Reggae Sunfest at The Pretty Penny
On Saturday, August 2nd, the Pretty Penny Café will hold its third annual Reggae Sunfest at the café in Hillsboro, WV.
Owner Blair Campbell explained that the day of music and Caribbean food has become a celebration of the sun in the heart of summer. “It grows our food and keeps us happy,” she said, “and so what more could you celebrate than the sun?”
The festival starts Saturday afternoon at 1pm, with a lineup of live music and DJs until 10pm. “Lazy Man Dub’s going to be first up at 1pm,”Campbell said, “and then we’re going to have an hour of DJ Roast Fish and Prince Pauper—they’re two DJs coming from Atlanta and from New Orleans. Then at 4pm is going to be I-Vibes, and then at 7pm or 8pm will be Shawn Owen.”
Admission is $10, and kids 12 and under get in for free. There will be corn hole, a Jamaican game called Ludi, and a moon bounce for kids during the day. Sunfest will also include authentic Caribbean food, with a menu of Jerk pork, curry chicken, rice and peas, and Jamaican patty.
With this annual event, Campbell brings something different to Hillsboro, encouraging others to love reggae music and Jamaican culture as much as she does.
“At the end of the day, I can listen to most anything,” she said. “I went through a big hip-hop phase, and I love to listen to Americana and singer/songwriters, but I always know that reggae is never going to let me down. It’s just about love and family and friendship.”
“I appreciate where people in Jamaica have come from and I know a lot about that country,” Campbell said. “It’s really similar to West Virginia to me. It’s a high tourist area, there’s a lot of extraction, a lot like West Virginia. But the difference to me is we all have to struggle with the snow here, but because of the weather in Jamaica, they’re just a happy people. And I like people that even if they have these troubles or these sorrows, at the end of the day, they know Mother Nature’s there and they know God is there, everything’s going to be alright.”
For more information about Sunfest and the Pretty Penny Cafe, visit prettypennyfood.com or call 304-653-2646.
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