Country music stars, teen band headline events

By Samantha Joseph

Staff writer

MARTIN COUNTY - Downtown Jensen Beach will host thousands this weekend as part of the 22nd annual Pineapple Festival, set for Nov. 6-8.

Country music singer Pat Green is set to headline the Friday concert, at 8 p.m.

Country signer Julianne Hough, a former ballroom instructor on the ABC show "Dancing with the Stars," is Saturday's headliner.

Boy band Honor Society is the featured entertainer on Sunday, with a show slated to begin at 1 p.m.

The event has also attracted Maximum Velocity, a profession BMX bicycle and skate boarding stunt team that will put on live shows.

The popular festival pays homage to Jensen Beach's agricultural heritage.

In around 1895, the area earned the nickname "pineapple capital of the world," because it sold more than 1 million boxes of the fruit each summer.

The outdoor celebration runs along Jensen Beach Boulevard, Ricou Terrace and Maple Avenue, and brings visitors from South Florida and the Treasure Coast.

It also celebrates Jensen Beach's strong ties to an island town with a similar heritage.

Although hundreds of miles apart, Jensen Beach's past mirrors that of Gregory Town, a quaint settlement on the Bahamian island of Eleuthera, which holds a pineapple festival every summer.

Gregory Town and Jensen Beach bonded over their similar pasts, and in 1990, they formed a sister-city relationship that has gone well beyond the festivals.

The local annual festival features the heart-pounding rhythms of Junkanoo, a 200-year-old Caribbean celebration that draws thousands of visitors yearly to the Islands of the Bahamas.

"Each year we do this, it's special," said Ron Rose, executive director of the Jensen Beach Chamber of Commerce, which organizes the event. "I'm really excited about having Julianne Hough there, just because of her popularity, and because this is the last stop on her concert stop. I'm also looking forward to the BMX show, and I've always looked forward to the Bahamians coming over."

Tickets for the event cost $15. Free parking and shuttle service are available at the Treasure Coast Mall. For more information, visit www.pineapplefestival.info.