DeLuna Fest 101

Home Editorial & Opinion DeLuna Fest 101
September 20, 2012August 13, 2025

Josh Morton

The Corsair

 

It’s finally here! We’ve been hearing about it for months and the eagle has finally landed!

DeLuna Fest will be celebrating its three-year-anniversary party on Pensacola Beach starting Friday and ending Sunday.

Starting at 2 p.m. Friday, there will be six stages set up on Pensacola Beach and in the parking adjacent to Fort Pickens Road and Via DeLuna Drive.

With more than 70 artists giving you their all, along with hundreds of other music lovers outside partying together as one on our beautiful, white sandy beaches, it’s hard to imagine anybody not having the time of their lives. With bands like the Foo Fighters, Band of Skulls, Pearl Jam, and Florence and the Machine, there are definitely going to be some memories made this year.

With such a great lineup, you want to make sure to accommodate yourself to the fullest. I put together a list of things that you may want to consider bringing with you to the festival as well as things that are prohibited from crossing the entrance gates.

 

Stuff To Bring: 

  • First and foremost it is very important that you remain hydrated! You are allowed to bring in an empty container for water. There will be a water station providing you with plenty of free water to assure that nobody out there has a heatstroke. If, for some reason, anybody does happen to have a heatstroke, well, that’s what you call natural selection, because there is a limitless supply of free water. Don’t neglect it y’all.
  • Sunscreen. You are going to the beach. Nobody likes getting a sunburn and skin cancer. Also, assuming many of you probably have tattoos that will be exposed, sunscreen helps keep that ink lookin fresh!
  • Again, considering you are going to be on the beach, you may want to consider bringing a towel to sit on. Or you could just sit on the sand. Also, a swimsuit wouldn’t be a bad idea since we all know how good that water is going to be looking when you’re out there goin ham. Then again, depending on your level of ham, you may or may not require proper swimming attire.
  • As I mentioned earlier, a few of the stages will be set up in the beach parking lot. So put two and two together and you will see that you may want to have some flip flops, sandals, etc available. That concrete gets hot and stepping on glass would just flat out suck. So be smart, and wear protection people.
  • Also, Lord willing, the sun will be out this entire weekend. Make sure you have your stunna shades with you. This will not only allow you to see the bands without having to put your hand up to block out the sun, but it will also allow you to inspect all the fine specimens that will be complimenting our already gorgeous beaches without being too obvious. This goes for you too, ladies.
  • Paper or Plastic (cash or credit). You choose. Either one will be accepted by most vendors. In case you choose a vendor who happens to only be accepting cash, there will be several ATM machines scattered around the festival grounds.
  • A camera might be good to help you capture the moment. Get some snapshots of your favorite bands, maybe even WITH your favorite band, and of course all your rabble-rousing friends.
  • Last but not least, it might be a good idea to bring a backpack or some kind of big beach bag to hold stuff in. If you end up buying some CD’s or T-Shirts or posters or whatever, it’ll be nice to have a place to store these items rather than holding them all day or something else equally inconvenient. 

Don’t Bring Any of This Stuff :

  • You cannot bring your own chair. Like I said earlier, if you want to sit on something, bring a towel or settle for the sand.
  • There are also no coolers allowed. Now, if you happen to have some kind of backpack/cooler, well, that’s up to you to try and get past the gate. I’m not sure how they would react to that one.
  • While bringing an empty container for water is encouraged, bringing in beverages of your own is not allowed. They will make you throw it away or go put it back in your car. The same goes for food. Don’t bring any with you. It’s not allowed inside.
  • If you want to take pictures, that’s cool. Just make sure that your camera isn’t too fancy. If your camera has a detachable lens they will be confiscating that. So just stick to the basics as far as photography goes.
  • Not sure if this goes without saying or not but hey, just in case, there are NO FIREWORKS ALLOWED on the festival grounds. You guys will just have to blow stuff up somewhere else, unfortunately.
  • Also, as usual, there are no pets allowed inside the gates. Sorry.
  • No umbrellas! Can’t have anybody losing an eye in an umbrella fight. But hey, if it starts raining just go jump in the water. Unless it’s lightning, I guess that probably wouldn’t be the smartest move.
  • If you want to ride your bike to the festival, that’s cool. However, you are not allowed to bring your bike inside the gates. So, either bring a bike lock or just drive, hitch a ride, or take a nice walk.

 

Now let’s talk about food. There will be vendors from five different states at this event! You will be able to choose from vendors representing cities from Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama, Kentucky, and of course Florida. Here’s a list of the vendors that will be present as well as a little bit about what they will have to offer…

Fooooooooood : 

  • “Foosackly’s Chicken Fingers” (Mobile, Ala.) – These guys are going to be serving up some of Alabama’s best fried chicken. Here’s a link to their website so you can check ’em out for yourself : https://www.foosacklys.net/order/
  • “BJ Concessions” (Mobile, Ala.) – Here you will basically find anything you would find at a fair. Stuff like Philly cheese steaks, hamburgers, chicken, sausage, nachos, and of course funnel cake.
  • “Efe’s Fine Food” (Anniston, Ala.) – Serving of some popular Greek specialties including gyros, pitas, falafel, sausage. Then they will also have more American type food like Philly cheese steaks and fries.
  • “Hippie Dips” (Lexington, Ky.) – You’re gonna be able to find stuff like soup, sandwiches, quesadillas, smoothies, and ice cream here. Vegetarian options are also available upon request. Basically these guys have it all. Check ‘em out on Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/pages/Hippie-Dips-Fresh-Fruit-Smoothies/156494051067139
  • “Geauxsicles Gourmet” (Shreveport, La.) – Hand made, real fruit gourmet ice pops. These guys’ sole mission is to do one thing and do it very well. That one thing is to make you ice pops. These ice pops are like snowflakes, no two are the same. They also may contain pieces of fruit or seeds, so be careful while you make love to these things. See for yourself : https://www.geauxsicles.com/
  • “Flamin’ Concession” (Tucke, Ga.) – CHICKITTY CHINA THE CHINESE CHICKEN! Ok, sorry about that. I couldn’t resist. The folks over at this joint will be servin’ up hot plates/boxes of teriyaki chicken both on and off skewers, sweet and sour chicken, veggie fried rice/lo mien, and of course egg rolls. Let’s just keep our fingers crossed that they don’t forget to bring duck sauce. Here’s their web page : https://festivalnet.com/fno/members/73301/
  • “Free Lovin” (Gainseville, Fla.) – Burritos and tacos entertaining both carnivores and omnivores alike. https://www.freelovinfoodery.com/index.php/foodmenu
  • “Shotgun BBQ” (Pensacola, Fla.) – Take a wild guess. Sweet succulent sandwiches, turkey, chicken and pork. GIT R DONE https://shotgun-bbq.dinehere.us/
  • “Papa’s Pizza” (Pensacola Beach, Fla.) – Nope. This is not Papa John’s. The Papa claims his pizzas are made with a recipe that dates back nearly 1000 years! These pies are made with a New York style and each pizza can be custom made. Here’s some more information : https://www.papaspizza.com/
  • “Nancy’s Haute Affairs” (Pensacola, Fla.) – Shrimp and crawfish with a Gulf Coast twist. Yum. https://www.nancyshauteaffairs.com/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1
  • “Papa John’s” (Gulf Breeze, Fla.) – Yes. This is the real Papa John’s. I don’t think I really need to tell you anything about them. But just in case, https://www.papajohns.com/index.html in the words of the original Big Poppa, “If ya don’t know, now ya know…”
  • “DeLuna Dogs” (Pensacola, Fla.) –  Last but certainly not least, a local favorite, Deluna Dogs. Go say what’s up and represent the local food scene.

 

For those of you who are not going to be able to make it out to DeLuna Fest, or just want to keep the party rollin,’ Vinyl Music Hall will be providing the party on Friday night and Saturday night.

On Friday, Fishbone will be kickin’ it old school and skankin’ the night away with all the Pensacola rude boys and rude girls and anybody else who wants to groove to the beat! If you don’t know who Fishbone is, this is a perfect time to introduce yourself to the love that is Fishbone. These seven guys hailing from Los Angeles, have been bringin’ the funk since way back in ’79. They’re still going strong and spreading positive vibes 33 years later! I had the pleasure of seeing them in Jacksonville with Slightly Stoopid and I must say, that was some money well spent. Don’t miss out on this show! Guaranteed good times. I promise. You can either get tickets at the door or buy them here https://www.vinylmusichall.com/event/161709/  The show is only for those 18 and up. If you are 21, it’s only gonna cost you $5 and if you are under 21 it’s still only $10. Those prices are unbeatable. Seriously, you really have no excuse to miss this event.

If you can’t make it out on Friday night, you can always go check out the fusion funk masters in Dumpstaphunk. If you didn’t have any luck finding yourself a summer fling at the beach earlier, these guys’ sound is sure to get the dance floor groovin’ and the love juices movin.’ This event is only for those 18 and up. If you are 21, it’s only $10 and if you are under 21, it is $15.

 

 

 

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