SunFest

This music festival is everything everyone could want, and MORE! It’s a 5-​day festival with all kinds of music, art, food, drinks drinks and more drinks. You can bring in a bag or chair. You can pull up in your boat. Captain Morgan has a huge barge with 3 DJ tents so you can jam out in between music sets. Lots of people, lots of fun! I’m impressed and can’t wait for next years event.

Went there in the 90s and it was totally awesome even then I work in West Palm Beach then and me and my friends waiting all year to go there all weekend had a blast so much fun great people great food great beer and wine Gardens loved it great art

Great even and well organized as well. The problem is how they limit their vendors to big corporates and leave to the side all the local business. Also I liked their line up. However limiting their bands to 1 or 2 successful bands def wont make go back the next year. Overall was a good event, I don’t think I will go back next year. 40 dollars to see just 1 band that I like I much rather until that band is on tour and visit the city. I guess this event is really popular since is been going on for many years, but is just not for me. 10 dollars for a water down and 9 dollars for Coors light that is just outrageous. Luckily you were able to go out of the premises and come back. Which thats why we did went out to have lunch in one of the local business and came back for another presentation. Once again if at least they would give the opportunity to local business I would be so much more interested. Not for me next year, but give it a try you may like it.

Sunfest was so much fun! It’s one big party and everyone has a great time. The music is awesome, the food is great, and the location is perfect. Highly recommended for anyone what wants to have a good time.

Sunfest has really dramatically evolved over the last 10 years, the festival has grown so much. With three stages having performances all day, and between 3 – 4 floating party docks the festival is much larger than you would expect from seeing the location before setup takes place. Each year larger bands are being booked as the festival keeps growing. Parking can be expensive near by so it’s best to try and get there early and find parking a few blocks away for $ 5-​$ 10 rather than the $ 20 they will try and charge close by. Value or discount tickets can be found in pretty much any local paper or even the grocery stores in West Palm the months leading up to the show, if you are looking to for more than one night it is definitely worth picking up a few day pass. Whether your’e a local looking for something to do, visiting during the week, or not to far of a drive from west palm beach Sunfest is well worth attending!

Sunfest has certainly changed a lot over the years, and for the better. Now I’ll admit, I was quite young during my last Sunfest visit (age 12) so my view on the activities is much different now. Now that I have a greater appreciation for art and music (and I’m over the age of 21) Sunfest has been fun for once! Got the chance to see Ellie Goulding who is very popular among the 20s crowd. She was a great performer so that was an experience for me.
The food is your typical festival food, but overall all of it taste pretty good. Some of the art prices are pretty steep though, so I think only true collectors would buy any of it. The rain was a hindrance on Sun so that kinda sucked, but overall it was enjoyable.

It’s a giant party for sure! They book some huge acts and from the looks of it most everyone is having a fantastic time. I was setup selling my art for the show. The crowd is mixed and depending on who the music acts are, will really have an effect on your experience. Certainly there is a heavy dose of drunken fools, but for the most part the crowds are all there to share the experience of quality art and top notch music. I do suggest u take the time to check out the art while you hop from stage to stage, cuz there are artists worth seeing. The firework show on the last night is fantastic with a capital F. They spare no expense with the fireworks and right over the water is a beautiful site.

SunFest was awesome! This was my first SunFest experience and I loved it. The bands were awesome (esp. Goo Goo Dolls and Daughtry) and the whole vibe was really laid back and cool. I suggest eating at one of the restaurants near the festival site since the food inside the gates is your typical festival/​fair food. It’s also cool that you can bring in umbrellas b/​c it rained on Friday night and Saturday and having the umbrella was handy. The people watching was really entertaining. I definitely plan attending SunFest next year.

OK so this was my first time at Sunfest but I have been to TONS of music festivals throughout my many years. While I loved the lineup and the HUGE size of the festival, I thought the ability to hide from the rain was the worst. When it rained, and BOY did it rain (it was coming down sideways at one point), «there was no where to run to baby nowhere to hide». The only place to go were the floating bardges that were WAY far away from everything and if you were under 21 no such luck for you this is an adult only party!!! So EVERYONE (21+) packed in there like sardines. So my first suggestions is that they need to add venue tents like Ultra does, ‘just in case’. Additionally, they had just laid fresh sod down so it became a mud fest of all mud fests. It was so gross. They need to figure out what to do here as well.
The site itself is impressive and the setup for food stands and art stands was WAY beyond what I expected. My last suggestion would be to invite local food trucks to ‘park’ and sell their specialties.
totally going back & PS VIP is the way to go!

This was my first Sunfest experience, and I plan to be back next year. I attended on Saturday only. Parking was super easy to find, even though my friends and I arrived right smack in the middle of the day. If you’re not feeling too lazy, you can go a couple blocks away and find $ 5 parking!
Funny story: Entering the festival, there was a quick purse check, and they made my friend take a sip from her water bottle… We were laughing about it when a cop said to us, «THINK ABOUT IT. If you were bringing poison in, would you want to drink it?» We made really serious faces and nodded like that made tons of sense. So the take home message of my review is do not bring poison to Sunfest.
Anyway, the festival’s bigger than it looks from the outside. 3 stages, pretty spaced out. I love that there is a nice laid back feeling to the day… you can watch a band, get some food/​drinks, sit by the water when you need a break. It’s so laid back. Keep in mind that different parts have different vibes… but it’s pretty easy to figure out. The «Life in Color» area was an imitation Ultra, with neon and teenage pot smokers galore. Meanwhile, The Airborne Toxic Event and Phillip Phillips were quite tame. I think this is important to consider for people bringing kids.
The party barges in the water were a really fun feature. They were nice because they’re 21+, so the atmosphere was a little less… insane, for people who don’t appreciate half-​naked preteens and their hormones everywhere. They played awesome danceable music, and we got to take pictures with Captain Morgan! :)
I had a really good time. Especially with such reasonable prices (I found mine as a New Times DailyDeal), it’s worth it!

Wow if you want to see half naked teenagers getting Drunk and Partying then this is the place to be, Great list of bands and artist attending but I wasn’t feeling anything else. I really don’t know how some of the parents of these young Girls let them out the way they look. This is a place I would stay away from if I had a family. Not as good as past years. To commercialized.

Judging one year – THIS year, 2012 – only…I don’t see the point of using nostalgia as an implement to analysis… THE best concert that I’ve seen in decades was the show that Paul Rodgers put on at Sunfest on Fri. May 4. The venue is delightful. Outdoors, early May in South Florida, at waterside, bar barges docked along the promenade, plenty of room to enjoy. Tickets are EXTREMELY affordable considering what they’ve reached at nearly any other venue. Buy your admission ticket early at Publix, and you get every second ticket of a pair at half off. The concerts are @3 stages, only one with reserved seating, the other two are standing venues, but the $ 20 ticket price gets you a place to stand in a reserved section at the very front directly AT the stagefront.
You can still hear ANY of these shows for free, just by standing behind the paid-​ticket concert-​goers. Then all you pay is the price of general admission to the festival grounds. These take up about ¾ mile directly on the promenade at the western shore of the Intercoastal. Yes there are abundant vendor stands in typical art-​fair! flea-​market style, but plenty of things being sold, including a decent choice of foods. Porto-​potty supply was very adequate and clean… also a pleasant thing.
This years line-​up wasn’t anemic, either, with Snoop, Wiz Khalifa, Creed, Foreigner, and other great musicians. I got to enjoy some of the Creed show by standing outside the grandstand area and watching the band clearly on the large video screens mounted above the wings of the stage, and I was in a place that was permitted to be… anyone could have stood there and enjoyed a great concert without purchasing a ticket for a reserved seat. Foreigner was at that same stage the next night, and could have been enjoyed the same way.
The Paul Rodgers show was just fantastic. I’ve been a devotee who thinks that he’s properly and aptly called «the Voice» by many of his fellow rock singers of different generations. I’ve been to see him about 20 times in many venues since the first time, with «Free» in 1970, through «Bad Company,» the «Paul Rodgers Band,» his tour recently with «Queen,» all of it. This show was magical. He was relaxed, as was the band, and having a great time. This was their only scheduled show between the end of March & mid June, I believe. They played for a FULL 100 Minutes… two encores and all. Need I say that NOTHING beats the acoustics at an outdoor show?
It was well worth the expense of paying for parking in advance, by the way. Overall, if there’s music that you want to hear, performers that you’d like to see, you couldn’t find a more pleasant way to experience them, at ANY price – except for a private show in your own backyard.

The Sunfest office staff could careless about customer service.
The sunfest concert is well worth the time and money.
However don’t bother inquiring about any services or info at the clematis office location. The staff is rude, dismissive and unwilling to accommodate requests. Your best shot is utilizing the website cause they do not know the first thing about customer relations. Furthermore when expressing a grievance about an undesirable interaction, I was made to feel as though I was in the wrong.
Not to mention they tried to imply I lied about the experience. I didn’t want any compensation just to share the grievance to enhance the quality of service.
Nothing but attitude in that office. Such a shame!

As a veteran Sunfest junkie (every year since 1991), I can tell you that it AIN’T WHAT IT USED TO BE.
We used to drive up on Friday afternoon, stay in an area hotel for two nights, and party, party, party until it was time to come home in the late afternoon on Sunday. Everything was great until maybe 3 or 4 years ago. The first change was to move the awesome fireworks show from Friday to Sunday night. So much for kicking off the weekend with a bang :(the first year they did that was a huge disappointment, and we hoped they would reconsider, but they didn’t. The following year, we figured why go on Friday night? We can see it all on Sat and Sun. So, we cut our two night stay to one night (are you listening, tourism dept.?) So now instead of buying the one week pass, it no longer paid, and we were buying two-​one day passes. We did that the following year. Then we realized that was pretty pricey, and we could see this thing in a day. Well, the following year, we just bought passes for Sunday, and since we were only doing Sunday, it didn’t pay to stay at the hotel at all.
Our amazing, awesome weekend that we used to look forward to all year long, turned into just another Sunday art show. The excitement was gone. Add to that the fact that the really neat little craft market area is now gone, and the bands are not what they used to be, and what we have left is kind of a dud of a weekend. Last year we were there for 4 hours. Maybe for someone who has no clue what a great event this was, it’s a nice day out, but for me, it’s just more of a downer. I left them with three stars, because in all fairness, it’s still a nice event, but compared to what they were, they are now a one star.

woohoo, sunfest rocks my socks! sure the bands aren’t the newest coolest but always someone that will please. love that its by the water, love the floating captain morgans barges, love the atmosphere, the people, the area, and $ 54 prepaid 5 day passes are awesome! def something to enjoy, especially the fireworks on sunday 9pm, amazing! best fireworks i’ve seen!

Excellent venue for a music festival!!! There was a beautiful view right on the water. I loved the captain morgan oasis on the barges! I only went for one day and enjoyed the sounds of Ziggy Marley and MGMT. This was my first Sunfest experience, but it will definitely not be my last — and next year I’m going for the whole weekend. From the food, drinks, crafts, games, and shows — there’s something for everyone!

Whats not to like (except the parking)? Wonderful outdoor venue that stretches along the water for close to a mile. Tree lined walk ways, over a hundred artist booths, decent food and 3 stages. A multitude of bands which over a 5 day period is sure to please every age group. Bonus for me was Styx playing on Sat night. As usual, they rocked. A good time had by all.

Starting with their site, it’s easy to navigate, informational. You get the option to save a bit of $ if you order advanced tickets or you can choose to buy at the entrance. You can buy one day passes or packages. Same options are available for parking passes. For parking I do recommend you buy online, once there you will find parking costs a lot higher than usual $ 15 — $ 20, or maybe more.
This year I went opening night to see Weezer. Even without assigned seats, we were able to see the concert and enjoy it perfectly. They have big screens on each side of the stage, sound was great, even where there were seats everyone had room to dance, jump, and sing. There are several stages around, giving the opportunity to see several performances per day. There’s also activities like wine tastings, Captain Morgan’s Oasis, and more.
Definitely a great festival for the whole family. Go day or night you’re guaranteed a good time.