Original 1996 Jacksonville Jazz Festival Poster Unused VG Mike Barnhart WJCT

Description: Wonderful vintage Jacksonville Jazz Festival Poster. This item and others like it are original, old stock posters that have never been displayed, used or hung - and have been safely protected and stored for many ears. The colors are vibrant, there are no pin holes or tears, the corners are sharp, and the item is in very good to excellent condition overall. Please note: For this Poster year I have multiples available - the listing photos are representative - each poster that ships may vary just slightly but will be in this good or better of condition. Measures approximately 22" x 32" Any questions just ask. Will ship (rolled) with extra care. Happy to combine shipping. Check out other listings for similar Jacksonville Jazz Festival posters from other years. ---- The Jacksonville Jazz Festival is an annual music festival that has been held for more than 40 years. The festival begins with the Jacksonville Jazz Piano Competition, followed by three days of live, free entertainment on multiple stages set in downtown Jacksonville, FL. In 1979, Jake Godbold was elected Mayor of Jacksonville. He and aide Mike Tolbert founded the Jazz festival and envisioned it as an event that would help the struggling fishing village of Mayport. It began as a one-day free concert featuring regional talent and a major headliner. The producers expected a few hundred people to show up, but a crowd of 25,000 turned out. The following year, attendance was even higher and Mayport could not handle the crowds. The Mayport Naval Base was uncomfortable with such a big crowd on their border, so the event moved to the newly opened Metropolitan Park in 1982. It remained a free concert as costs were low (Dizzy Gillespie headlined the 1981 show for just $7,500) and sponsors were willing to support it. Churches and other groups provided food and drinks which helped make money. At one time, before Channel 7 decided to use it as a fundraiser, 100,000 people attended. In 1985, the production was turned over to public television station WJCT and they used it as their primary fund-raising event for many years. In the mid-1980s, big-name entertainers started raising their rates to perform. The 1986 festival featured Miles Davis for approximately $25,000, more than three times the cost of the headliner five years earlier. Costs began to rise faster than sponsorship money, so the show in 1995 included a $5 admission to help cover the shortfall. Vic DiGenti, who produced the event from 1993 to 2000 stated, "We probably lost some of those people who just want to come and hang out, and drink beer." In the late 1990s attendance rose to 20,000, but that wasn't enough to cover shrinking sponsorships and rising artists' contracts. After the show in 2000, WJCT announced their withdrawal of sponsorship, citing large losses, resulting in no festival in 2001 and 2002

Price: 44.09 USD

Location: Saint Augustine, Florida

End Time: 2025-02-05T20:16:25.000Z

Shipping Cost: 8 USD