OKEECHOBEE – The Okeechobee Music & Arts Festival, which started Thursday, March 19 and continues through Sunday, March 22, features an impressive musical lineup. But the festival is so much more than concerts.

The venue – renamed Sunshine Grove for the festival – is 800 acres of old Florida with oak hammocks, palmettos, expansive grasslands and towering pine trees.

Most festivalgoers spend the weekend camping on the festival grounds, but this year day tickets are also available, giving more people more options to find out what “entering the portal” is all about.

The OMF grounds include:

• The Grove – the main stage area containing the Be stage and the Now stage, as well as food vendors and Participation Row (booths featuring local nonprofit organizations);
• Aquachobee – A man-made beach with a Ferris Wheel, volleyball games and a stage with live music during the day;
• Incendia – The place to be for nighttime pyrotechnics;
• ChobeeWobee Village – A collection of shops, food vendors, art installations and entertainment areas. This is where you will find the Liebrary, an interactive art installation where fans can meet the Liebrarian and the Herstorian.
  

  OKEECHOBEE -- The Herstorian at the Liebrary offered festival goers a chance to check out tiny library books. [Photo by Katrina Elsken/Lake Okeechobee News]

  Katrina Elsken
• The Here stage (across a pond from Incendia). At the inaugural OMF in 2016, the Here stage was in the Grove. While the original message of the stage -- Be, Here, Now – was very much in keeping with the ideals of the fest, problems with sound bleed led them to move the Here stage. The change also meant they could work with sound engineers to address noise complaints from those who live west of the festival grounds.
• Jungle 51 –  For most of the previous festivals, Jungle 51 opened after the final sets on the main stages ended with music playing until sunrise. This year, during the day, Jungle 51 has music and some special activities during the day as well as the late night fun.

OMF offers some experiences that make it different from other festivals such as:

• The Sacred Pause -- guided meditation;
• Love in the Portal -- speed dating;
• A kickball tournament;
• Elektrika: Electronic Dance Class;
• Drum & Breath meditation with drums;
• Goat Yoga – Certified yoga instructors and baby goats leave everyone relaxed and smiling;
• Kitepaloosza – Encourages festival goers to learn the art of kite control; and more!

For ticket information and the complete schedule, go to website or download the OMF app.