Okeechobee Music & Arts Festival

Okeechobee Music and Arts Festival
Genre	Rock, jam bands, alternative rock, indie, hip hop, R&B, funk, reggae, EDM, jazz, Americana, country, folk, gospel, reggae, world
Location(s)	Sunshine Grove 12517 NE 91st Ave Okeechobee, Florida 34972, USA
Years active	2016–present
Founded by	Soundslinger, LLC
Website
okeechobeefest.com

The Okeechobee Music and Arts Festival (commonly referred to as Okeechobee) is an annual four-day music and arts festival produced by Soundslinger, LLC.^[1] The festival is held at the 600-acre property, Sunshine Grove in Okeechobee, Florida.

History

The first Okeechobee Music and Arts Festival was held March 4–6, 2016. With artists such as Bassnectar, Skrillex, Kendrick Lamar, and Mumford & Sons, the festival drew around 32,000 attendees^[2] in its first year. The festival is produced by Soundslinger, LLC, an independent company founded by Steve Sybesma, formerly of Sunshine Promotions, Paul Peck formerly of Superfly (Bonnaroo Music Festival), and a team of producers who have presented other major festivals and countless concerts around the globe. It was announced in late 2016 that both Sybesma and Peck would be leaving the company on good terms. Kevin Collinsworth was appointed CEO. Soundslinger is headquartered in Miami, FL with offices in New York, NY.

The Experience

The Okeechobee Music & Arts Festival is an experience that transcends the boundaries between reality and the surreal. The festival includes a variety of camping options, a white-sand beach with lakeside bar, art installations, craft beer and food trucks. Yoga, meditation and holistic workshops are also offered.^[3] As a "camping festival", a majority of Okeechobee Music Festival-goers stay in tents or campers on the festival grounds.^[4] Okeechobee Ethos strives to revive the ancient tradition of dance, collective celebration with wild artistic expression, using Sunshine’s Grove’s majestic landscape as the backdrop, and community & music as the palette of color to unite every generation, every race, color and creed. A place where all are welcome, a place to get lost and found, a place to discover, and uncover new paradigms with the intention of making the world a better place.

ChobeeWobee Village

The cultural epicenter of OMF. Active all day and night, their smaller auxiliary stages and workshop areas provide much needed culture, yoga, art and commerce enriching the o�ering to festival goers. This is also the home to Participation Row, their non-pro�t center and Vendorville, their artisanal marketplace.

Aquachobee Beach

A daytime swimming, hanging & music chill zone in the heart of Moonlight Oasis that easily transitions to a late night bass experience. In 2017, Aquachobee was activated almost 24 hours a day & was home to #Coronachobee Electric Beach, The Beach Stage, the Incendia Stage & the Ferris wheel, and featured beautiful & unique water-screen projections provided by Hermetic Productions.

Surprise Performances

On the festival's sophomore year, there were many late night surprise DJ sets & back-to-back performances held at the Incendia Stage. Featuring Griz, 12th Planet, Snails, Ganja White Nite, Pretty Lights and others.

Solange was the 2017 PoWoW! Surprise Guest, performing alongside with Michael McDonald, Gallant, Griz, Vulfpeck.

PoWoW!

Okeechobee Music & Arts Festival made musical history in its inaugural year with “PoWoW! A Live Superstar Mashup,” a collaborative concert featuring major special guests – both announced and unannounced – will take the stage, guaranteeing an unforgettable evening of surprises, invention and excitement.

2016 PoWoW! Artists ^[5]

2017 PoWoW! Artists ^[6]

• Michael McDonald
• Gallant
• GRiZ
• Vulfpeck
• Eric Krasno
• Antwaun Stanley
• Robert Sput Searight
• Chris Bullock
• Jay Jennings
• Justin Stanton
• Solange - special guest

Line-ups

2016 ^[7]

BE, HERE, and NOW Stages

Jungle 51 Stage

Aquachobee Stage

2017 ^[8]

BE, HERE, and NOW Stages

Jungle 51 Stage

References