MARINE CORPS AIR STATION IWAKUNI, Japan -- More than 800 locals flooded the Torii Pines golf course here during the 2010 Summer Music Festival hosted by Marine Corps Community Services Saturday.
The festival provided the crowd with live music, food and games.
Larry Mask, MCCS special events and entertainment manager, said these events give local musicians a chance to show off their talent while providing entertainment for the community.
The festival started at 5 p.m. with bands rocking the stage throughout the night until 10 p.m. Six of the seven bands that performed during the festival were composed of local community members.
“We don’t have a lot of venues to get our local talent out into,” said Mask. “(The festival) is something where we can put (local bands) out in front of a lot of people.”
The festival featured the voices and music of Floyd Valaningham, Afro Fire, Dyatonics, Humanity Train, Jalopy and the Rock ‘N’ Roll Junkeez.
“It was great, we had a lot of fun,” said Justin Burke, Dyatonic’s lead singer. “We got to come out here and put on a show for a large crowd, and we don‘t get to do that too often. We usually play in local bars for small crowds. We just want to say thanks to MCCS for letting us play and for all the people who showed up to support us.”
A mass of families and single service members lounged around the golf course enjoying the live music and food provided at the festival. Although the bands played a lot of rock ‘n’ roll, the festival wasn’t limited to just one style of music.
Echo Ann Leming, a summer music festival attendee, said she really enjoyed the diverse music played during the festival.
“There were many bands there, and we were able to listen to many kinds of music,” said Leming. “They had reggae songs, country songs and some rock songs.”
As the music roared into the night, community members continued to enjoy themselves playing football and soccer games around the golf course.
Children tired themselves out as they scuttled around the children’s play land built by MCCS.
“We‘re just out here having a good time, enjoying the music and spending time with the kids,” said William Jagger, a summer music festival attendee. “As always, MCCS likes to put money back into the community, and this is a good way to do it.”
Jagger said he thought the Summer Music Festival was a great way to close out the summer.
Community members did exactly that, as they said good-bye to the summer and enjoyed the cool night breeze listening to the hot local talent.