Crowds packed the white sands of Fort Lauderdale beach Saturday for day two of the three-day Tortuga Music Festival.
The three-day event draws more than 100,000 fans every year for the festival, which headlines largely country music acts while raising money for marine conservation.
Traffic was heavy Saturday as concertgoers made their way to A1A, where the festival is set up on the sand at the south end of the beach.
“I love it. It’s a lot of fun. We suffer through the traffic,” said Fort Lauderdale resident Mary Batista, who has attended the festival for five years.
The three-day event is big business for the beach. General admission is over $300. Scott and Peggy Oppenheimer spent over $2,000 for the VIP treatment, which includes unlimited beverages.
“It’s a great crowd,” said Scott Oppenheimer. “They have police, but everyone is calm”.
There were extra emergency crews on standby and more lifeguards on duty. Red danger flags were flying due to ocean conditions. However, the ocean conditions were not quite as severe as last weekend, when there were over 100 rescues.
George Diaz and his family noted that not many people were in the water. Diaz said the water “was rough” with “a lot of seaweed,” but he did not feel rip currents.
The music festival concludes Sunday, with Kenny Chesney expected to close out the concert.
