam session where musicians play together, and sometimes a special Sacred Jazz Brunch.
How the Festival Started
The Jacksonville Jazz Festival has a long and interesting history, starting in a small fishing village and growing into a huge city-wide event.
Early Days in Mayport
The festival began in 1979. The mayor of Jacksonville at the time, Jake Godbold, and his helper Mike Tolbert, wanted to create an event to help the small fishing village of Mayport. They thought a jazz festival would be a great idea. The first festival was a free, one-day concert with local musicians and one big star. They only expected a few hundred people, but an amazing 25,000 people showed up! The next year, even more people came.
Moving to Downtown Jacksonville
Mayport became too small to handle such huge crowds. Also, the nearby Mayport Naval Base wasn't comfortable with so many people right next to their area. So, in 1982, the festival moved to the newly opened Metropolitan Park in Downtown Jacksonville. It stayed a free concert because it didn't cost too much to put on. Famous musicians like Dizzy Gillespie performed for a reasonable price. Local churches and groups also helped by selling food and drinks, which helped the festival make money. At one point, about 100,000 people attended!
Changes Over the Years
In 1985, a public TV station called WJCT took over running the festival. They used it to help raise money for their station. As time went on, famous musicians started asking for more money to perform. For example, in 1986, Miles Davis performed for about $25,000, which was much more than what artists were paid five years earlier. Because costs were going up, in 1995, the festival started charging a small $5 entry fee to help cover the expenses.
By the late 1990s, even with 20,000 people attending, it was hard to cover the rising costs and shrinking support from sponsors. After the 2000 festival, WJCT stopped organizing it because they were losing too much money. This meant there was no festival in 2001 and 2002.
The Festival Today
Luckily, the City of Jacksonville brought the festival back in 2003. They invited the legendary Tony Bennett to perform, and he was the most expensive act ever for the festival at that time. Even though it was a sunny weekend and nearly 60,000 people came, the festival still cost more than it made. When it rained in 2004, fewer people came, and the festival lost money again.
To help with costs, the city started charging admission again in 2006. Over the years, the festival has sometimes been scaled back, meaning fewer stages or events, to help manage the budget. Despite these challenges, the Jacksonville Jazz Festival continues to be a beloved annual event, bringing great music and fun to Jacksonville every Memorial Day Weekend!
