Participation Row at Okeechobee Music & Arts Festival
Okeechobee Music & Arts Festival has made giving back to the community an impactful and immersive priority since their debut in 2016. Participation Row is a social activism area featured in Chobeewobee Village that aims to bring awareness to local nonprofits. Since 2016, HeadCount has overseen all of the local nonprofits at Okeechobee Music & Arts Festival. Okeechobee Music Festival has donated over $300,000 to local nonprofits and hopes for that number to be $1,000,000 by their tenth year. This year, HeadCount partnered with Tony’s Chocolonely, by donating hundreds of chocolate bars as part of an incentive for attendees to complete four positive actions as well as a chance to win a signed D’Angelico guitar from artists like Megan, Thee Stallion, Griz, Earthgang, Loveleo, Jaiwolf and Gary Clark Jr.
HEADCOUNT
HeadCount is “a non-partisan organization that utilizes the power of music to register voters and promote participation in democracy.” HeadCount was established in 2004 and has registered over 1,000,000 voters while attending festivals like Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza and touring with artists such as Billie Eilish, Ariana Grande, Beyonce, Jay-Z and Dave Mathews to name a few. This nonprofit is made up of both paid representatives and volunteers from all over the nation that are given the opportunity to become team leaders through their efforts to make voices heard while traveling with artists, all through the universal love of music.
HeadCount has partnered with OMF since year one, and this year's goal was to register at least 500 voters and use digital tools to verify the voters’ status of another 1,000 attendees. For more information, visit the following link here. For more information, on how to register to vote, checking your status, or requesting your ballot, visit the following link here.
In 2020, Okeechobee Music Festival donated $50,880 to their local nonprofit partners. The festival made an impactful contribution by redirecting over 80,000 pounds of reusable goods to local communities.
5,621 pounds of food were rescued on-site at OMF 2020 and donated to the Treasure Coast Food Bank. This donation provided 37,008 meals to food-insecure families in Okeechobee County.
More than 3,000 pounds of reusable goods—including tents, coolers, and other camping equipment—have been rescued from OMF 2020 and donated to the Okeechobee County nonprofit organization Thank You for Your Service, which will distribute the goods to homeless veterans in Okeechobee County.
56,550 pounds of co-mingled recycling and 14,000 pounds of scrap metal were rescued and relocated to proper waste facilities.
15,640 positive social actions have been taken since 2016 in Participation Row, the nonprofit zone spearheaded by our fantastic partners at HeadCount. They also registered 511 new voters at the 2020 edition of the festival.
6,829 positive actions at Participation Row with local non-profits.
HeadCount helped 1,069 fans make sure they're ready to vote in the upcoming midterm election.
Statistical data obtained from the Okeechobee Festival’s website*
The local nonprofits featured at Participation Row this year were Treasure Coast Food Bank, End the Hunger, Thank You For Your Service, Helping People Succeed, Healthy Start, Martas House and Big Brothers Big Sisters. For more information on Okeechobee Music & Arts Festival, visit www.okeechobeefest.com.
Coverage by Viviana Franco // Instagram: @viviana.ttl
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