To observe safe social distancing, 2020’s Swamp Sistas La La is going online. On Saturday, May 16, the Swamp Sistas La La Hope From Home: Virtual Brunch and Festival will be held via Facebook Live from 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. In keeping with pre-quarantine plans for a brunch event, the Swamp Sistas have teamed up with Winter Park restaurant and music venue, The New Standard, to create and serve locally-sourced special brunch and dinner menus viewers can order as delivery or pick-up. (Menu coming soon!)
“La La” is a classic Louisiana Creole house party where musicians gather, friends dance, share food and drink, and everyone chips in what they can for a community cause. The tradition dates back to the 1920’s.
“With the COVID-19 outbreak, the 2020 Orlando Fringe Festival was cancelled, but the need to help feed our community’s hungry is greater than ever, so we’re offering the 2020 La La as a streaming event, from our Facebook page and some of our 2020 partners’ Facebook pages.”
– Beth McKee, recording artist, musician and Swamp Sistas founder
Founded in 2010 by recording artist, musician, and activist Beth McKee, Swamp Sistas is a coalition of more than 2,700 women with a passion for music and helping out. All that female energy culminates on the day of the big Swamp Sistas La La, “a day long festival featuring female talent in music, comedy, spoken word and visual art.” The 2020 event will support women in the arts, with a currently rare paying gig, while addressing a tremendous and growing community need for food, through awareness and fundraising for Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida.
Previous Orlando La La events have been held at Park Ave. CD’s, East End Market, and since 2015, on the Loch Haven Park lawn as part of the annual Orlando International Fringe Theater Festival. Beth Mckee remarks, “With the COVID-19 outbreak, the 2020 Orlando Fringe Festival was cancelled, but the need to help feed our community’s hungry is greater than ever, so we’re offering the 2020 La La as a streaming event, from our Facebook page and some of our 2020 partners’ Facebook pages.”
The 2020 La La lineup will feature a combination of live streams and pre-recorded videos from musical artists such as Hannah Harber; Terri Binion; E-Turn; Cat Ridgeway; Rachel Decker; Shema Shine; Beth McKee herself; and more. The 2020 La La will feature comedy, spoken word and visual art, all presented virtually!
Beth McKee records her own music in her home studio as well, and has been inspired to create through the COVID-19 lockdown. McKee will be releasing 2 new songs during the 2020 La La event. “Ghosts of Google Earth” from Beth’s new duo project, The Ernests, a collaboration with Jim Myers (Milk Carton SuperStars, Melrose Center) will premiere with an accompanying video featuring artwork and videography by Bethany Myers. Another song, “Hold On,” is COVID-19 inspired, co-written with Terri Binion and recorded in virtual collaboration with North Carolina producer John Pfiffner. Both songs will debut during La La Hope From Home.
Hope, with the 2020 La La as in years’ past, refers to the Swamp Sistas La La Summer Hope annual fund drive, part of Second Harvest Food Bank’s “Summer Hope” initiative. Each summer, Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida feeds hungry children in need, when no school means no school provided breakfast or lunch. Swamp Sista La La events to date have generated a combined half a million meals for children in Central Florida. This summer, the need is greater than ever, and many talented female artists have stepped up to assist through their art. La La performers are foregoing direct virtual tips to drive all fundraising efforts to Second Harvest Food Bank. Artists will be paid for their performances though, which executes the Swamp Sistas bi-fold mission of community service and supporting women in the arts.
Help Provide Summer Hope for Kids
Swamp Sistas La La Summer Hope from Home is Saturday May 16
