OXNARD : City’s 1st Reggae Jam to Feature 14 Bands

A lineup of 14 different reggae bands is scheduled to appear this weekend at Oxnard’s first Reggae Jam on the Coast at College Park.

Popular acts including the San Diego-based band Big Mountain, the Jamaican ensemble Toots and the Maytals, and Nigerian guitarist King Sunny Ade are scheduled to perform.

Concert producer Michael Levine said he picked the Oxnard site after attending this year’s Strawberry Festival.

“I saw their success, and how beautiful the venue is and thought it might work,” said Levine, who works with the San Francisco-based music promoter Events West.

Organizers are modeling the Oxnard reggae festival on the decade-old annual concert called Reggae on the River in Humboldt County. Levine expects from 3,000 to 5,000 people to attend and said he hopes that the concert will become an annual event in Oxnard.

The festivities are set to begin at 11 a.m. Saturday with a performance by Azumah, a South African dance and marimba group, and will go until about 8 p.m., finishing with performances by Big Mountain and Toots and the Maytals.

The show will resume again Sunday at 11 a.m. with local ska band the Lion I’s and finish around 7 p.m. with King Sunny Ade and Inner Circle, a Jamaican band. Tickets are available for $22.50 at College Park, 3250 S. Rose Ave., Oxnard.