The Okeechobee Music and Arts Festival (commonly referred to as Okeechobee) is an annual four-day event, held at the 600-acre Sunshine Grove property in Okeechobee, Florida by music event promoter and distributor Insomniac. It is a surreal experience, filled with multi-genre music, immersive art, and transformative events, deep in the heart of Florida’s wilderness. One can describe it as a gathering of all walks of life where the common ground is music, magic, and mystery. The festival burst onto the Florida scene in 2016 and immediately became a favorite. Taking place in March, it is now the first major music festival of the USA festival season and provides a glimpse of touring summertime artists. The festival's home at Sunshine Grove is a treat for campers with lush grassy fields, a sandy beach, and a majestic grove.
The 2022 edition, which was held from 3 till 6 March, was the event's 5th installment over the last 7 years. Surrounded by a stunning environment and headliners like Meagan Thee Stallion, Tame Impala, Griz, Porter Robinson, Rez and a wide variety of music across 6 stages, this year's "Okee" was the best yet!
This was the second time Insomniac asked Backbone to manage the entire site operations of the event. Working nonstop for 21 days on site, the team developed and installed the infrastructure required to have a safe mass gathering. With over 30,000 weekend car campers, much more than just the stages were needed! Backbone managed the installation of a mass water distribution grid, tapping into seven onsite wells and feeding showers, flushing toilets, and bottle fill stations spread out over the site's 780 acres of natural beauty! The team was impactful in creating a new camping space hidden within the trees and shaded the entire day. In order to do this they needed to relocate 36 palm trees, some over 40' high, to develop a road system within the trees making the space navigable for even the largest of RV's.
Backbone's team of technicians and carpenters were also able to build a 250' floating walking bridge across the lake utilizing recycled jet dock material. Other responsibilities included: fences, tents, preset glamping, facades, line striping, vehicle mitigation, wayfinding, ground coverage, site lighting, offices, waste management, fueling, power distribution, heavy equipment, golf carts, shipping and receiving, Exterior Operations, and supporting all event departments to cohesively create a well rounded production. A huge thanks to our team members Marcos Rico, Kayla Walsh, Valerie Trujillo, Sean Hershman and Joe Kaitz for making this all happen.
Official event photo credits: Okeechobee Music & Arts Festival
