Fans attending the Okeechobee Music & Arts Festival March 2nd-5th will be treated to more than just performances by Kings of Leon, Usher with the Roots, The Lumineers and 100+ other acts. They’ll also be rewarded for being good citizens.
Thanks to some teamwork between Clean Energy Advisors, an Orlando-based social impact investment firm, and HeadCount, a non-partisan, non-profit group that registers voters at live music events, the Okeechobee Festival will feature a “Participation Row” social action village.
At Participation Row, fans exploring the grounds will have a chance to register to vote with HeadCount, learn about climate change from Clean Energy Advisors, or interact with organizations from Okeechobee County who focus on issues such as health care, domestic abuse and feeding the hungry.
The first thousand fans to complete actions with any three non-profit organizations will receive a limited-edition, numbered pin from Clean Energy Advisors. The pins feature the Okeechobee festival’s logo in front of a sun – a nod to Clean Energy Advisors’ investments in solar energy projects.
Each fan will also be entered into a free drawing for a D’Angelico guitar signed by the festival’s headliners. Moreover, a second signed guitar will be auctioned in the Eternal Sunshine VIP section, with the proceeds split among all the non-profit organizations on Participation Row.
“We are big believers in social impact investing,” said Clean Energy Advisors’ CEO Chris Warren. “So when it comes to how we spend our marketing dollars, we’re excited to support non-profit organizations and create a positive, educational experience for young people attending music festivals.”
Clean Energy Advisors will be powering Participation Row villages at festivals and concerts throughout the country this year, but Okeechobee is very much the company’s “hometown festival.”
It also holds a special place for New York-based HeadCount, which registered over 1,000 voters at the inaugural Okeechobee festival in March of last year. It was the organization’s second-highest voter registration total out of 67 festivals and nearly 1,600 events where they held registration drives in 2016.
“We got such a great response at Okeechobee last year, so this year we wanted to step things up by bringing Participation Row to the festival,” said HeadCount’s executive director Andy Bernstein. “Registering to vote is the first step in being an active citizen, and now fans will be able to take more steps with all the different organizations on the Row.”
Participation Row will be located in the ChobeeWobee Village area at the festival, alongside various art installations and craft exhibitions. The featured organizations will include: Treasure Coast Food Bank, United Way of Lee, Hendry Glades and Okeechobee County, For Okeechobee, Okeechobee Substance Abuse Coalition, The Warrior Center, Okeechobee Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 69, the Home Builders Institute, Martha’s House, and HeadCount.
