2017 Oyster Jam Music Festival and Southeast US Boat Show called off for this weekend

Jacksonville, FL — A longtime Jacksonville festival will not take place this weekend, unless there are some last minute surprises.

The Oyster Jam Music Festival and Southeast US Boat Show has been called off. The event’s website says they were planned for this weekend at Met Park, but the City of Jacksonville says that was not ever official.

“While we value our long-standing relationship with the Southeast US Boat Show, Current Productions had failed to make final payments to the City for their 2016 event, which did not allow them to reserve 2017 dates,” says Jacksonville Public Affairs Director Marsha Oliver.

Oliver says Current Productions- who puts on the event- reached out last June about reserving Met Park for this weekend. She says Current was immediately told they could not reserve the venue because they had an outstanding balance of $12,711 which would have to be settled first.

Jimmy Hill, the President of Current Productions, tells WOKV that the invoice wasn’t initially given to them by the City. When they were told about it a few months later, Hill says they asked to break it in to payments because of a recent financial hit they had taken connected to an accident involving the Visit Jacksonville boat, leaving their reserve tapped. He says the City declined, so they worked to resolve it as quickly as they could.

Oliver says, in July, the City sent a reminder about the outstanding balance, and in October, the City offered to put Current on a payment plan. During this time, she says the City got a bounced check from Current and they got a bill collector involved.

In mid-November, Danny Wimmer Presents- producers of Welcome to Rockville- formally claimed the dates. Oliver says there was no requirement for the City to notify Current, but they did, and offered to work with that company to find other dates for their festival. In February, the City further offered to facilitate between Rockville and Oyster Jam to try to come up with a collaborative solution, and while Oliver says Rockville was open and amicable, she says there were some terms that Oyster Jam wouldn’t agree to.

“The boat show has a great legacy and is an important event in the city. We have been working with the city and boat show to try to  accommodate their needs without compromising the safety and efficiency of our schedule,” says a statement from Danny Wimmer Presents CEO Danny Hayes.

Hill says they have had a longstanding request for these dates- with the event going back twenty years- and this is the first time the City is giving Rockville additional time for move-in. He tells WOKV he was told several times by the City’s Sports and Entertainment Department that the event would be able to move forward, and until recently it appeared that things continued to move closer to full resolution and documentation.

“Every day we would communicate with Special Events, and every day we would be moved closer with information, and a chain of communication was never a ‘no’, it was always a ‘we're moving forward’,” Hill says.

Oliver says at no time did Oyster Jam have the dates for this weekend reserved or confirmed. Hill says he received verbal confirmation several times, and has other written communications that shows they were being told the event would happen.

Even now, Hill is hoping that they can reach a resolution with the City, although he says they need confirmation by Tuesday in order to make things work logistically.

“We will fight through this, we will survive this, and we will keep providing the best event, and that's what we think we are, kind of the crown jewel of non-sports events Downtown,” he says.

WOKV has requested written documentation from both sides to support their timeline and accounts of how this situation has moved forward through the past year.

The Oyster Jam Music Festival and Southeast US Boat Show includes live music, art, food, seminars, a shucking contest, and more. The Boat Show would be in its 21st year this year. While the event always provided entertainment, those elements were formally classified and marketed as the Oyster Jam Music Festival a few years ago.

Hill says, regardless of how this resolves this year, he will continue to fight to keep the event in Jacksonville in the future.