Some UF students are packing swimsuits and seltzers for spring break. The Alligator is packing tents, earplugs and hydration packs.
Two reporters and one photographer are preparing for warm days and cool nights as they get ready to head down to the Okeechobee Music & Arts Festival.
Founded in 2016, OMF is returning after two fallow years to set the standard on camping festivals with six stages and plenty of new food options. The four-day extravaganza will have over 130 performances, featuring headliners like Cage The Elephant, Fisher, LCD Soundsystem and The Lumineers.
The genre-defying festival takes place March 19 to 22 at Sunshine Grove, about three hours southeast of Gainesville.
Festival head Julio Santo Domingo, better known as Rechulski, will be driving down with his two Scottish terriers from New York City. He expects roughly 30,000 festivalgoers.
Rechulski is also a DJ himself, previously operating a DJ collective in New York — and even playing shows in Gainesville. He performed at Alpin Bistro and at the Waterbear party at the Loft downtown in 2024.
In 2015, he founded Soundslinger, the company behind OMF. Since then, much of his energy has been focused on the festival.
“When you're building a festival like Okeechobee, it’s like building a city,” Rechulski said. “It’s just nonstop all year round.”
Each year, he likes to purchase or commission a new art piece for the festival. Asicaz Monzón, a Colombian American artist, created a permanent sculpture, which Rechulski describes as “a really cool alien-like totem figure.”
Additionally, Rechulski will be performing at the festival at Jungle 51, the all-night music stage, Friday night.
Richard Gonzales, a 22-year-old UF food and resource economics senior, will be heading to OMF in style with a group of 14 people. A couple of months ago, he purchased a silver 2008 Lincoln limo on Facebook Marketplace. He’ll be the one driving it.
Gonzales has never been to OMF before but has been to other festivals, including the electronic-focused Electric Daisy Carnival, or EDC, in Orlando. He also has a vague memory of his parents taking him to a camping festival when he was young. For OMF, he’ll be relying on his Boy Scout experience.
“Some of my friends like festivals, but not a lot of them have been camping at all, though, so I’m probably going to have to be like mother bird for the whole time,” he said.
His advice to others: Avoid getting your stuff wet, stay hydrated and be overprepared.
Gonzales most anticipates seeing T-Pain, he said. He and the rapper both come from Tallahassee.
It’s also Bella Molloy’s first time attending OMF. The 21-year-old UF linguistics junior is a member of the EDM club PLUR, which stands for peace, love, unity and respect. She’s been camping before, but never car camping at a festival. To prepare, she’s been doing research online.
Luckily, she’ll be attending with her friend Morgan Spear, a University of Central Florida nursing alumna and a frequent festival camper.
“She is my best friend for a reason,” Molloy said. “She’s so wise and everything. She’s actually the one who got me into the scene to begin with.”
Molloy paid around $400 for her four-day tickets and expects to spend an additional $150 to $200 for food and equipment. To keep costs low, she’ll crowdsource equipment from family and friends.
She’s most looking forward to seeing Cage The Elephant.
“Cage The Elephant has a special place in my heart. I grew up on their music with my dad, and so I’m really excited,” she said. “I had bought my tickets before the lineup had even dropped.”
Tickets to OMF are on sale now. The Alligator will be attending, so stay tuned for more festival coverage.
Contact Corey Fiske at cfiske@alligator.org. Follow him on X @coreyfiske7.
Corey Fiske is a journalism senior and the Spring 2026 Avenue editor. He previously served as opinions editor, as well as food reporter for the Avenue. Over this past summer, he was a reporting intern at the Portland Press Herald. In his free time, Corey enjoys watching new TV shows, eating chocolate fudge brownie ice cream and traveling to new places.
