One of the most memorable hits and videos of the past half-century was the 1981 single “Once in a Lifetime” by the Talking Heads — in which vocalist David Byrne repeated the mantra of “same as it ever was.”
That phrase doesn’t apply to SunFest, Florida’s largest waterfront music and art festival.
For its 2024 installment, a floating SunFest Electronic Barge will feature deejays, those entities who used to spin other people’s music but have become main attractions in the selfie era. The festival only added the stage’s schedule to its website in recent weeks; evening hours were extended to accommodate, and it’s sure to be all the rave.
Its closer on May 5 is Rony Seikaly, former NBA center for the Miami Heat from 1988-1994, who’s obviously found an easier way to earn a living than grinding against other 7-footers on a professional basketball court.
There are other differences from last year as well. Faced with criticism over canceling the festival’s third dry-land music stage and popular Art Village last year, SunFest brings both back. A non-profit that’s been in the red more often than the black, SunFest also caused an uproar last year with its announcement that high school and area School of Rock acts would be featured in an attempt to change that equation.
For first-year executive director Dianna Craven and her team, the lead-up has been a wild ride since she succeeded longtime Executive Director Paul Jamieson, who retired after holding the title from 1996-2023. But it’s hardly her first rodeo.
“I started working for SunFest in the fall of 1996,” she says. “It’s fun and rewarding, but it’s also a hard job. We only have four full-time employees.”
Jamieson had worked for SunFest since 1990, hiring Craven six years later. Under his watch, the festival started gradually turning away from jazz (second-year headliners in 1984 were legends Dizzy Gillespie, Dave Brubeck and Ramsey Lewis) to its current pop, rock, country, reggae, and hip-hop performers.
Because of COVID-19 cancellations in 2020 and 2021, this year will mark the 40th SunFest
“COVID hit everyone hard,” says Craven. “But the community seems really engaged in our 40th anniversary. And a lot of people have moved to Palm Beach County in the past several years, many of whom haven’t been to SunFest before. So we’ll get a new portion of our 2024 audience as well.”
SunFest initially featured local orchestras, visual art, and fireworks as well as jazz. A second stage was added in 1986, when the festival expanded from three to four days. That became a five-day format by 1993, and the Meyer Ampitheater was added as a permanent third primary stage by 1996.
But in 2018, SunFest downshifted to four days. And post-COVID-19, with the festival facing the costs of national acts charging more to tour again — largely to offset the royalty revenues they’d lost since streaming services supplanted their recording labels — SunFest went back to three days, cutting out the art and its third musical stage.
“The feedback I got was that there weren’t as many things to do as usual, and that people missed the art,” Craven says. “So that’s back this year, along with the Sandbar Stage, located in the open-grass park area between Evernia and Fern streets. The focus there will be on local bands, and high school and School of Rock acts. We’re a regional more than a national festival, so our priority is the South Floridians who usually make up 60 percent of our audience.”
Craven specifies that more national acts are featured than last year, even if some split the difference between locals and nationals to reduce costs, and that last year’s expensive headliners like The Killers didn’t prove cost-efficient despite drawing a huge crowd and delivering a quality performance.
For this year, the successful pop band Dashboard Confessional plays the Ideal Nutrition Stage on May 5, led by Chris Carrabba. The group formed in Boca Raton in 1999. Cassadee Pope, a rock and country vocalist who emerged from Wellington High School and became the 2012 winner of the TV singing competition show The Voice, also plays the Meyer Ampitheater earlier that day. And on May 4 on the same concrete stage, the Lubben Brothers perform their blend of Americana and folk music.
Twenty-nine-year-old triplets, vocalists and multi-instrumentalists, the Lubbens relocated from the Midwest to attend Palm Beach Atlantic University in West Palm Beach from 2013-2017. But they became victims of their own local success, which especially turned into out-of-state touring after their cover of Burl Ives’ chestnut “Holly Jolly Christmas” appeared in the soundtrack to the 2021 Netflix holiday film Love Hard.
“We’d never even applied to SunFest before,” says Michael Lubben. “But we’d certainly heard about it, and even literally heard it, being in such close proximity while at Palm Beach Atlantic.”
SunFest has several initiatives geared toward inclusion of local artists for 2024, whether musical, visual or culinary.
“In addition to the Art Village, we’ll have a schedule of interactive area visual artists presenting their work and doing demonstrations,” Craven says. “And in addition to our food concessions, we’re engaging local restaurants to participate and showcase their talented area chefs.”
The first-year executive director also wants to spread the word about what the nonprofit’s funds are used toward.
“We depend a lot on our volunteers while being on a shoestring budget,” says Craven. “Many of those volunteers come from other local nonprofits, and I feel like SunFest becomes a voice for them, because we also give them the opportunity to raise funds. Some years SunFest does well financially; some not. In a year like 2019, lots of rain hurt our numbers. But in the years when we do well, the money is invested to serve as future insurance for a rainy day.”
Perhaps the only moisture regarding a successful SunFest 2024 will be surrounding its floating stage. Deejays there can start immediately after their predecessor’s set finishes — without any of those pesky changeovers required with actual live musicians on the land-locked stages. In serving up continuous EDM, the SunFest Electronic Barge is likely to be a profitable hit. Which means it will almost certainly not happen only once in a lifetime.
If You Go
SunFest 2024, Flagler Drive along the Intracoastal Waterway between Banyan Boulevard and Lakeview Avenue, West Palm Beach.
When: May 3, 5-11:30 p.m. Kritikal from 5:45-6:15 p.m., Leah Dibut 6:45-7:30 p.m., Shaggy 8-9:15 p.m., and Nelly 9:45-11 p.m. on the northern main Ford Stage; Fox Maple Band 6-6:30 p.m., SloFunkPump 7-7:30 p.m., Quiet Riot 8-9 p.m., and Billy Idol 9:30-10:30 p.m. at the Meyer Ampitheater’s central Ideal Nutrition Stage, Disbarred 5:30-6 p.m., Shaw Davis & The Black Ties 6:30-7 p.m., and Vern Daysel & The Burning Breeze 7:30-8:15 p.m. on the southern Sandbar Stage, powered by F-150 Lightning, and Gabo & Nico 5-5:45 p.m., Falco 5:45-6:30 p.m., J Martinez & German Garcia 6:30-7:45 p.m., Patrick M 7:45-8:45 p.m., Sleepy & Boo 8:45-10 p.m., and Stacey Pullen 10-11:30 p.m. on the SunFest Electronic Barge.
When: May 4, noon-11:30 p.m. Killbillies 1:45-2:30 p.m., The Aces 3-4 p.m., The Revivalists 4:30-5:45 p.m., Noah Hunton 6:45-7:30 p.m., Dylan Scott 8-9:15 p.m., and Cole Swindell 9:45-11 p.m. on the Ford Stage; The Lubben Brothers 1:15-1:45 p.m., Hailey Whitters 2:15-3:15 p.m., Elle King 3:45-4:45 p.m., Matt Corman 5:45-6:15 p.m., anees 6:45-7:30 p.m., Bryce Vine 8-9 p.m., and Yung Gravy 9:30-10:45 p.m. on the Ideal Nutrition Stage, Roosevelt Middle School Band 1-1:20 p.m., New Phi Thang Drumline 2:10-2:30 p.m., School of Rock South Palm Beach House Band 3-3:30 p.m., I’m Dru! 4-4:30 p.m., Brett Staska & The Souvenirs 5-5:30 p.m., Hello Sister 6-6:30 p.m., and NIghtbreakers 7:15-8 p.m. on the Sandbar Stage, and James Simmons noon-1:30 p.m., Machina 1:30-2:30 p.m., Wizzy & Wiley 2:30-3:30 p.m., Crazibiza 3:30-6:30 p.m., Harry Romero 6:30-8:30 p.m., Andreatens 8:30-9:30 p.m., and Cocodrills 9:30-11:30 p.m. on the SunFest Electronic Barge.
When: May 5, noon-10:30 p.m. Brothers Within 1:30-2 p.m., Seranation 2:30-3:15 p.m., Little Stranger 3:45-4:45 p.m., The Elovaters 5:15-6:15 p.m., Matisyahu 6:45-8 p.m., and Rebelution 8:30-10 p.m. on the Ford Stage; Steven James 1:30-2 p.m., Cassadee Pope 2:30-3:15 p.m., Valley 3:45-4:30 p.m., Boys Like Girls 5-6:15 p.m., Dashboard Confessional 6:45-8 p.m., and Third Eye Blind 8:30-9:45 p.m. on the Ideal Nutrition Stage, West Boca High School Jazz Band 1-1:20 p.m., John I. Leonard Jazz Band 2:10-2:30 p.m., School of Rock North Palm Beach House Band 3-3:30 p.m., Ben Krieger 4-4:30 p.m., Buko Boys 5-5:30 p.m., The Floridians 6-6:45 p.m., and Jutt Huffman 7:30-8:15 p.m. on the Sandbar Stage, and MandyyBeck 1-2:30 p.m., Nick Mac 2:30-3:30 p.m., Chase Creighton 3:30-4:30 p.m., 2Nomads 4:30-6 p.m., Eran Hersh 6-7:30 p.m., Adam Lipson ft. Mister Trombone 7:30-9 p.m., and Rony Seikaly 9-10:30 p.m. on the SunFest Electronic Barge.
Tickets: $80 daily, with discount two-day, three-day, youth, senior, VIP, close-up “The Stand,” and pre-paid parking packages.
Info: 800-SUNFEST (800-786-3378) or www.sunfest.com.