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Lakewood Ranch To Host Winterfest Music Festival.

Winterfest will make its debut March 29-30, 2014, at Lakewood Ranch’s Premier Sports Campus. The two-day music festival will feature top-shelf national and local musical acts of all different types. Lakewood Ranch has hosted music events previously, but none of this magnitude.

“We’re expecting people from all over the U.S. to visit,” said Jim Chiaffredo, a spokesperson for Winterfest.

Already scheduled to appear are Country Music Hall of Fame member Jeff Cook, founder of the country supergroup Alabama; Marty Balin, a two-time member of the Rock-and-Roll Hall of Fame as an individual and with Jefferson Airplane, and classic-rocker Rick Derringer, who will once again be united on the same stage with multi-instrumentalist Edgar Winter.

Bertie Higgins, the soft rock singer of the 1982 hit “Key Largo” and country crooner Billy Dean – whose many hits from the 1990s and 2000s include “Only Here for a Little While,” “If There Hadn’t Been You,” and “Let Them be Little” – are also scheduled to perform. Child guitar hero Jake Castro and the Billy Rice Band, a Bradenton area favorite, will also make appearances.

“We want to make this as equal across all genres as we can and there will be other acts we get signed later,” Chiaffredo said. “It was most important to us to get those acts completed early to establish the tone of the festival.”

In the following months, organizers will be signing more national acts. “There will be 18 total shows over the two days,” Chiaffredo said. “We’re trying to get something from almost every category so we’re working on a couple of jazz and blues players, alternative acts and even some American Idol contestants.”

To get on the official mailing list for updates go to www.lwrwinterfest.com.