About Flash!

Based in Blue Hill, Maine, FLASH! is one of the largest community steelbands in the United States. Formed in 1990, members of FLASH! find as much joy in playing the steel drum (known as pan) as they do in sharing their music with enthusiastic audiences of all ages, from infants to centenarians.

2024 Summer Charitable Street Dance
Application Period has closed.

Sponsored 2024 performance applications are still open.

Learn to Play Steel Drums

Flash! in the Pans Band seeks new members
“Four cracks of a cow bell and a steel drum band roars to life.” Have you ever seen
Flash! play a summer street dance? Have you ever dreamed of playing pan and joining
Flash! This is your chance—no musical experience needed, just a desire to play music
with a great group of people and have fun.
If you are interested in beginner lessons that will get you to Flash! practices and beyond,
contact us for practice days and times. All practices
are held in Blue Hill. Teens and adults of all ages welcome.

Pan Coalition and Otta De Box Performed in Trinidad, August 2015

MDIslander Video of Flash at the Bar Harbor Congregational Church June 21, 2015

If you would like to learn to play steel drums and join the band,
please check out our page on "learning pan".

Flash in the Pans Concerts, Blue Hill Peninsula
The Flash in the Pans community steel pan band performs outdoor concerts on Monday nights in locations throughout the Blue Hill Peninsula and beyond. Most are donate-what-you-can benefits for local causes or nonprofits. The music is infectious, and everyone goes. (Yankee Magazine, 2012)

Bar Harbor Pan Dancer

In the summer, FLASH!’s enormously popular Monday night concerts and street dances are fund raisers that benefit local charitable and non-profit organizations and contribute to a sense of community spirit. Click here for FLASH!’s performance schedule and for information on how to request a FLASH! performance for your organization.

And Peninsula Pan, Inc.

Created to manage the business affairs of FLASH!, our mission is to continue a tradition of performing and supporting steel drum music throughout the Blue Hill Peninsula and beyond, and in the process to strengthen a tradition of community-based live music. We invite you to explore our website to learn more about us and the steel drum (pan), to get started on learning to play pan, and to hear and purchase our recordings. More ...

Pan Dance under the Stars