Love it or hate it, South Florida’s oldest music festival will cost more than ever, especially for those who decide at the last minute to attend.

Concertgoers buying tickets at the gate this year will pay up to twice as much as in 2010 to enter SunFest, West Palm Beach’s annual rock-hip-hop-country-pop festival, which runs for four days starting Thursday and attracts more than 100,000 to the waterfront.

Organizers say the 37-year-old festival hiked gate prices for two main reasons: to push fans to buy early and to cover artists’ surging fees that gobble up an ever-increasing share of the nonprofit’s budget.

Music fans would be hard-pressed to find a better deal at festivals around Florida and the country, SunFest Executive Director Paul Jamieson said.

“We will put three-and-a-half million dollars worth of talent on your front lawn on Flagler Drive for four days,” Jamieson said, “If you want to buy a four-day pass ($110 at the gate) you would pay $27 a day. … I defy you (to find) where else you can do that.”

In 2010, procrastinators paid $32 at the gate for a single-day weekend ticket. Last year, they paid $54. For the festival’s two weekend days this year, they would have to fork over $60.

As usual and by design, early-bird buyers get a much better deal. Those who bought the most discounted single-day pass, available during March, paid $41, still higher than the 2018 price of $37. From 2010 to 2014 the cost stayed the same at $30.

Early buyers are more likely to spread the word and attend, which is why SunFest hiked gate prices, festival spokeswoman Melissa Sullivan said, and early purchases are a guaranteed source of money.

Rain struck during the weekend of SunFest 2018, dissuading thousands of potential concertgoers who would have paid at the gate. Revenue fell, Sullivan said.

Until last year, SunFest spanned five days, and a five-day pass cost $92 at the gate. That price remained the same when the festival in 2018 shrank to four days by eliminating its Wednesday opening night. This year’s four-day pass costs $110 at the gate.

SunFest also has to raise prices because the acts cost a lot more, Jamieson said.

“Our ticket costs haven’t remotely kept up with the cost of the talent that we’re putting out there,“ he said.

SunFest will spend more than twice as much on artists this year compared to 2010, about $4.2 million vs. $1.7 million, according to financial figures provided by Sulllivan and the festival’s publicly available tax records.

A one-day pass bought during the weekend at the gate will cost $60, nearly twice as much as in 2010.

Performers cost more

Artists command higher fees nowadays because increasingly popular and competitive festivals want to book them, Jamieson said.

In some cases, when a singer or band agrees to play a festival, their contract forbids them from playing nearby venues, further decreasing the supply of available artists, Jamieson said.

Plus the fall of album sales and rise of streaming music pushes artists to rely on personal appearances to cash in on their popularity.

Artists make less money from streaming services than direct music sales, Jamieson said.

“It used to be the artist went on tour to support the album. Now the artist goes on tour to support the artist.”

In the wake of the 2017 mass shooting at the Route 91 Harvest music festival in Las Vegas, Sullivan said, SunFest has improved security. “ln my time here I have always seen us increasing not only presence but investment,” she said.

More than 130 cellphones were either lost or stolen at SunFest 2018, a West Palm Beach police spokesman said after the festival. Police caught a thief at SunFest 2017 who stole nearly 30 phones.

The festival hired more security officers this year, Jamieson said but refused to publicly provide details of upgraded security arrangements.

SunFest also doubled or nearly doubled its 2018 prices for elderly fans, pre-teens and older children.

Seniors, who last year paid $25 for a one-day pass, must pay $45 this year. Parents who want to bring 6- to 12-year-olds can pay $47 per child in advance or $55 at the gate on weekdays, $60 at the gate on the weekend. Last year, pre-teens and older children paid $25 at the gate.

SunFest raised prices for seniors and youths to be more in-line with how other festivals and concerts charge those concertgoers, Sullivan said. “When I take my 15-year-old son to see a music act he likes … whether it is at the BBT Center or Coral Sky, we pay full admission.”

‘A smaller Coachella’

Racquel Goldman, a 26-year-old music and celebrity reporter, is not bothered by the rising price of SunFest, which she said she has attended since freshman year at Florida Atlantic University. Festivals such as Fort Lauderdale’s Tortuga Music Festival earlier in April cost much more, Goldman said.

“I like to think I’m at a smaller Coachella,” Goldman said, comparing SunFest to the sprawling California music festival. “Pricing is fair and if you look at it compared to other festival prices where you literally have to tap into your life savings there should not even be a thought as to why you shouldn’t go.”

Miami’s Ultra Music Festival in March charged $300 for a three-day ticket. Tortuga, which features country and hip-hop, charged $135 for a single-day ticket and $239 for a three-day pass. A one-day ticket to the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, April 25 to May 5, will cost $70 to $85.

But Lance Berger, who said he attended almost every SunFest since 1989, complained about how the festival scheduled bands this year. Berger, 55, likes The B-52s and Earth, Wind & Fire, but they’re scheduled to play different days on the weekend of SunFest 2019.

“Any grown adult from 30 years on can not find a single date that they can enjoy a back to back show,” Berger said in a Facebook message, “What they (SunFest) won’t accept is grown adults will only plan one to 2 days tops to this event as we have lives and … we are not going to go 4 days to see 4 bands.” His plans? He’ll attend Thursday night to see the band OneRepublic.

Unlike festivals run by for-profit companies, Jamieson said, SunFest’s volunteers help keep costs down by doing essential tasks.

SunFest employed 16 people in 2017 and counted about 2,000 volunteers. The festival attracts so many volunteers annually because they love putting together the “locally-grown” event and catching up with each other every year, Jamieson said.

Jamieson, in his 13th year as executive director, is paid less than $200,000 per year, about 2 percent or less of the multimillion-dollar budget.

To those who complain about SunFest’s price hike, Jamieson said, “Nine out of 10 times they’re comparing it to what they experienced in the ‘80s. I think the $4 Sunday edition (of The Palm Beach Post) is kind of pricey for the paper because I’m comparing it to when I could get it for 50 cents. Times change.”

SunFest 2019 will feature rappers Ludacris, Ice Cube and Lil Dicky; rock groups Flogging Molly and Papa Roach; country singer Keith Urban; and oldies groups Earth, Wind & Fire, The B-52s and Tears For Fears.

As for those looking for a break on prices, it ends Saturday. That's when a one-day pass, costing $47, goes up to $55 for a weekday or $60 for the weekend. After Saturday, a four-day pass costs $110, up $16, and a two-day pass costs $86, up $13.

cpersaud@pbpost.com

@chrismpersaud.com