SunFest Lives Up To Its Name as Temps Soar

Online, May 28, 2012 (Newswire.com) - WEST PALM BEACH - Musical acts such as Pitbull and The Fray weren't the only hot things on the final day of SunFest.

The Hawaiian Tropic girls manning a tent today between two of the three music stages handed out more than 3,000 mini-bottles of sunscreen to revelers, some whose skin had already turned a shade of red.

In only a few hours, the Tire Kingdom booth slapped about 1,500 foam koozies onto concertgoers' quickly warming beverages.

And well before the sun had begun to set, somewhere around two dozen ticketholders had been treated for heat exhaustion.

"It's chaos, but controlled chaos," said Lt. Mike Frattaruolo of West Palm Beach Fire Rescue.

SunFest lived up to its name throughout this year's five-day festival, with temperatures reaching the high 80s on its final day. But the heat didn't deter the thousands of attendees, who showed up to the festival's 30th year for the eclectic music lineup and the chance to relax and hang out on the city's waterfront.

Mike Ghengeaua and his girlfriend drove up from Fort Lauderdale today to see classical rockers Foreigner and Jewish reggae artist Matisyahu. Ghengeaua wore his girlfriend's floppy pink and white hat to shield himself from the sun; he'd forgotten sunscreen.

Cindy Williams, (Shirley of Laverne and Shirley), came to hear Music but may have found found something else more entertaining in the process. "Wow, this is the most hilarious concept I have ever seen," referring to a vendor called Bopping Heads Entertainment, a dance video producer who had more people waiting at their booth than some of the acts did around the stage. "I come every year and it just keeps getting better and better!"

"We love coming here every year," he said, speaking earnestly as the hat flopped over one eye. "We love the people watching."

Others came for acts as varied as Cubano hip-hop artist Pitbull or Beatles tribute band The Fab Four, while others showed up for the evening's fireworks display and to check out the artwork.

"The weather's been incredible, the crowd's been incredible," said SunFest spokeswoman Melissa Sullivan. SunFest won't have numbers on how many attendees came to the festival until later, but she thinks this year has drawn a crowd from a wider area than before.

She said the warm, cloudless weather caused no unusual problems. "Obviously, with crowds like this, there's going to be calls (for dehydration and heat exhaustion)," she said. "Once the sun goes down behind the buildings, the heat is forgotten."

David Simpkins, a SunFest coordinator who was helping manage the first aid tents, said he saw 35-40 people with heat exhaustion on Saturday and Sunday. But the most major medical incident came when a 15-year-old boy decided to defend his masculinity on Saturday.

"He did 100 push-ups on the hot concrete because some of his friends were doing it," Simpkins said. "He ended up with third-degree burns on his hands."