Matt Beck’s plan to create a self-sustaining local jam band scene should have been easy. South Florida is the eighth largest metropolis in the country and full of Northeastern transplants who grew up in cities where jam music thrived.

But as Beck and publicist Destiny Spang’s production company, Brotherly Love Productions, kicks off its 5th anniversary bash this weekend with three nights of music showcasing some of the area’s best home grown talent, it’s an accomplishment considering South Florida’s past struggles as a music scene.

“We’ve got a geographical uniqueness that inhibits us and prohibits us in that we’re the same size as markets like San Francisco, Atlanta and Philadelphia, but we’re five miles wide and 85 miles long,” Beck said. “The other markets are more or less a circle and everyone’s 15 minutes from downtown. If you live in West Palm and your favorite bands are playing in Miami, you’re looking at a three hour round trip to see some music. It’s definitely our biggest challenge as a market.”

When Beck launched BLP in 2007, South Florida’s jam scene was limited to occasional shows by national acts like Phish, Umphrey’s McGee, Disco Biscuits and Keller Williams. But the timing was prime for regular gigs and a local scene.

Two years earlier, a jam band full of Northeast natives formed in Fort Lauderdale, and by 2007, word was quickly spreading that The Heavy Pets’ blend of rock, reggae and jazz-funk had the potential to be special.

On July 1, 2007, after an Umphrey’s McGee/Disco Biscuit show at the Pompano Beach Ampitheatre, BLP arranged for the Heavy Pets to play an after-show at Cheers in Pompano. It was Brotherly Love’s first show.

In the five years since, The Heavy Pets have released three full length albums, including their most recent album, Swim out Pass the Sun. That albums features three songs with David Grisman, a long-time collaborator with Jerry Garcia.

The Heavy Pets, who are now based out of Delray Beach, have also played many of the country’s most prestigious music festivals, including Bonnaroo, High Sierra and Gathering of the Vibes.

And BLP’s occasional gigs turned into weekly and often daily events with bands like The Heavy Pets, the Resolvers, Ketchy Shuby, Aquaphonics, Fusik and Cypress who will all perform this weekend. Every Sunday, BLP hosts “Rockout with your Cookout” at the Hurricane Bar and Lounge in Delray Beach, with a free barbecue and free shows.

“We really are very proud to be part of this growing scene that’s happening in South Florida, and that’s the important thing about it — it’s growing,” said Heavy Pets guitarist Jeff Lloyd. “It’s definitely grown by leaps and bounds from when we started. Brotherly Love has a lot to do with that, and we like to think we have a little something to do with it.”

Boca Raton has become an unexpected hub for the jam band scene, with BLP bringing regular shows to the Funky Buddha and Funky Biscuit.

“FAU has grown exponentially in the 10 years I’ve lived down here and it has a lot more out of state people and a growing population of local students,” Beck said. “A lot of people think Boca is a weird spot, but people will come up from Miami for shows and they say, ‘I never thought I’d ever go to Boca, let alone to see one of my favorite bands.’”

When BLP brings out-of-state bands to Florida, Beck encourages them to play three nights in a row in Palm Beach County, Broward and Miami-Dade, with bands playing as far north as Guanbanas in Jupiter.

“We’ve got eight different cool little areas in West Palm, Lake Worth, Delray, Boca, Deerfield, Lauderdale, Hollywood and Miami which have their own cool downtown scenes and the locals know the areas but generally speaking they don’t like to leave them,” Beck said. “So we’ve been trying to rotate bands.”

While South Florida’s jam scene might seem like an extension of scenes in other cities, Lloyd believes the area has its own unique sound.

“We hear all the time from people that they hear Florida in our music, and I appreciate that and I think there’s a lot of truth to that,” Lloyd said. “We definitely have this reggae, beachy kind of vibe and a large part is a result of our environment. There’s a ton of love for music down here, and we still haven’t grown to that level I think we’re going to get to in South Florida.”