The Tortuga Music Festival drew a massive crowd with its first concert on Fort Lauderdale beach a dozen years ago — and it’s been luring big crowds ever since.
But if Fort Lauderdale were to increase outdoor event fees, Tortuga could pick up and leave for Miami or West Palm Beach, some say.
Chris Stacey, founder of the popular three-day country and rock music festival, did not mince words when warning commissioners against increasing Tortuga’s impact fees to nearly $70,000.
“Let’s not kill the golden goose,” Stacey said during a recent City Hall meeting. “Tortuga has become a fantastic economic engine for the city. Festivals are dying all over the country. And I would like to not choke the golden goose.”
Music festival producer Von Freeman delivered a similar warning: “You have to be very careful when you make these decisions because big corporations that give you millions of dollars and millions of media impressions, they will look at the (profit and loss) and say, ‘Let’s go to Miami. Let’s go to West Palm.’”
Fort Lauderdale is the host city for more than 350 outdoor events every year, but Tortuga is by far one of the biggest in terms of crowds and impact, city officials say. Because of that impact, Tortuga would be hit with the highest impact fee.
In an effort to achieve full-cost recovery, Fort Lauderdale has been looking at increasing impact fees for special events across the board.
For Tortuga, the fee would rise from $13,700 to $68,000 — a nearly 400% increase. The Fort Lauderdale Air Show would see its fee rise from $2,700 to $13,000 and the fee for the A1A Marathon would jump from $200 to $10,500.
The new fee would be based on several factors, including crowd size; road closures; the duration of the event; parking impacts; whether public safety details are required; and whether the public would still have access to the beach or park.
Organizers for Tortuga were the only ones subject to the new impact fee who attended the City Hall meeting to object.
Next year’s Tortuga festival dates are already set for April 10-12 in Fort Lauderdale.
An economic engine
Live Nation handles certain aspects of the Tortuga festival, including promoting lineups and managing the festival’s operation.
“We really love being here,” Jim Reid, senior director of operations for Live Nation, told the commission. “There is a challenge in the festival business right now so we’re trying to manage our costs as much as possible. If we have to pay another $54,000, our audience isn’t going to take it as a ‘Oh, they’re just adding a couple of bucks here.’ They have price resistance as well.”
Tortuga includes a shipwreck display as part of the festival’s commitment to ocean conservation and awareness. That display could be at risk if Fort Lauderdale were to significantly increase the festival’s impact fees, Reid said.
“We’ll just take something away,” he told the commission. “The shipwreck goes away or some shade goes away. But an audience recognizes that. We want to keep this thing as cool and fun as fresh every year as we can. And added costs make it more challenging.”
Tortuga Music Festival — where single-day passes sold for $199 this year — has not yet released its ticket prices for 2026.
Lisa Namour, general manager at Bahia Mar’s DoubleTree hotel and chair of the Beach Business Improvement District Advisory Committee, reminded the commission that big events boost tourism, bringing hundreds of out-of-towners to Fort Lauderdale.
“Events like Tortuga are not just entertainment,” Namour told the commission. “They are economic engines for us. They fill all of our hotels, energize our restaurants, boost retail and reinforce Fort Lauderdale’s reputation as a vibrant, world-class tourism destination. Music festivals across the United States have closed 50 festivals over the last 24 months due to rising costs of talent, increased costs of production and municipality costs.”
After hearing the warnings, Mayor Dean Trantalis suggested pausing the plan to increase fees.
“I don’t think we want to do anything to put any of the events at risk,” he said. “I think what makes Fort Lauderdale so exciting is the fact that we have activities on the beach, especially a lot of free activities. Having these events will continue to help us promote that goal and to keep Fort Lauderdale alive as it is today.”
As for Tortuga, Trantalis said the city does not want to see it go away.
“I understand that ticket sales have plummeted,” he said. “That economic reality is something we have to face. I understand that a lot of these festivals are going away. People are not spending the money. I personally don’t want to take any further action on this. Maybe this isn’t the right time to be doing it.”
‘Putting heads in beds’
Commissioner Steve Glassman said it’s important to find the right balance.
“I understand the concerns of the residents in terms of quality-of-life issues,” he said. “But I also understand the need to make sure that we are putting heads in beds — that we do recognize the economic impact of some of these well-established events over time.”
Glassman said he’d like to know how Fort Lauderdale compares to other cities regarding impact fees.
“I want to find a reasonable approach that doesn’t scare away some of our well-established events,” he said. “I look at a lot of these events as long-term partners of ours now. Over the years, I’ve heard less and less complaints when it comes to some of the larger events on the barrier island. I think people have learned to live with this and understand that there is a strong economic impact factor here.”
Commissioner Ben Sorensen argued that Fort Lauderdale is not charging a fair price when it comes to impact fees for outdoor events.
“I understand the economic strain,” he said. “But we as a city are under an economic strain as well. I think it is fair to say that we should be charging more than what we’re charging. I think we can charge more as a city and still preserve the relationship and the economic health of these bigger events.”
Maybe the current proposal isn’t the right number, Sorensen said.
“Going from $13,500 to $68,000, that’s a big delta, I completely understand. But I think it’s healthy to say, what would be a reasonable cap for it so we are provided some compensation for the impact on the city?”
Sorensen put the question to Tortuga’s founder.
“I don’t know that we can answer that here today,” Stacey said. “But I think we can certainly work with you guys off line to come up with a number. We want to be good partners. I’m sure we can sit down and hammer something out that everybody feels comfortable with.”
Susannah Bryan can be reached at sbryan@sunsentinel.com. Follow me on X @Susannah_Bryan