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Sit Down with the Producer: James Cornett – Music Fan From a Music Festival Family

James Cornett of the Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park (photo courtesy Live For Live Music)

When the Spirit of Suwannee Music Park last spring announced the dates for its 2018 Hulaween Music Festival, it was a eagerly awaited announcement about the latest in more than 30 years of live events and music education from the family business James Cornett leads today.

As President and CEO of Cornett’s Spirit of the Suwannee, Inc., James carries on what parents Bob and Miss Jean started as bluegrass festivals back in their native Kentucky. It was the quintessential “family business” with James, just 12 at the time, selling tickets and picking up trash.

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A Sit Down With Producer Paul Levine: From Farmhouse Parties to the Perfect Multiday Camping Festival

Paul Levine at Fool’s Paradise

Like many music festival producers, Paul Levine didn’t chart his career path. It formed over time, culminating in his role as a producer of such events as Suwannee Hulaween, Bear Creek, the Aura Festival, Fool’s Paradise, and Purple Hatter’s Ball and his role at one of the most celebrated RV and festival camping destinations, the Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park in Live Oak, Florida. It started when Levine was a student at Lehigh University outside Philadelphia from 1987 to 1991. He’d travel to Grateful Dead shows throughout the Northeast. Having banked 100 or more shows, Levine found himself in his dorm room one day wondering how to get the Dead to play Lehigh?

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Sit Down with the Producer: Kevin Collinsworth, CEO, Okeechobee Music Festival

Kevin Collinsworth, CEO, Soundslinger

Like many music festival producers, Kevin Collinsworth knows some of the best events head off-stage to deliver a memorable camping adventure. And he’s not bashful about what he’s got in the spread that’s home to the Okeechobee Music & Arts Festival (OMF) each spring.

The sprawling 800-acre property just northeast of Lake Okeechobee in Central Florida creates a stellar destination for festival camping enthusiasts. From car camping to RV glamping, Collinsworth, 46, and his team at Soundslinger LLC spent almost a full year since OMF 2017 relocating and planting trees, creating new areas, and leveling grounds to elevate any style of camping outing.

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