Thunder By the Bay to take place Feb. 15-17

Event to be held at Sarasota Fairgrounds

Image from the Thunder
By the Bay website

The 21st Annual Thunder By The Bay Music & Motorcycle Festival will take place Feb. 15-17 at the Sarasota Fairgrounds as a benefit for Suncoast Charities for Children, the organizers have announced.

The festival this year will feature 10 bands, FMX & BMX stunt riders, 140 vendors, an 18-class motorcycle show offering $5,000 in cash prizes, a “People’s Choice” LED motorcycle show, and — for the first-time — an All Vehicle Charity Ride, which will end at the festival, a news release points out. The latter will offer $4,000 in cash prizes to participants.

The featured headliner for the 2019 Thunder By the Bay will be nationally known recording artist SteelHeart, which will perform at 8 pm on Saturday, Feb. 16, the release notes. “SteelHeart’s memorable hits include Angel Eyes (I’ll Never Let You Go), Everybody Loves Eileen and She’s Gone, the release says. SteelHeart was the band that provided the vocals and music in the 2001 Mark Walberg movie Rock Star, including Stand Up And Shout and We All Die Young, the release points out.

Tented seating will be available, the release notes. However, “guests are encouraged to bring their lawn chairs and enjoy this year’s entertainment,” which will include “a wide variety of genres” — blues, rock and country, the release continues. Other bands that will be performing are Cowboy (Kid Rock tribute), Ultimate Garth Brooks, Nuthin Fancy (Lynyrd Skynyrd tribute), Smokin (Boston tribute), Double Your Trouble (Stevie Ray Vaughan tribute), In The Light of Led Zeppelin and Diary of an Ozzman (Ozzy Osbourne tribute), plus local bands Maiden Cane and The Verge, the release adds.

The festival will be open rain or shine, the release points out. Admission is $5 at the gate (children ages 12 and under will be admitted free). Three-day passes, for $10, are also available through noon on Friday, Feb. 15, at Rossiter’s Harley-Davidson, the release adds. They also may be purchased through the festival’s website: thunderbythebay.org.