By Rachel Galvin
If you have lived in Deerfield Beach for awhile, you cannot wait for February because it means Pioneer Days is coming. It means a parade down Hillsboro Boulevard and plenty of arts and crafts vendors and entertainment on the beach.
This year, the event will take place February 18 and 19 and they are bringing back the bonfire on Sunday night from 6 to 9 p.m. The Festival of the Arts, held on the beach, will host over 100 vendors, live music, food trucks & more.
The poster for the Festival of the Arts (on left) was created by Barbara Allen. There was a contest and she was the lucky winner. Allen is a photographer and digital artist living in Pompano.
Are you ready for the parade? The floats and bands, and other participants. will line up at St. Ambrose Catholic School. The parade will begin at 10 a.m. and will go East on Hillsboro Boulevard, North on AIA, past the pier then South along the beach. Please be aware of road closures. The theme is Parading Through the Decades. They have yet to announce their Grand Marshal for the parade.
Following the parade, there will be an awards ceremony at the beach.
The fun on the beach starts at 10 a.m. and runs until 10 p.m. on Saturday and 6 p.m. on Sunday.
ENTERTAINMENT SCHEDULE
Saturday, Feb. 18
The Clean Slate Band, noon to 2 p.m.
Play It Again- The Luke Bryan Tribute Band, 2:30 to 3:30 p.m.
The Real Deal, 4 to 5:30 p.m.
Nostalijah, 6 to 7 p.m.
TBA, 7:30 to 9 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 19
Big City Dogs Band, noon to 2 p.m.
The Foreigner Experience – The Ultimate Tribute to Foreigner, 2:30 to 3:30 p.m.
The Chili Poppers – The ultimate Red Hot Chili Peppers Tribute experience, 4 to 5:45 p.m.
For more information, visit https://www.deerfield-beach.com/1179/Pioneer-Days. ABOVE BANDS & TIMES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE.
A personal note:
Yes, Pioneer Days holds a special place in this reporter’s heart. When we had Observer TV, I was out there interviewing people on the parade route. Jim Lusk from our office, who passed away last year, was always making sure to secure entertainers to help out the parade yearly. He brought in the Star Wars characters, Back to the Future actor impersonators, as well as a police car with a fake dog in the back that he loved. He also hosted the little league team, putting them on our Observer float, which he built every year, and serving them breakfast in the morning before the parade. The paper was a frequent sponsor of the team and also went out and took pictures of the games. Jim also helped build other floats or get trucks for people to use.
The Observer, when it was still in print, used to create a special section every year for Pioneer Days (and before that, it was Founders Days and, of course, before that, it was Cracker Days). The section wrapped around the regular newspaper and had information on bands, a message from the mayor, info. on the grand marshal, road closures and more. Many of us collaborated on that, although near the end, I was doing the bulk of it. It was quite an undertaking. The section was as long as the paper itself.
Our graphic designers, when we had two of them — Leslie and Patrick — had a contest to design different ideas for the cover and then we all would vote on the winner. We had some great designs through the years.
I hope to be able to someday put all of those issues up online. In the meantime, here is one I had easy access to. It is the 2013 version: https://issuu.com/observernewspaperonline/docs/02-16-12__founders__days_