850 Legends: Justin Brice Griffin
850 Legends is about recognizing those that have had an impact on their community. Justin Griffin was only 21 when he passed, but the impact that he had on the music and skating communities in his short life are far-reaching. That impact continues to grow as his family holds an annual music festival to give back to the Apalachicola youth community.
The second annual JBG Rockfest (short for Justin Brice Griffin) will be held on May 18th at Harry A’s on St George Island.
Chris describes his brother by saying, “His whole life was dedicated to skateboarding and music.”
“He started off in high school band playing trumpet, I guess that is where the music thing started. Then he picked up a guitar, never had any lessons. It seemed that every instrument he picked up he could teach himself in a matter of minutes. He went from that to the keyboard, picked up my bass and learned it in a day, drums, and right before his accident he bought a violin. Just non-stop music.”
“We started our own little band, and he ventured off into his own and started ‘Forever We Were’. They now play all the events we have.”
Citing Justin’s musical influences from 80’s hair bands to post-hardcore rock bands Chris says, “He could put his spin on any kind of music. He would just pick and pull pieces that he liked from every genre really.”
“The community is behind the event 100 percent. Everyone has kids and they knew Justin. He taught plenty of the younger kids how to skateboard and that is the reason they are down at the skate park on a regular basis; it is because of Justin.”
The city has named a skate park in honor of Justin, but the goal is to expand it based on the style of skating terrain that he favored. From there, the Griffin family plans to extend the non-profit with a continued focus on the Apalachicola youth .
I’ll post details about JGB Rockfest as they are locked in, and you can learn a bit more on the Facebook event page here.
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