Elev8 will celebrate its 2nd anniversary early June. Ajay Raw and Jayson Miro, co-founders of SXM By Night, are telling us about its debut and the evolution of this electro event which has become a must.
What is the story of Elev8?
Ajay Raw : « I grew up at the bottom of the Sentry Hill. It started with me going hiking and trying to climb this hill with one my friends. When Rainforest Adventures opened a few years ago, I went up there and I thought : « what a view, we have to throw a party up there ». Before Irma we reached out to the owners to get the whole thing going but somehow it never ended up happening. A little before Covid, we restarted the project. »
Jayson Miro : « Ajay came to me with the access to the location. We offered to upscale the happy hours that were happening there once a month. We had two weeks to come up with a name and do the communication. The first time we had 85 people, which was not bad for a first time. But it started very little. »
What do you think made the success of the event?
A. R. : « Well, first of all, there are a lot of beach bars and clubs, but there is only one hilltop like that. It’s a unique place. Also, the other groups that were doing house music parties were doing it too often. It was always the same people. At Elev8, the people coming changed over time. The core group of people is a segment of local people,French and Dutch. As we started doing the social media, we had more tourists. »
J. M. : « In marketing we say there are 6 important Ps. For me there is only one : the place. But you have to do something with the venue. You have to nurture it, build an atmosphere. You also have to be pro-active on social media, build a good hospitality program and create a community. These are the key ingredients : good place, good music, nice atmosphere, good crowd and good team. »
What were the difficulties?
A. R. : « It is not easy to carry all the equipment up, you hope it stays dry and you don’t break something. People show up to the party and see everything set up beautiful, but they have no idea what it took. 6 to 10 people help us build the party every month. Back in our days, we had to set up the tents too. But Rainforest Adventures understood the importance of investing in a cover for the DJ booth and extended the bar. So it’s happiness and pain at the same time. Because with growth come challenges. »
J. M. : « The weather is an obstacle! The venue itself and its facilities. Things are limited, we have to bring everything up. To bring good sound costs a lot more hours and people. But we are lucky because I don’t think that, in the rest of the world, we could do that. »
Do you have plans for the future?
A. R. : « Elev8 gave me a chance to be creative but I want to take that up to next level. The SXM Festival was stunningly beautiful. We would love to do something like that but we cannot leave everything up there. We need to find a balance between having an art installation and being able to put it back to being what it is, a nature park. We haven’t even finish featuring all the local DJs but we have also proven with Sébastien Léger that St-Martin is hungry for international DJs in that setting. And the lofty goal is to start doing Elev8 events in other places in the world. »
J. M. : « Yes, we would like to export the concept. But it’s not easy nowadays and I don’t think we are there yet. First we want to continue improving the event, do more merchandising. For the second anniversary, we might also do something a bit different. »
Elev8
June 3rd - 3pm-9pm
Rainforest Adventures, Dutch Cul de Sac
Early bird $35, general admission $45
Facebook : SXM By Night
June 4th - 2pm
Java, Grand Case
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