Festivals Season 2026 roared in during the Easter holiday weekend with three homecomings hosted across Eleuthera, including the Lower Bogue homecoming in North Eleuthera, the James’ Cistern (JC) heritage festival in Central, and the Rock Sound homecoming in the south of the island.
At the southern end of Eleuthera, on Saturday night, Rock Sound, was abuzz, with large crowds flanking the stage, enjoying the live performance sounds of the return of ‘The Boat Man’ show with Bahamian headliner KB (Kirkland H. Bodie), and guest artists, Mama D and Shine 242, with The Pond Band, electrifying the audience, which filled the grounds and street surrounding the Rock Sound Homecoming site.
Ms. Patronique Adderley, a member of the homecoming committee in Rock Sound, talking about the week-long fest in the south, said that homecoming stalls and vendor sales at the site actually began on Monday, March 30th – with an official opening service on Thursday, used as an opportunity to honour homecoming stakeholders. On Friday night, Bahamian performing artists Fanshawn, Iron Storr, Avi, Rycon Bahamas and Jonny Cake commanded the homecoming stage, and a gospel concert, with Shara J and Jay Mitchell, closed out entertainment on Sunday.
Moments before he was set to take to the stage on Saturday night, KB, renown Bahamian performing artist, and author of the famed “The Boat Man” song, took a few moments to talk about the return of ‘The Boat Man’ show to Eleuthera, saying, “We had such a great time last year. We wanted to do it twice and ‘Keep the Vibe Alive’ music group, they decided, you know what, let’s come back to Rock Sound and do this again… It seems to be the biggest homecoming right now next to Crab Fest. So this is happening… They did a great job and people are loving the show.”
Sharing a bit about himself as well as a positive shift he’s witnessed in the local entertainment industry, KB said,”Well, I know for some reason I should be gone, but I’m still here. Still carrying on, still holding up the Bahamian culture. Still trying – because that was always my main thing – trying… One time ago, there were not enough Bahamians or Bahamian entertainers to do these jobs. Now we have more Bahamian entertainers, but we have so many regattas and homecomings now – that we still don’t have enough Bahamian entertainers to fill the slots. That’s a good thing. I find it’s a good thing. So we’ve got to bring more entertainers.”
A prolific songwriter and producer, KB also talked about some of his latest projects, commenting that a lot of his work focuses on writing and producing, “If you’ve heard songs like ‘My Ship Is Coming In’ from Mama D, that was one of my projects. We had Fanshawn with ‘Rescue Me’. I’ve been doing a lot of projects. Also ‘KB and Friends Vol. 5’ just came out last year. So I’ve been doing a lot of work.”
He continued, “I also do stuff for myself… and I work with Leslie Turnquest with ‘Keep the Vibe Alive Entertainment’ music group, and we try to get the music out there… Right now the markets are inundated with Bahamian music, so we’re pulling back, but we’ve got to be doing different things… All we’re doing is keep pushing, pushing, pushing and hope that one day we can get the music international… But you know what? For now, we got the Bahamian people embracing it and loving it. That’s what matters more.
“We’ve got a lot of bands, we’ve got a lot of things. We come up with different ideas. We have the Boat Man shows. We’ve been doing this now for about three years now, and it’s still carrying on. It’s still going. The Boat Man song has been a real boost to my career.”
In words directed to his fans in Eleuthera, KB encouraged, “Embrace the Bahamian culture. This is your music. This is your culture. Just like how Jamaica embraces their own. How Haiti embraces what’s theirs. We do this for you… We sacrifice a lot for this. So that’s what I want out of it. I love you, Eleuthera… Beautiful island…”
James’ Cistern on Friday evening boasted an entertainment lineup, including classic Bahamian vocal artist, Veronica Bishop, along with Shine 242 – both backed up by local talents, the New Vision band. Also included on the entertainment list in JC during the weekend were, Blaudy, L. Polly, Jonny Cake, Sweet Emily, Kenyatta Taylor and Christian Massive. Glenda Ingraham, co-chair with the organizing committee, commenting on this year’s heritage festival, said, “It’s been quite a lineup for us this year. And this is the most entertainment we have ever seen here in James’ Cistern… This year we started on Wednesday, April 1st through to Monday, April 6th. So we have had some five, six days of top notch performances.”
As a culture and heritage festival, James’ Cistern’s weekend of planned activities included something for everyone in the family, said Mrs. Ingraham, describing, “We’ve had quite a bit of events and entertainment for the children. Of course we have the Kiddies Corner, then we have had some street races like the Egg and the Spoon, the Tug of War and the Sack race – and of course the Bouncing Castle. On Saturday morning between the hours of 10am to 2pm, we have the Junior Sailing Club that’s going to be featured (hosted by the Eleuthera Sailing Club based in Savannah Sound). So, all the children can participate in that. This is the first time it has been held in James’ Cistern, so we’re looking forward to it.”
The organizing committee for the JC Heritage Festival, shared Glenda, looked forward to making the proceeds of the weekend work for the community. This year’s project planned, she said, was to erect two bus stops for the school children within the township, so they would have a safe and dry location to shelter in the case of rain, as they waited for the school bus each morning – the first would be centrally located in the township, and another at the northern end.
In North Eleuthera during the holiday weekend, Lower Bogue’s entertainment slate for the Easter during their festivities, themed, “Can You See It,” included the exciting performing talents of Fanshawn, Blaudy, and DMac, with special guest artist, ‘The Singing Bishop’ – all backed up by Shaad Collie and the VIP Band.
See the full photo feature in the March/April Issue of The Eleutheran Newspaper.
