It's a fitting setting for a festival devoted to ocean conservation.
Florida Fin Fest returns this weekend to the SeaWalk Pavilion in Jacksonville Beach, bringing two days of music, environmental education and interactive experiences focused on protecting the ocean and coastal waterways.
But an event focused on sustainability could be forced to pull up anchor if city officials fail to amend its special events policy surrounding ticketed events.
The family-friendly festival features interactive learning experiences, panels with guest speakers and scientists, and a festival village showcasing brands focused on sustainability, conservation and environmentally friendly practices.
The Education Village will feature an immersive underwater virtual reality experience, educational activities and touch tanks provided by Jacksonville University. Speakers will address climate resilience, biodiversity and local watershed conservation.
The festival also features an eclectic lineup of artists on two stages. Friday's main-stage lineup includes Future Joy, with Andy Frasco & The U.N. and Magic City Hippies headlining.
Performances on the Blue Jay Stage include Tounds, The Gilmore Quandary featuring Olivia Shea, Jordan Burchel and Associates and Annie Dukes.
Saturday's main-stage lineup includes Los Muertos, Airtight, 1blackfrend, Hallpass, Old Mervs and Supertaste, with Magic City Hippies headlining.
Panel discussions scheduled on the Blue Jay Stage and throughout the Education Village include "Florida-Friendly Landscaping and Smart Growth," featuring representatives from the Matanzas Riverkeeper discussing sustainable development and practices to protect coastal waterways.
Led by Lisa Rinaman of the St. Johns Riverkeeper, "Rewilding Florida" will focus on wildlife corridors, habitat restoration and protecting Florida's native ecosystems.
"Forecasting Floods," hosted by the St. Marys Riverkeeper, will explore sea-level rise, local flood data and coastal readiness.
But rising production costs and restrictions in Jacksonville Beach's Special Events Policy are putting pressure on such events as Florida Fin Fest.
"We put on Florida Fin Fest and many of the events out here at the beach. I'm here for a call for help. As we know, events bring vitality, community gathering and critical economic impact to Jacksonville Beach," said Niko Costas of festival producer Real Time Entertainment and Management, or RTEAM.
"However, under the current policy constraints, bringing high-quality city events to our community is no longer financially viable for organizers like us. To make events more feasible, two essential updates must be made to the policy."
Under Chapter 5 regarding ticket sales, the policy states that "no special event will be considered that requires paid admission."
However, paid priority seating is allowed at the SeaWalk Pavilion, provided that at least 50% of the seating remains available without a paid priority-seating charge.
The City Council revised the policy in 2024 to limit the number of annual festivals and tighten restrictions on both ticketed and unauthorized events. The changes included an expanded definition of a special event to include regulations on unauthorized events, stronger internal controls during the application and permit phases, and criteria for denial of a special event application.
City officials said the changes were proposed in response to community concerns about events taxing city services and the police department.
A pilot program was proposed to allow for ticketed events in Jacksonville Beach, but it was shelved when the redesign of Latham Plaza "didn't get us where we wanted to be," said Parks and Recreation Director Jason Phitides.
City Manager Mike Staffopoulos said staff would defer whether to include distilled spirits and ticketed events until the redevelopment of Latham Plaza and the proposed P3 project for the adjacent municipal parking lot are finalized. The size and location of the different public spaces will determine the types of special events that can occur downtown, he said during a 2024 briefing on the policy revisions.
Costas said allowing fully ticketed events would provide organizers with revenue to offset rising costs while giving them greater control over capacity and crowd security. He also recommended revising the policy to require a two-day minimum for festival permits.
"Gated, ticketed access is a standard through modern event production," he said. "The cost of infrastructure and security cannot be recouped in a single day. The single-day model forces us as organizers to absorb 100% of that setup and breakdown overhead with only a fraction of the operating revenue. I think without these two changes, the math simply does not work."
If the policy remains unchanged, Costas said his team may not return to the SeaWalk Pavilion.
"We feel we have no choice than to pull our existing events from Jacksonville Beach in 2027. With losing Springing the Blues and our portfolio of events, I believe as a resident there will be a noticeable void for our community," he said.
"We want to stay here. We want to continue to support local businesses and have safe, top-tier experiences for our residents and our visitors alike, but to do that, we will need to have a policy framework that allows for a sustainable business model as well."
At a 2022 City Council meeting, Mayor Chris Hoffman praised Florida Fin Fest as "reflective of the type of event we're looking for here."
"This is a very well-produced event. It has informational booths about sea life and recycling and things like that, great music and you could tell it was just a very well-run event," Hoffman said during a discussion granting a special exception for Fin Fest to operate as a two-day event.
"This is one of those kinds of events that we need to be seeking out in our special events policy."
