Bobby rodriguez productions over the rainbow

As March begins, event producer Bobby Rodriguez casts an eye on the weather for the remaining weekends that his 21st annual Florida Renaissance Festival will run.

Over the course of six weekends in Deerfield Beach and three in Miami, Rodriguez gambles his $1.5 million production won’t be ruined by the weather — or by threatening forecasts that keep the public away. “I hate when they say 50% chance of rain.

How about 50% chance of sun?” Rodriguez says.

A native New Yorker, Rodriguez came to Fort Lauderdale in 1977 as a jazz band leader and singer.

Bobby rodriguez productions over the rainbow

He moved into booking acts, performed when he could, and to get some security — it’s tough finding a venue for a 19-piece jazz band — he began producing shows, company picnics, high-end bar mitzvahs and weddings.

In 1992, he put on a two-day medieval fair. Rodriguez broke even on the weekend. “If I had lost money, that would have been that,” he says.

Instead, it beca