{"id":8496,"date":"2026-05-13T14:47:29","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T14:47:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/13\/colajazz-festival-returns-may-15-16-at-finlay-park\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T14:47:29","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T14:47:29","slug":"colajazz-festival-returns-may-15-16-at-finlay-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/13\/colajazz-festival-returns-may-15-16-at-finlay-park\/","title":{"rendered":"ColaJazz Festival returns May 15-16 at Finlay Park"},"content":{"rendered":"

The ColaJazz Foundation<\/span><\/span> has announced its free outdoor festival will return May 15-16 to the newly renovated Finlay Park<\/span><\/span> in downtown Columbia<\/span><\/span>.<\/p>\n

The ColaJazz Jazz and Roots Festival<\/span><\/span> features two days of world-class jazz, food and beverage trucks, art vendors, community, and culture at the heart of the city.<\/p>\n

The festival’s lineup brings together a mix of jazz talent and genre-blending performers. Friday night opens with Martin Bejerano<\/span><\/span>, followed by SYR<\/span><\/span>, delivering a blend of Celtic folk rock and roots music. Saturday’s performances showcase a range of voices and sounds, including the artistry of Brittany Turnipseed<\/span><\/span>, trumpet-driven jazz from Willie Bradley<\/span><\/span>, the grooves of Folderol<\/span><\/span>, the vocals of Lucia<\/span><\/span>, and a finale by Endea Owens<\/span><\/span> from The Cookout.<\/p>\n

“Our future vision is to be the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival<\/span><\/span> of the Carolinas,” said Mark Rapp<\/span><\/span>. “By transitioning to a ‘Jazz & Roots’ festival, we are laying the foundation for exponential growth. We now have the permission to book a wide variety of music genres, from blues and soul to folk, that are directly influenced by the world of jazz.”<\/p>\n

2026 Festival Schedule<\/h3>\n

May 15<\/strong>
• 6:30 – 7:45 p.m.: Martin Bejerano
• 8 – 9:30 p.m.: SYR<\/p>\n

May 16<\/strong>
• 1 – 2:15 p.m.: Brittany Turnipseed
• 2:45 – 4 p.m.: Willie Bradley
• 4:30 – 5:45 p.m.: Folderol
• 6:15 – 7:30 p.m.: Lucia
• 8 – 9:30 p.m.: Endea Owens (The Cookout)<\/p>\n

Founded in 2014 by Mark Rapp, the ColaJazz Foundation<\/span><\/span> is a Governor’s Award-winning 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to growing, supporting, and promoting jazz in the Midlands through education, advocacy, and events.<\/p>\n

For more information and sponsorship opportunities, visit ColaJazz Festival<\/a><\/p>\n

Photo from Colajazzfest.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The ColaJazz Foundation has announced its free outdoor festival will return May 15-16 to the newly renovated Finlay Park in downtown Columbia. The ColaJazz Jazz and Roots Festival features two days of world-class jazz, food and beverage trucks, art vendors, community, and culture at the heart of the city. TheContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8497,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[35],"tags":[1316],"class_list":["entry","author-john-griggs","post-8496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-cola-jazz-fest"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gpstrianglenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Cola-Jazz-Fest_2026_630x350.jpg?fit=630%2C350&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8496"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8496\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}