Beach Road Weekend is coming back

Promoter promises three days of music, but ‘Jaws’ is not a done deal.

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Adam Epstein, promoter of Beach Road Weekend, says stay tuned for an announcement on the dates of next summer's event. - Gabrielle Mannino

Beach Road Weekend is coming back for an encore this summer at Veterans Memorial Park in Vineyard Haven. The dates haven’t been announced. The acts are still in the works.

“It is 100 percent going to happen,” said Adam Epstein, CEO of Innovation Arts & Entertainment, promoter of the three-day festival that debuted last August. “We know the dates. We’ve locked them in. We’re going to announce them next week.”

When the dates are announced, folks will understand Beach Road Weekend organizers have tried to avoid big events on the Island and off-Island like the Newport Jazz Festival. “You’ll see the decision will have been thoughtfully determined. It will have been a process of elimination,” he said.

New for this year is three days of music. Epstein would like to repeat the showing of “Jaws” with the Cape Cod Symphony Orchestra playing the score, but said it’s an expensive proposition and he’s looking for corporate sponsorships to make it happen again on its own. If it happens, he’d like to make it a ticketed event, but the price to be free.

On Aug. 9 families sat on blankets and watching the Vineyard-based classic under starry skies, which Epstein called a highlight of the first-year festival.

“We loved it. It was one of the highlights of my professional career,” he said. “What it said to me is we provided a safe environment for families … It was a thrill. It takes a lot of confidence for parents to leave children alone in a park. There were no complaints. No crime. That just thrilled us all. We want to replicate that experience again. We want to deliver another safe comfortable experience in the park.”
Back to the concerts. Epstein said the bands that are under consideration include known names that cross all the genres. There’s even a crooner in the mix, he said.

“It’s killer,” he said. “I’m so proud of what we’ve done. We’re really excited about what we have here.”

Also new this year are partnerships with the travel and tourism industry, Epstein said. Island hotels, which were largely booked by the time last year’s festival got its final approvals, have agreed to provide special pricing for festival goers. Those packages, which will include transportation, concert tickets, and hotel stays, will be announced next week, too.

6 COMMENTS

  1. Please have a better selection of beer. Had to be about the worst beer out there last summer. How about supporting island brews??? Lazy Frog? Maya Mae?

  2. Now that Adam has jumped in feet first, here come the complaints. Again from the usual suspects.
    No.. they will not have the event to compete with the AG fair. If the beer is the only thing that you are worried about, You need to get a life. It’s about entertainment and community. Did you skip over the idea for a FREE movie on the first day?

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