Up to 16,000 people were expected to attend the 2024 Jazz in the Garden music festival in the city of Miami Gardens, Black Promoters Collective (BPC) co-founder Troy Brown told BLACK ENTERPRISE. That’s twice the previous year’s headcount when Live Nation coordinated the notable event. When it was all said and done, Brown and his eight business partners, Gary Guidry, Shelby Joyner, William Ingram, Shahidi Mausi, Lionel Bea, Sulaiman Mausi, Janice Cotton, and Walter Reeder, partnered with the City of Miami Gardens and pulled off a monumental festival that was well-attended to the tune of 41,000 people. The successful partnership came after one of the members met the city’s Vice Mayor, Katrina Wilson.
“I was at the Ben Crump law school dedication at St. Thomas University, and [Brown] walked in behind Will Smith,” Wilson told
BE. “They say, That’s the guy from the Black Promoter Collective,’ and I ask, what’s the black collector? They say, ‘Oh, they do concerts all around.’”Wilson continued: “I say, go get him … He’s going to do Jazz in the Gardens.”
That chance meeting led to an unforgettable weekend that kicked off with activations around the city. The first being a tasting event on March 8 at City Hall that showcased culinary businesses that would be on deck at Jazz in the Gardens festival, like Popo’s Seafood, known for its insanely delicious conch salad and sticky wings, TJ’s Southern Kitchen, Grillz on Wheels, Reeds C. Catering, and Reggae Beets Food Truck.
For International Women’s Day, the city of Miami Gardens hosted The Women’s Impact Luncheon with singer extraordinaire Fantasia as keynote speaker. Attendees included local dignitaries, Divine 9 sororities, and Miami Gardens residents.
“The true highlight of the day, our main speaker was Fantasia Barino,” Neki Mohan said.
“There was a group of young girls from an elementary school in Miami Gardens … and she advised them to be confident, to be purposeful, and to put God first.
“She hugged and loved on them,” Mohan continued: “And for them to see such a powerful woman come down and just give them such life, light and grace. There was not a dry eye in the room.
On the evening of March 9, Kid Capri, BoWeezy, DJ Tight, She-J Hercules, and DJ Nasty kept partygoers on their toes, spinning old-school classics and new-school bops for the Jazz in the Gardens opening night party at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino’s DAER Dayclub.
Miami Gardens has a storied history as one of the Blackest cities in the state of Florida, the ninth-largest Black populous nationally, and the 65th globally. Its former mayor, Sheryl Gibson, who held office from 2003 to 2012, had a vision for transforming the city from an economically depressed community into a thriving city.
“We’re very, very proud that Miami Gardens has become a major artery of the Black community in South Florida.” Vice Mayor Wilson shared.
In its seventeenth year, with Black Promoters Collective at the helm, the Jazz in the Gardens music festival did not disappoint. The two-day event brought a strong lineup of global and national artists, including Babyface, Jaheim, Eric Bellinger, Tink, Omarion, Jeezy, Lil Kim, Jazmine Sullivan, Marsha Ambrosia, Tamia, and Davido, among others.
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