Vermont Reggae Festival Oakledge Park 1987

The 1987 Artist Lineup

The Start Of Something Big

Oakledge Park 1987

With the success of an exciting first festival at Battery Park in Burlington, the excitement and anticipation of a second Vermont Reggae Festival spread quickly around the city of Burlington and throughout the entire state of Vermont. “On Saturday July 18, 1987, the second Vermont Reggae Festival had arrived in Burlington at Oakledge Park. Two eighteen wheeler truck flatbeds were hauled in and placed evenly together to form a huge stage on the east end of the park overlooking the entire park grounds and beautiful Lake Champlain in the background.” “A fifteen minute thunderstorm ended the festival early before the scheduled performance of the last artist “The Meditations”. A call was made to the local nighclub called Hunts and the local band that was playing that night at the club agreed to provide the club for the performance of The Meditations. Although the rain came and stopped the music at the festival, a large part of the leaving crowd and the faithful fans of the festival did help to clean up the park and to gather most of the garbage in large plastic bags provided from the stage of the festival. Once again the park was left amazingly clean by the more than eight thousand festival attendees and once again the parks department, the city officials, and the police department was more than impressed by the condition that Oakledge park was left by the festival and the Vermont Reggae Festival was gaining a reputation as one of the most peaceful and environmentally conscious gatherings that always left the park almost cleaner than it was before the festival started.” Quotes from The Book: Vermont Reggae Fest The Power Of Music: The First five Years in Burlington Vermont.

Larger Park, Larger Crowd

Having immediately outgrown Battery Park, the Vermont Reggae Festival committee, along with the assitance of the Burlington Parks and Recreation Department, agreed to move the festival to Burlington’s Oakledge Park in the southern side of the city.

Round 2 In The Thousands

The move proved to be a wise one as more than eight thousand people showed up for the 2nd Reggae festival by day’s end on July 18,1987.

Peaceful And Fun

There was always the concern of what a big crowd such as this would attract, such as drunkeness, fussing and fighting, and unruly conduct. None of those ugly faces showed up at the Vermont Reggae Festival. As the music promoted to the people, the theme was always peace and love.

White Lion Sundog High Society Oblique Wave Pounding System Lambsbread Jah Cutta Afrikan Roots One People The Meditations

What They Said…

The press, which always shows up early because of dealine purposes, reported what they saw at the time which was around 11:00 am, nearly five thousand people already in the park peacefully enjoying themselves and having a wonderful time.

1988

The 1987 Artist Lineup

The Start Of Something Big

Oakledge Park 1987 With the success of an exciting first festival at Battery Park in Burlington, the excitement and anticipation of a second Vermont Reggae Festival spread quickly around the city of Burlington and throughout the entire state of Vermont. “On Saturday July 18, 1987, the second Vermont Reggae Festival had arrived in Burlington at Oakledge Park. Two eighteen wheeler truck flatbeds were hauled in and placed evenly togehter to form a huge stage on the east end of the park overlooking the entire park grounds and beautiful Lake champlain in the background.” “A fifteen minute thunderstorm ended the festival early before the scheduled performance of the last artist “The Meditations”. A call was made to the local nighclub called Hunts and the local band that was playing that night at the club agreed to provide the club for the performance of The Meditations. Although the rain came and stopped the music at the festival, a large part of the leaving crowd and the faithful fans of the festival did help to clean up the park and to gather most of the garbage in large plastic bags provided from the stage of the festival. Once again the park was left amazingly clean by the more than eight thousand festival attendees and once again the parks department, the city officials, and the police department was more than impressed by the condition that Oakledge park was left by the festival and the Vermont Reggae Festival was gaining a reputation as one of the most peaceful and environmentally conscious gatherings that always left the park almost cleaner than it was before the festival started.”