Lake Wales' Orange Blossom Revue shifts focus from barbecue to more music

LAKE WALES – Since its inception seven years ago, Lake Wales’ Orange Blossom Revue has been a family-fun platter full of art, crafts, music and barbecue.

That remains true for the 2021 edition – but hold the barbecue.

For the first time in its seven-year history in Lake Wailes Park, the Orange Blossom Revue – a homage to Florida’s agricultural and cultural roots – will not feature a barbecue fundraiser or competition.

Instead, the Orange Blossom Revue’s organizers said more emphasis would be placed on the music component when the event takes place Friday and Saturday.

Rusty Ingley, Orange Blossom Revue co-chairman, said the event started as a barbecue fundraiser for the Lake Wales Rotary Club, then became a barbecue competition with live music.

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“This year is going to be our first year focusing on music. As much as we love the barbecue aspect of it, we can’t be all things to all people,” said Ingley, who co-founded the event with Reid Hardman. “We’re really trying to be hyper-focused on trying to do one thing, the music. We’re more into music and less into barbecue.”

As for the tune of this year’s Orange Blossom Revue, Ingley said the focus is on Americana roots music encompassing several music genres and mostly a merger of folk, country, blues, rhythm and blues, rock and roll, gospel and other American-born music styles.

The concert attendance will be capped at 3,500 people because of social distancing protocols. Because of coronavirus, the Revue wasn’t held in 2020. In 2019, about 3,000 people attended with no advance tickets sales and just an entrance fee.

The musical acts scheduled to play the 2021 Orange Blossom Revue are:

• Co-headliner Blackberry Smoke of Scottsdale, Georgia: A Southern rock, a five-piece band that has shared the stage with acts such as the Marshall Tucker Band, George Jones, Lynyrd Skynyrd and ZZ Top.

• Co-headliner The Wood Brothers of Atlanta: An American folk brother duo whose 2018 album “One Drop of Truth” was nominated for the Best Americana Album award at the 61st Grammy Awards.

• The Steeldrivers: Nashville-based bluegrass pickers were nominated for a Grammy Award in 2009 for “Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals” for their song "Blue Side of the Mountain."

• Hayes Carll of Woodlands, Texas: His song “Chances Are” was nominated for a Grammy as “Best Country Song” in 2016.

• Devon Gilfillian: a Nashville-based soul singer, whose 2020 album “Black Hole Rainbow” was nominated for a 2021 Grammy Award for “Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical.”

• Side Hustle: Jacksonville-based indie-funk band with elements of jazz and pop.

• Nicki Bluhm of Lafayette, California: Rock, soul and alt-country singer.

• Ryan Montbleau of Peabody, Massachusetts: Solo funk, blues, soul and Americana guitarist-singer.

• The Hummingbirds: Husband-wife duo S.G. and Rachel Wood, Detroit natives now living in Tampa, playing a mix of folk and country.

Times for each band are listed at www.orangeblossomrevue.com.

Oliver Wood of The Wood Brothers said he hoped the Revue would be a fun way for people to reconnect with live music after long breaks in bands touring because of the ongoing pandemic. He said he thinks the audience will see “happy musicians, eager to connect with music fans after such a long break from touring.”

To his recollection, the Orange Blossom Revue will be The Wood Brothers’ first show in Polk County and he’s eager to bring their sound to the area.

“We are looking forward to playing for people in person again and being with other musicians, people singing and dancing together again and forgetting about their problems for a few hours; it will be a welcome sight,” he stated by email.

To keep festival goers happy and full, Ingley said there will be a variety of food vendors on-site, selling a mix of American, Asian, Mexican, Italian and other ethnic and specialty foods.

Sales from food and drinks and vendor rental spaces for the 2021 Orange Blossom Revue will go to the Blossom Charitable Foundation, founded in 2021 by Ingley and Hardman. That foundation was organized to promote the culture of Lake Wales and create awareness for its growing arts.

A shift in providing direct funding for the Rotary to their newly created foundation will allow Ingley and Hardman to distribute funding where they see it’s most needed – primarily arts and recreation programming in Lake Wales.

“This is the year we’re making a hard pivot. This is a big investment,” Ingley said. “There’s a lot of big decisions that come with it. We really wanted to kind of make art and recreation…accessible to whoever wanted to do it.”

As for the Orange Blossom Revue's lasting appeal and popularity, Ingley said the Revue board’s vision has attracted interest not only from those who attend or want to attend, but also by sponsors.

“We were able to get…people to believe in what we wanted to do,” said Ingley, a Lake Wales native and an accountant with his family firm. “We’ve treated it very professionally and really tried to make an impact. We’ve never lost money, and we keep refining the event. We believe the (Orange Blossom Revue) gets people to explore our town and see there’s a little more to Lake Wales than meets the eye.”

The 2021 Orange Blossom Revue will have COVID-19 precautions in place, with contactless transactions, extra hand washing stations and close communication with state health officials.

If you go

WHAT: 2021 Orange Blossom Revue

WHEN: Gates at 2 p.m., open until 10 p.m. Friday; gates at 1 p.m., open until 10 p.m., Saturday.

WHERE: Lake Wailes Park, 33 N. Lake Shore Blvd., intersection of Park Avenue.

COST: $85 weekend general admission; $55 daily pass; $200 VIP; ticket prices will increase the week of the event, check website for updates.

INFO: 863-221-4911; www.orangeblossomrevue.com.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Orange Blossom Revue opens Friday with a bigger emphasis on Music