Indialantic Mayor Dave Berkman and Melbourne Beach Mayor Jim Simmons have been busy cooking up something big for south barrier island residents.
The inaugural Eats and Beats on the Beach festival, a “green” event, will debut the evening of April 6 at Nance Park in Indialantic – a true partnership of the two neighboring towns. It will feature 10 food and dessert trucks, live music by the Billy Chapman Band, the Long Doggers beer fire truck, superheroes and princesses, a raffle, a scavenger hunt and the Hoover Junior High School Band to kick off the event at 5 p.m. Festivities run until 10 p.m.
Simmons described the joint effort, which will benefit the Sebastian Inlet Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation. “Over the past four years, Dave and I have worked together on many issues that are important to Indialantic and Melbourne Beach, especially in finding ways to reduce plastic waste. Melbourne Beach served as a pilot for Surfrider’s reusable bag initiative and, when Dave found out about it, he was quick to bring it to Indialantic,” Simmons said.
“With Eats & Beats, we’ll have another opportunity to further our efforts to reduce plastic waste,” Simmons said, as paper products will be encouraged, and Styrofoam and single-use plastic containers highly discouraged.
“But, the big opportunity is bring our towns’ residents, who already share so many activities such as church, schools, youth sports and a beach-side lifestyle, together for a relaxed night of good food, great music and a lot of fun,” Simmons said.
Police and fire vehicles and personnel from both towns will be on hand, as will Indialantic’s new Community Policing Officer.
“This event allows us to bring our communities together to have a great night out while promoting how important it is to take care of our fragile environment,” Berkman said. “We made it super family friendly, we have several unique activities for our kids and for our adults we have great music and drink.” Admission is free, and pedicabs will be at the ready to help with parking.
Go to www.eatsandbeatsbeach.com for details.