By Mike McCombs
The Island News
If you aren’t attending the screenings Friday night, Feb. 23, during the 18th annual Beaufort International Film Festival (BIFF), you might as well go on out and catch Lt. Dan.
Gary Sinise, who will be honored Saturday night with the Pat Conroy Lifetime Achievement Award, and his Lt. Dan Band are playing a free concert Friday evening at the Barracks at Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort.
The gates open to spectators at 5 p.m., and the opening act goes on at 6 p.m.
The event, presented by the Gary Sinise Foundation, is billed as “paying tribute to the real-life heroes who serve our nation. Secure your tickets now and be part of an evening that transcends entertainment, turning every note into a salute to our service men and women.”
Tickets are available at https://mccs-info.com/48sm2mc. Anyone without base access must register for a ticket via this link to get aboard MCAS Beaufort.
The concert is an outdoor event in a large grassy area. For spectators’ comfort and enjoyment, organizers encourage concert-goers to bring blankets, lawn chairs, strollers, and wagons, if needed. Concessions will be available for purchase through onsite food trucks and beer booths.
The following items are prohibited: outside food and beverages; coolers; large bags; firearms or weapons of any kind; pets; or portable heaters of any kind.
Service animals and other medical necessities are permitted.
Lt. Dan, played by Sinise, was introduced to the world in the movie Forrest Gump, which will celebrate the 30th anniversary of its U.S. release July 6, 2024. Forrest Gump was filmed primarily in the Beaufort area.
Beaufort Film Society President Ron Tucker told The Island News in December 2023 that he had been working on getting Sinise, a member of the Beaufort Film Society Advisory Committee, back to Beaufort as early as the previous May.
“It was kind of an evolution of things that happened,” Tucker said. “We wanted to get him here for the 30th anniversary of Forrest Gump, but as things happened, his people felt it was too early to commit. But they said, ‘we want to do it.’”
Tucker tried several times to bring Sinise to Parris Island for a graduation to compliment a trip to the film festival, but it simply didn’t pan out.
“At some point it was recommended by their people, ‘He wants to come, … maybe we could do a Lt. Dan concert while he’s here?’” Tucker said. “We reached out to MCCS at (the Air Station) for help, and pretty soon, they agreed to support it, the Lt. Dan Band agreed to support it.”
The concert will be the Lt. Dan Band’s first appearance in Beaufort since 2012.
Throughout Sinise’s award-winning career (a Primetime Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Tony Award, and four Screen Actors Guild Awards), he has been an advocate for U.S. service members, but after Sept. 11, 2001, Sinise became a tireless crusader in support of those who serve or have served our country.
In 2003, after several USO handshake tours, he formed the Lt. Dan Band and began entertaining troops serving at home and abroad. Over the years, the band has performed hundreds of shows for charities and fundraisers supporting wounded heroes, Gold Star families, veterans and troops around the world.
The band played the Beaufort Shrimp Festival for three years from 2010 to 2012, and the opening weekend of the festival was known as Lt. Dan Weekend (LDW). But the expanded Lt. Dan Week in 2013 was canceled close to the event, leaving those in Beaufort disappointed as Sinise’s band began to play LDW regularly in Charleston.
Tucker told The Island News in December that Sinise has been involved with the BFS in various capacities in the year’s since, but the 2024 BIFF will mark the Lt. Dan Band’s long-awaited return to Beaufort.
“He’s supported us several times when we’ve asked him to,” Tucker said. “But you know the Lt. Dan Band performs almost every weekend somewhere. This concert is really a bonus and really brings the community together for what is a bigger event that includes the film festival.”
Mike McCombs is the Editor of The Island News and can be reached at TheIslandNews@gmail.com.
