A Smashing Success: Yucatan 2012 Arts and Entertainment Festival ...

By Sylvia Ponce de Leon

Photography by Stephen F. Dennstedt www.IndochinePhotography.com

Last Thursday night the Yucatan 2012 Arts and Entertainment Festival kicked off with a smashing success. ?Beautiful surroundings, electric performances, great food and gorgeous artwork kept everyone thoroughly entertained.

Hosts Beamon Battie and Michael Axford, both musicians themselves, handpicked each band that performed, featuring a blend of local talent singing in Spanish as well as great English singing bands who offered a mix-up of everyone?s favorites.

Easily the musical highlighters of the night were Almitri Tzigane and Roots and Wisdom. Tzigane, an extremely talented solo guitarist whose fingers blurred to any trying to follow their movements on his cherished acoustic guitar. Roots and Wisdom, a reggae band, from Nigeria, captivated everyone?s attention. His performance relaxed the crowd into singing and dancing. All of the eight bands were extremely talented and generated a friendly atmosphere.

Roots and Wisdom

Solo Guitarist Almitri Tzigane

?

?

?

?

?

?

?

?

Getting the party rolling and laughing was MC Gary De Rose, cracking jokes all night and keeping the crowd energized as they perused the artists showcase, featuring Artistas de la Playa and several local Meridian artists as well.

Battie and Axford were clearly committed to hosting a spectacular event, which flowed the entire evening without a single hiccup. Even the weather cooperated, threatening rain but never quite accomplishing much of anything except cooling down the evening perfectly. Creativity and inspiration rippled to the beat and to the colors of tropical, Mexican folk-art, and abstract paintings.

The creative, joyous vibe didn?t end with the music and art, the food was one of the greatest in Yucatan and the completion of a perfect evening. Catered by none other than Progreso?s Thai-FLASH and their signature Thai-Basil and Lemongrass Mojitos, shrimp-pop appetizers, Chicken Pad Thai, and deserts to die for, Chris Zimmerman charmed every guest as Mitch Keenan mixed up the Thai restaurant?s signature drink.

Chris Zimmerman Owner of Thai FLASH

Thai-FLASH has been officially open for just over a few months now, but Chris and his partner Jesus Garcia have been cooking up their hit Thai food for over a year, catering to private parties and events. Check out their featured article here for more information.

Every single detail of this year?s festival was a complete success and for those who missed out, Battie and Axford will be around next year to liven up the beach scene and offer up great music, great art, and great food!