Okeechobee Music & Arts Festival

About Okeechobee Music & Arts Festival

The Okeechobee Music and Arts Festival (commonly called Okeechobee) is an annual four-day event. The festival took place at the 600-acre Sunshine Grove property in Okeechobee, Florida. The festival is organized 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. Sunshine Grove is a treat for campers with lush grassy fields, a sandy beach, and a majestic grove.

This edition, which was held from 3 to 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 various music across six stages. 

Role of Backbone 

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 for a safe mass gathering. Backbone managed the installation of a mass water distribution grid. The water taps into seven onsite wells and feeding showers, flushing toilets, and bottle-fill stations spread out over the site’s 780 acres. The team created a new camping space hidden within the trees and shaded the entire day. To do this they needed to relocate 36 palm trees, some over 40′ high. This was to develop a road system within the trees making the space navigable for even the largest of RVs.

Backbone’s team of technicians and carpenters was 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, and ground coverage. Besides all this, Backbone was also responsible for 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.

Official event photo credits: Okeechobee Music & Arts Festival