Amanda Jackson / Staff Writer
A three-day music festival – Beach Fest 2013 – will be held at various locations throughout the Downtown and Bayfront areas, including McGee Beach and Cole Park, March 15-17, offering entertainment opportunities for the thousands of spring breakers coming next week.
More than 60 bands and DJs will be mixing it up. The festival is completely free to attend but organizers are asking for food donations that will benefit the Corpus Christi Food Bank.
“We don’t have a music festival that covers all genres,” said Beth Guarneri, promoter and partner of Beach Fest. “It will also benefit many non-profits here in Corpus Christi,” she said.
During the festival, bands will be performing on three main stages and venders will be set up in between the stages.
More than 700,000 visitors are expected in the Corpus Christi area for Spring Break, according to Colette Rye, director of Communication for the Corpus Christi Convention & Visitors Bureau.
According to Rye, March is tied with August for the months with the second-highest number of tourists in Corpus Christi. Between March 9-17 the Visitors Bureau is expecting 100,000 visitors on the beaches, she said.
“Miami and South Padre have very large successful music and EDM festivals,” said Guarneri, “and this could potentially grow to put Corpus Christi on the levels of those cities.”
There also will be a 5K run on March 16 at 10 a.m. starting and ending at McGee Park to kick off the Electric Dance Music (EDM) stage. The cost for the 5K is $25 and a portion of money raised will be going to benefit Bikes for Kids. The registration for the run starts at 8 a.m. Organizers will be filming a Harlem Shake dance at the finish line.
“EDM is the newest craze, and it’s mostly DJs that mix their own music and add effects,” said Guarneri. “There are different genres in EDM itself, such as dub step, house and trap,” she said.
“Everyone is encouraged to bring chairs and blankets and enjoy the festivities,” said Guarneri. Those interested in volunteering for the event should visit http://www.signupgenius.com/go/70A0F4EA8A92FA57-volunteer. For more information on Beach Fest, visit the Facebook event page, https://www.facebook.com/events/455805087814310/.
