From left: TEATT Minister Grisha Heyliger-Marten with Mark Adkins, CEO of Soul Beach Festival Productions and Darren Featherstone of the Soul Beach Team, in front of the St. Maarten Tourist Office on Front Street, Philipsburg.
PHILIPSBURG--The Soul Beach Music Festival (SBMF) is coming back to St. Maarten, where it began in the Caribbean as the Sinbad Soul Music Festival in 1995.
The popular music festival held usually during the Memorial Day weekend, thereafter became an annual feature of Aruba’s tourism offerings for almost a quarter of a century.
“We are most excited to welcome the Soul Beach Music Festival back to St. Maarten,” announced Grisha Heyliger-Marten, Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunication (TEATT). “Those who remember its beginning here as the Sinbad Soul Music Festival will recall the buzz and impact it had in attracting especially African American tourists to our island. I am therefore very pleased that it is returning to its roots more than a generation later.”
The Soul Beach Music Festival has become the perennial music festival for African American tourism in the Caribbean region. With a top-notch professional team of logistics and production crew, boasting an enviable track record of putting on safe and well-organised events that have attracted A-list artistes, the festival has built up a following of loyal tourists and continues to attract thousands of first-time visitors to the host destinations. Aruba is a perfect example.
According to its summary of activities, the 2024 Soul Beach Music Festival in Aruba added more than US $20 million to that island’s economy during the festival week alone. It also brought in over 7,000 visitors who stayed more than an average of seven nights on the island, with the highest average expenditure per trip of any travel group. The festival also impacted the increase of African American tourism year-round from 1% to 11% of all US travel to Aruba.
Mark Adkins, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Soul Beach Festival Productions Inc., producer of the music festival, was elated about the return of the event to St. Maarten. “First, I have to say that I feel truly blessed to have been a part of producing something that I loved for so many years,” he stated in an invited comment. “When my brother, Sinbad, was determined to film a ’70s Soul Music special for HBO in 1995, I just never knew it would lead me to find my passion for producing festivals. I can’t believe that 2025 will mark 30 years exactly since first being bit by this ‘Festival Production’ bug,” he said.
“Now, if you add the divine intervention of returning to our roots, St. Maarten, where it all began, then you know something special is in the soup,” Adkins continued. “From going to our first meeting and seeing the familiar and welcoming faces of Regina Labega and Bernadette Davis, who pushed and worked to make the first Festival a reality, then coupled with the impact of first-time introductions to honourable Minister Grisha Heyliger-Marten and Honourable Vice President Valérie Damasseu, this was really meant to be.”
According to Adkins, the two officials “were both so impressive with their understanding of the event and their pride for St. Maarten [that – Ed.] I truly felt back home.” He noted that at one point, “Minister Heyliger-Marten looked over at us very directly [and] stated, ‘I know how important this event is.’ That confidence in our team really let me know it would be back in St. Maarten.”
“Now, a few months later, we just launched the website and immediately people are booking, excited. The posts, emails, calls all confirm that they are all ready to come home to the Soul Beach Music Festival on St. Maarten,” Adkins said.
The plans for the 2025 edition of the festival are aimed at “highlighting St. Maarten/St. Martin’s unique experiences by presenting festival-goers with shared interest events such as fine dining/chef promotions, wellness offerings, celebrity golf outings and cultural tours.”
“Now that we have brought the Soul Beach Music Festival back home, we will do everything we can to ensure its success here for the next several generations,” Minister Heyliger-Marten said, adding: “Coming on the heels of our annual Carnival celebrations, this will further extend the tourist season and possibly even have a spin-off effect on Carnival itself.”
The expectations are that the music festival will attract over 4,000 stay-over visitors to the island, which will result in an immediate return on investment for the island’s economy, apart from the high added value of advertising and marketing of the St. Maarten brand.
