Margaritafest starts Friday in Lexington
While Jimmy Buffett won’t be there to party with them, the residents of Lexington will be dancing in his honor.
Margaritafest starts at 7 p.m. Friday and the dancing continues through Saturday night at Tierney Park in downtown Lexington.
Thousands of Buffett minions will be clad in Hawaiian print, coconut bras, leis, hula skirts, tropical garb and pirate-themed costumes.
“It’s all about the flip-flops,” said Crystal Partaka, Margaritafest organizer. “It’s a different kind of music-in-the-park weekend, it’s laid back with more dancing — they dance all night long and the dance area is usually packed.”
The free event starts with a golf cart parade and limbo contest at 7 p.m. Friday. The golf carts are judged on their best Margaritaville-themed decorations. The music starts with local Port Huron-based band Ten Beach Drive at 7:30 p.m. While it typically ends at 10 p.m., Partaka said it depends on if the crowd is successful at egging on the bands to play longer.
Ken Nofs, of Ten Beach Drive, said the festival always is fun.
“We have been playing together for nearly 20 years and have played at the past two festivals,” Nofs said. “We do a lot of beach and summertime party music.”
In addition to playing Buffett covers, Nofs said crowds can expect to hear the beach-style songs of the Zac Brown Band, Kenny Chesney and Van Morrison — specifically, “Brown Eyed Girl.”
“We will also have a saxophone player and a fiddle player with us, which we don’t usually have, to give it a more instrumental, lively sound,” he said.
Nofs said the audience dances along and enjoys being in paradise, at least for a couple of hours.
Saturday starts with decorated boats docked in the harbor with a judging based on their best decorations as well.
Air Margaritaville plays at 7:30 p.m.
“The boats are decorated with palm trees, coconuts, cheeseburger hats, limes, oranges and bananas and any fruit they can find and a lot of different colored lights on the boat,” Partaka said.
The event draws nearly 5,000 people over the course of the weekend.
“People start early in the day and have cookout in the park beforehand,” she said. “This year we have a margarita machine and will be serving non-alcoholic lime margaritas.”
She said while organizers don’t have a permit to sell alcohol at the event, local restaurants will be serving up margaritas.
Contact Nicole Hayden at (810) 989-6279 or nhayden@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @NicoleHayden_TH.
If you go
Margaritafest
Limbo contest and golf-cart contest
•When: 7 p.m. Friday, music starts at 7:30 p.m.
• Where: Tierney Park
Boat decorating contest
• When: 7 p.m. Saturday, music starts at 7:30 p.m.
• Where: Tierney Park