Music and art events are coming back across South Florida after last year鈥檚 cancellations. Country music star Brooke Eden is also back in her native West Palm Beach, after a 5-year hiatus, to headline the city鈥檚 tenth-annual Holiday in Paradise celebration 鈥� which takes place throughout December.
Eden says interactions with music fans have been more intense since live concerts made a comeback.
鈥淔or so long we all took it for granted that we could just pop into a concert and that was just our evening and for a year and half, that was kind of taken away from us because of the pandemic," said Eden. 鈥淚t鈥檚 almost like taking it away for a year caused people to double their enthusiasm.鈥�
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Eden describes her music as 鈥渃ountry-soul,鈥� a range of influences from '90s country music to Etta James. She says community gatherings are one of the best ways to foster human connections and create more influences.
She had to change the way in which she connected with audiences during the shutdown in the early stages of the pandemic.
"I did a lot of Instagram Lives and Facebook Lives, and just a lot of shows over the internet," Eden said.
The return of live music has improved her mental wellbeing, too.
鈥淐ultural institutions and live music are such integral parts of us as humans,鈥� said Eden. 鈥淎nd I think that for our mental state, it鈥檚 really important for us to have the arts in our lives.鈥�
From nightly light shows to mini-golf, the month-long at Holiday in Paradise also includes the lighting of Sandi, a 35-foot, 700-ton sand tree.
Eden is headlining the outdoor event on Dec. 2 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Waterfront Commons on Clematis Street.
