Where were you last Wednesday night? If you weren’t at Barr’s Bay for the Park Party, you were missing out — at least 300 people ventured out to support the Volcanic Products and Tuff Dogs collaboration to celebrate the May 24 holiday in style.

Who knew so many people could fit comfortably in Barr’s Bay Park without someone taking an unexpected dip— although someone actually did earlier in the evening, but it was probably on purpose.

Festivities began with a Flip Cup competition, where nine eager teams competed to win the “Flip Cup”, a handsome silver trophy, and bragging rights. For those who don’t know what a Flip Cup competition is, two teams (those participating were made up of four) line up across a table from each other and each person has a plastic tumbler filled with beer placed before them. Each member must drink their beer, but before the next person in line can chug, the first person must flip their cup and have it land on the opposite end. Needless to say, there were lots of cheers and jeers from the crowd.

With the food situation covered by the Jamaican Grill (they brought their signature jerk chicken, along with vegetables, peas and rice and more), the evening’s entertainment started out with DJs Obi and Robbie, who played a selection of reggae tunes — and was taken up a notch by the local band, Home Grown.

They did a spectacular job of setting the mood, spending most of the evening on stage and sending crowds into excited shouts with each new set — if you haven’t heard of them by now, you need to know that they perform an array of reggae covers with a few of their own tunes thrown into the mix.

For more of their particular brand of locally produced music, you can catch them weekly at the Live at the Gardens happy hour event held at Botanical Gardens and at Docksiders pub on Front Street.

Early in the evening saw the arrival of our own Collie Buddz, who was rumoured to be performing at some point during the party. We dutifully waited for him to grace the audience with his presence and, as I’d already missed two of his concerts and even though I’m not a huge fan of reggae, I was looking forward to getting a chance to hear him perform live.

But, by one o’clock, I didn’t think he’d ever get behind the microphone so, tired and weary, my party decided to leave. Thanks to the bouncer in the red shirt who stood guard at the gate, I found out that, all it took to gain access to the blocked off area was to know someone in there (presumably someone in the entourage) or to have obtained a special wristband before hand. Since I only have a passing acquaintance with most of those in attendance and I wasn’t smart enough to nab one of those elusive bands, I had to satisfy my celebrity watching by standing close enough to the VIP section (guarded by one bouncer and the only real place to sit down) to pick out his signature white blazer and shades — although almost everyone in his entourage sported their own dark specs.

Downsides to the evening? With the heavy winds, it was pretty chilly on the harbour and a few people were wishing they’d brought along a sweater or jacket. The only washroom facilities were the requisite port-a-potties, which were stationed between the food and ticket tents — the line disappeared into the heavy crowd.

There was only one bar and with the amount of people crowded into the area it was difficult to get to and unfortunately, it wasn’t the most extensively stocked bar. But the drink tickets were reasonably priced and those who forgot to bring cash could have paid with credit or debit cards.