Music festival promises a range of genres

As the President and CEO of Schroeder-Manatee Ranch, Rex Jensen constantly looks for ways to put Lakewood Ranch on the map.

He hopes his latest project, Winterfest at Lakewood Ranch, will help him accomplish that feat.

Although thousands of tickets have been sold to the music festival so far, Jensen has his eye on the bigger picture.

“It is our intention to grow Winterfest into a music event that rivals the biggest festivals in the country. And where better to do that than here in Lakewood Ranch during the winter and spring? I can’t think of (a place),” Rex Jensen said.

The all-day festival, the first of its kind in East County, runs from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. March 29, and will feature more than local up-and-comers at Premier Sports Campus at Lakewood Ranch. Jensen’s team recruited bands with history and reputations, ideals Jensen hopes will one-day be synonymous with Lakewood Ranch.

Event organizers in charge of finding worthy talent consisted of Del Couch and members of his foundation — one of the two benefiting charities of the event, along with The Special Operations Warrior Foundation.

Couch knew Cyndee Boelkins, booking agent for Southern Star Productions and board member of The Deal Couch Foundation, could bring big talent together for the event.

She wanted the event to feature bands as diverse in age as they are in genre.

“I selected the bands by researching the demographics for Lakewood Ranch and surrounding area,” Boelkins said. “We wanted to attract those who would spend money on a multi-genre event and the age group was those between 30-65 years old. The bands were selected by audience appeal, name recognition and making sure everyone was different than the other.”

Boelkins’ agency books shows for musicians, such as Jeff Cook, founder of Country group Alabama, and member of Jeff Cook and the Allstar Goodtime Band (AGB), who event attendees can expect to see this weekend.

This trip marks the singer’s first time in East County.

Although his career started with the Wildcountry band, today known as Alabama, Cook will take the main stage from 7 to 8 p.m., with AGB — a “funtry” group, which combines country, soul and rock ‘n’ roll genres in its performances.

Cook promises a show as energetic as his audience.

“This is true no matter which band I play in,” Cook said, “I take the energy the audience generates and put it back into the show. Everybody has a good time.”

Bands to perform among the more than 11 acts include Kansas, The Jake Castro Band, the Lt. Dan Band and a variety of local performers.

The event, which took about a year to pull together, will also feature more than 50 food and drink vendors, along with 25 craft booths to comprise the biggest music event in Lakewood Ranch’s history.

 “Winterfest is in its first year, and it will only grow and get better,” Boelkins said. “Bands in this lineup are headliners when they are out on the road; having this many name bands in one day is not the norm.”

For more information on the festival, visit lwrwinterfest.com.

Contact Amanda Sebastiano at [email protected].