Over the past four decades South Floridians have been flocking to SunFest, called “the world’s largest waterfront arts and music celebration.”
Can you imagine a 10-day Sunfest? Oh don’t freak out, you who try to navigate downtown West Palm Beach this time each year. And local artists, hold off salivating. It’s not coming.
They tried that already. In fact, for the very first one, some 40 years ago in 1983. And for all the fun at the time, it was such a financial fiasco it took three years to get out of the red.
So ended that experiment.
This year’s three-day festival, a 40th anniversary celebration, is set for May 3-5, and has the enticing elements of years gone by: an eclectic music lineup, an art village, floating bar and food like it’s going out of style. In addition, there is a community stage featuring “hyper local artists” performing.
A sampling of the mainstage artists: Nelly, The Fixx, Billy Idol, Shaggy, Third Eye Blind, Dashboard Confessional, Cole Swindell, Yung Gravy, Matisyahu, Boys Like Girls, Elle King, Paul Russell. Did I mention it was eclectic? Clever minds have even put together a Spotify playlist of songs by this year’s acts. (Search for SunFest 2024.)
That 10-day 1983 festival was born out of the 1981 Royal Palm Festival, and one particular civic figure that attended. He was sitting in the VIP section and was seen laughing during a presentation which was not intended to be funny. Festival officials nearby could see he was not impressed.
“It was awful,” the gentleman said, in an interview with the Palm Beach Post in 1992. “They had these really cheap paper floats with girls on top of them. And marching bands where only half the members had uniforms on.”
A Royal Palm official said, “Well if you have better ideas, tell us.”
That gentleman was Bill Finley, president of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation’s real estate company. He offered his suggestions.
“I knew it had to be in the spring, on the water, with arts, music and ethnic foods,” Finley told the Post. It seems that Finley had just talked himself into being one of the founders of SunFest, Inc. a year later.
Through the past 40 years, large crowds, broader connection to the community and a gradual widening of the music lineup brought SunFest into the high echelons of beloved South Florida events like Miami’s Calle Ocho and the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show.
Starting modestly with “Jazz on the Lake” headlined by jazz and R&B guitarist George Benson in 1983, the years have brought us a who’s who of artists from pop, rock, jazz, r&b, hip-hop, country, Latin and most any genre or subgenre you can think of.
Billy Idol, among headliners at this year’s SunFest, last played SunFest in 2018. Staff Photographer Jim Rassol.
Those who’ve attended will have their favorite performances. One fan I spoke to, who came not for the art and food but the music, listed Wilco; Crosby, Stills & Nash; and a little known group called Classic Albums Live, a band he never heard of. Their performance blew him away. They performed Jimi Hendrix’s entire album Are You Experienced.
Former SunFest president Dari Bowman was there at the first festival, working for her dad, one of the founders. I asked her at what point the music branched out from jazz. In the timeline provided by SunFest, Bonnie Raitt popped up in the early years.
“Well,” Bowman says, “there was a group that went out and interviewed people who were there. Jazz was great for one group of people, but they wanted to expand the audience, and appeal to a much younger group of people.” SunFest listened.
A free festival at its inception, the first admission charge came in 1986. Two dollars for a day pass. Don’t wince. Inflation, people.
It was not long until jazz musicians were joined by acts from The Black Crowes to Counting Crows, from Salt-N-Pepa to Bob Dylan, Judy Collins to Three Dog Night. Mainstage bills went from a dozen to more than twice that. In some years – with great weather – an estimated 300,000 or more visitors showed for the weekend, which stretched from three to five days depending on the year.
Judy Collins performs at SunFest in 1989. Staff photo/Mark Randall
SunFest ’92 was a watershed year, featuring a record 29 acts. Headliners included Carole King, the Neville Brothers, Kenny Loggins, Buddy Guy, Patti Austin, Ray Charles and Rickie Lee Jones. Some called it the best ever.
As music lineups, art and food choices expanded over the years, so did the other attractions, some staying, some one-offs – fireworks, a regatta, marketplaces, floating stages and bars, waterside ticket gates for boaters.
For two years U. S. Navy ships docked at the Port of Palm Beach for free public tours. The All-American Skydiving Team wowed folks waterside.
Soon, both Nickelodeon and VH1 made the scene.
Other areas of expansion enhanced the community connection. Scholarships for local artists. Partnering with local non-profits. Family entertainment and kids workshops. Laser light shows. Downtown merchants and free activities taking place on Clematis and Narcissus Streets.
Then there was the year the Clerk of Courts had a booth in the area for anyone who wanted to get married at SunFest. (I’m betting they never had that at Calle Ocho or the Boat Show.)
By the turn of the century, in 1999, it seemed like all then-current music strains were to be heard in a weekend at SunFest: Goo Goo Dolls, Isaac Hayes, B-52’s, Al Jarreau, George Thorogood, The Wailers, Los Lobos, Hootie and the Blowfish, Randy Newman.
Within a decade you’d see Sean Paul, Ludacris, Snoop Dog and Lil Wayne on the bill as hip hop made its entrance.
Unexpected celebrity appearances were big in 2001. The opening night crowd was treated to a surprise as Jimmy Buffett joined pop duo Evan & Jaron onstage. That same weekend actress Kate Hudson was spotted taking in The Black Crowes (why not, she married the lead singer), and Dennis Rodman joined the rock group Live for their performance.
Jimmy Buffett did it again in 2004, performing with Johnny Clegg Band, the same weekend Food Network star Rachael Ray did an opening night cooking demonstration onstage. And there was Dan Marino, taking in Hootie & the Blowfish, and Chris Kirkpatrick of NSYNC on hand for Michelle Branch’s performance.
Sheryl Crow during the opening night of SunFest 2008. Staff Photo/Jim Rassol.
In 2008, Eric Clapton made a surprise appearance at Sheryl Crow’s performance with an upbeat rendition of Stevie Wonder’s Higher Ground.
According to Dianna Craven, current Executive Director of SunFest, the music lineups “rely on fan feedback,” which today includes on social media. Beyond that, Craven says, are international agencies and booking agents that are necessary “to see who is available – and affordable – for our market.”
“Every year some of my favorite acts are ones that I’ve never heard of,” Craven says. She notes that before they hit wider fame, Rapper Liddo and megastar Carrie Underwood played SunFest.
Craven works with a board of 25 and a full-time staff of four. Not much, you say? Well, add in the whopping army of 2,100 volunteers, which Craven has nothing but praise for, “giving up their personal time and many long weekend hours” to make SunFest a success. Dari Bowman likewise lauded the 100 volunteers back in 1983.
Bowman, who has served SunFest in various capacities since that first year (she was president in 1992, told me about one event that was mildly reminiscent of Woodstock.
“One year it rained and rained and rained,” Bowman says. “We actually had to haul in dirt to fill in some of the low areas that were just so muddy. In dump trucks.”
Dump trucks? Well, Woodstock it wasn’t, but still many left their shoes in the mud that day.
And, like Woodstock, the music went on. For SunFest, it still does.
For information on SunFest 2024, see sunfest.com.
John Dolen was arts & entertainment editor of the Sun Sentinel from 1986-2007.