OKEECHOBEE – Are you ready for the Okeechobee Music Festival? If you don't like traffic and crowds, you might consider doing your shopping before Thursday or after Friday.

Based on experience from previous music festivals, Okeechobee can expect an influx of about 30,000 festival attendees, with festival staff, entertainers and vendors swelling that number closer to 40,000. That means, Thursday through Sunday, the population of Okeechobee County will double.

The Okeechobee Music Festival has a big impact on Okeechobee County.

Nonprofit organizations earn money by running the beverage booths at the festival. For some, it’s their biggest fundraising event of the year. Local businesses benefit from the increased sales of food, gas, camping gear and other supplies. Local government gets a boost from the increase in sales taxes.

Expect more traffic, especially on Thursday, when the festival starts, and Friday, when those who could not get off work earlier in the week arrive.

The Okeechobee Music Festival is a camping festival.  The festival goers arrive at Sunshine Groves with everything they will need for the duration of the event. They’ll set up their camps and stay on the property until they leave on Sunday night or Monday morning. Based on previous events, they will be required to vacate the property by noon on Monday.

So what does that mean for Okeechobee residents?

Festival goers will pick up their festival armbands at the Okeechobee Cattlemen’s Rodeo Arena this year. In the past, they used the Okeechobee Agri-Civic Center as the pickup point, but having the festival later in the month meant the Agri-Civic Center was not available as it is busy with the county fair.  So expect more traffic on U.S. 441 this time.

Expect stores to be busier on Thursday and Friday, as festival fans stock up on supplies. Many of the music fans will carpool from out of state, cramming as many people as they can in a vehicle to save on gas. That means they won't want to carry a lot of supplies with them from home. They’ll stop in Okeechobee for supplies and then head for the festival grounds with bags packed into every available space – and it’s not unusual to see trunks held shut with string and containers of supplies strapped to the roof of a car.

Expect to see music fans wearing anything and everything imaginable. Some arrive wearing bikinis, ready for Spring Break. Others might wear what might look like Halloween costumes.  Some will carry large colorful “totems.” They use these to help keep a group of friends together in a crowd.

Okeechobee County officials and festival organizers are looking forward to a successful return of the Okeechobee Music Festival this year.