Moonsplash is in its 18th year of operation and this year will receive a face lift. The Anguillian had the opportunity to sit down with the iconic Bankie Banx this past Sunday, March 23 at the new and improved Dune Preserve to speak about the Reggae Festival.

L to R: James Connor, Dr. Linda Banks and Amelia Vanterpool-Kubisch

The headliners of the festival will of course be Bankie Banx as well as current sensation Taurus Riley with his hit song “She’s Royal” who is scheduled to play Friday night. Steel Pulse, Saturday night’s headliner, is a reggae icon who has been around for years. Among those names will also be acts such as One White Chick and Masud Sadiki. The headlining acts are set to come on stage at midnight both Friday and Saturday.
Also, just this past Wednesday, March 26, at a press briefing in the Anguilla Tourist Board building, Amelia Vanterpool-Kubisch presented a check to Dr. Linda Banks and Olaide Banks in the amount of USD $25,000 for the festival. This recent check brings the amount of contributions towards this year’s Moonsplash to USD $75,000. Mrs. Vanterpool-Kubisch highlighted the fact that Moonsplash is one of the longest running events in Anguilla next to the Summer Festival and that is why they receive the ATB’s full support. Besides just money, the ATB also gives marketing services to help promote which are invaluable. Olaide Banks said, “we want Moonsplash to attract people by making it uniquely Anguillian and that is why we have the boat race, arts and crafts, and the venue itself is highly Anguillian as the stage in and of itself is a former racing boat.”
In the past, the Moonsplash Festival has mainly been a two night event (Friday and Saturday), yet with the help of big sponsors such as Cable and Wireless Anguilla, National Bank of Anguilla, The Anguilla Tourist Board and Caribbean Liquors and Tobaccos, it will be a full four day event. Bankie mentioned that Moonsplash has survived for many years without money and with creativity, passion and ingenuity the event has grown bigger each year. What has been sustaining Moonsplash for all these years was a barter deal the organizers had with Coors Light in which they would provide cases of beer in the form of sponsorship and from the sales the event could be paid for. The only problem in the past is that the event could only be paid for over the course of two days. Now with the additional sponsorship, there can be a full four day event that not only occurs at night, but during the day in the form of beach jams, picnics and cultural events including local arts and crafts. Dale Carty, Executive Chef and Owner of Tasty’s, will be spearheading the food area and Gabrial Karen is in charge of putting together some special arts and crafts for the event. Bankie also mentioned that there will also be a music seminar for the musicians participating in the show as well as local artists so that they can learn about the music industry as a whole.
The Jimmy Buffet concert last year gave way to giving the Dune Preserve a new look. It also made it a more viable venue for more large scale and professional grade concerts. Recently, the Dune received even further renovations with a new beach bar setup and dining area right on the beach in Rendezvous Bay. Along with the setup is a full service kitchen providing for a top notch restaurant in which people can enjoy the beach and listen to live music. The Dune Preserve has recently become the new hang out spot for locals and tourists not only during the week but on Sundays when there is live music during the day and is frequented by many.
Bankie said, “this year’s Moonsplash will be fabulous and we want to see people pumping up the day beach scene in addition to the concerts at night.” Moonsplash is dedicated to bringing both new and seasoned reggae artists to Anguilla to keep the music and tradition alive. The festival will be from March 27-30 and tickets can be found all over Anguilla. For more information, contact the Anguilla Tourist Board.

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