Spirit of the Suwannee

I came here during «Hulaween» A Halloween celebration music festival. The place was extremely beautiful you’re very far away from city lights so the stars really show well! Lots of Spanish moss trees you camp around give it a nice cool feel. Set up for the festival was fantastic the lighting was done perfect to make the woods come to life! Seeing everyone having fun in their costumes and it was pet friendly just gave it a good vibe. I would come back.

OK so we went back to camp again hoping that out experience would be better but it wasn’t it was worse… the bathrooms are still disgusting in the men’s bathroom the urinal is right next to the sink… the so called life guard that was there down at the beach was overweight so how r they gonna run down the hill to save anyone if their help was needed… does no good to rent a golf cart because u can’t drive down to the beach parking lot u have to park away from it and walk… and u can’t just pay for one night of camping u have to pay for two nights.

I love Christmas and the magic of the season. We happened on this Festival of Lights by accident. Weather in stone mountain cut our trip short so we decided to stop here camp for the night, and check out the festivities. The cost is $ 6.00 per person, but if you are staying on the premises you get a coupon. Of course the employees were awesome. Very friendly and polite. When you first drive up all you see is a cascade of clear lights. That was so pretty. However, as we kept driving the displays became tacky. At one point Santa was on a John Deere tractor and right next to him was a figure crouched down wearing a sombrero. Maybe I read too much into that, but I think you see where I’m going with this without putting it in writing. In a few displays there were mannikins that were so creepy I thought they were left over from Halloween. Driving by Santa’s workshop one could see Santa’s big red rear end and a clown doing flips. The clown was creepy. However, with all that aside the end was beautiful with more cascades of clear lights and trees wrapped in solid colored lights. The red trees were our favorites. When we completed the drive through we could have taken the walking tour, but the rain caught up to us so that was not an option.

Spirit of Suwannee is to be loved on a multitude of levels. Camping, music, Christmas Lights, food campfires, swimming just to name a few. We have been coming here for over 15 years.
We typically travel from the East coast of Florida to the Alabama — Mobile Bay Area. This is a great midway point to set up our RV or primitive camp site.
The Christmas light drive and walk through can easily take an hour offering awe and pure delight!
The miss covered trees add romance and charm to the campsites as does the tall grasses in the field.
Always nice to wander the property and then head to the music hall for some fantastic tunes!
Camp store– Bear Necessities is ok for bare necessities., if you need something best to stop at the Busy Bee on your way in.
*** If you want to crash just got a quick overnight. And it’s a holiday or festival weekend, call first. Their rates go up and $ 55 is a ridiculous amount to pay for a tent site for less than a 12 hr stay.
And of course there is the brown river… Charming, great place to take a dip, jump from a rope or paddle… Although we have not YET paddled:)

Warning. Unsafe. People will steal your stuff here. I’ve been to a number of campgrounds and festivals but have never been a victim of theft like I was here. Had a small primitive campground side and hung a tapestry outside the tent. Someone came by and stole the tapestry. It was a peace sign. Really. Sad. It’s an ok place but NEVER think that your personal belonging are safe here. You should pack up everything, everyday, before going out on a day trip if you value your belongings.

Best live festival venue I’ve ever been to. The environment is like nothing I’ve ever seen. Id come camping here even if there weren’t kick ass festivals.
Pros: solid general store with everything you would ever need at FAIR prices. Good luck finding that anywhere else. Lots of cools trees to set up a hammock and watch good tunes, Spanish moss.

Music lives here! I truly enjoy the multiple music festivals to choose from, the great campground, and multiple festivities to keep everyone happy. It is relaxing in Suwannee! It doesn’t matter what kind of music you like… they have a festival for it. The campground offers cabins for rent. Plenty of primitive camping and clean restrooms. I have yet to meet a stranger in this place!

I think I’d have to come to a music festival here to fully «get» this place.
I went camping here with a group of people this past weekend– the camping area was nice, so I have no complaints about that. However, if I went camping in the summer, it wouldn’t be here for one single reason: the river is brown. I mean, literally tea colored. Gross. If I was camping during summer, I’d go by a lake or river that I was comfortable getting into, and this isn’t it!

Wannee music festival was more fun than I can say. We will be going back again every year for the festival. A really great venue and a really great show.

A most magical place! The Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park & Campground is an insanely unique music venue that hosts 4 or 5 large-​scale fests a year, as well as a beautiful and idyllic North Florida campground on regular, non-​festival days.
Located in Live Oak, way down upon the Suwannee river, the crown gem of this park has to be their natural amphitheater stage built right into the woods. It’s a sight you have to see to truly believe, but since I’m writing a review, I’ll try to paint you a picture. Imagine you’re standing in a forest that starts to dip low, like shallow bowl. Follow wooden steps down to the center, through the trees, to a clearing where hundreds of people are gathered, waiting. Suddenly. LIGHTS! MUSIC! Yellow, purple, blue and red shoot out and spread wide, illuminating the dark woods and filling the crowd with excitement as the music starts bouncing off the trees, reverberating back to the crowd and out to the furthest corner of the park. It’s a concert like no other, and all who have experienced it become united by the memory.
Festivals here go all night as attendees run around like kids on the loose until 5 am and later. Hop from stage to stage and see who’s making sweet music, or romp around the campsites to see friends old and new. It’s an adult playground made of nature; a blessing to enjoy. During the day, you can hang on the beach and swim in the river. If you’re feeling brave go for the rope swing; just hold on to your tops ladies! :)
I’ve never had the pleasure of camping at SOS on a non-​festival weekend, but I can’t imagine a place more peaceful. After attending six festivals here, I have to say I’m a lifelong fan. This is a must-​see in the wild and wonderful state of Florida.

If you are a canoe fanatic and you love camping in the wild, this is definitely for you!
If you like to camp and like to canoe a bit, this is still a good trip, you can plan distances and camp on the beaches, but it’s hit or miss if there’s anyone already on the beaches, when the water level is low enough you get better options for beaches and was the case when we went, however, it also makes for more difficulty passing through the lowest points in the river causing you to get out and pull the boat through.
That wasn’t much fun but it only happened twice and for not very long distances.
The beaches are scary though — alligators, raccoons, hogs, deer, coyotes, anything can get to you and unless you have a hatchet in one hand and a fire in the other, they may not stay away. Luckily we went in colder times and the animals are less likely to stalk and eat you.
The river was black, that turned me off immediately and made for a very scary first night and I didn’t sleep a wink, there was lots of commotion in the water — swear it was a huge sturgeon…
After the first night, I calmed down a bit, but on the 2^nd day, looking for a nice beach to spend the night we found alligator remains… OMG — we went to another destination which was quite nice and we didn’t find many animal tracks on that beach.
We found plenty of wood, had to hunt for some at one beach, but not too far or difficult and every night we had fire til almost dawn and started a fire each morning for warmth.
All in all it turned out to be a good trip, the weather was awesome, the low level of water was better than having high levels and we made it back safe and sound but I probably wouldn’t do it again. I’d rather car camp in northern GA or TN or NC between Labor Day and Memorial Day. :)

A group of us got a «cabin» at this place last weekend and were shocked when we got there.
1. The «Cabins» are actually small single wide trailers circa 1987? And while they are not totally run down, they are not in great shape. The 12″ TV and non-​working tape deck were among the highlights it had to offer.
2. At check in the woman at the front desk had some kind of affliction (like poison oak?) over her whole body, including her eyes which were almost swollen shut, and she kept rubbing them and then handling my credit card and paperwork.
3. The camp ground was 50% hippies, 25% rednecks, 25% retired folks, which was an interesting mix and we met some nice people.
4. The bugs were pretty thick, which you expect fro FLA, but still it needs to be said.
5. We kept reading about the «Bubba Slide» and when we got there they said it was closed
6. The pool was so nasty from lack of maintenance that after the first swim when we pulled literally 30 strands of 7″+ hairs out of it that were stuck to us we didn’t go back in.
7. The whole time we were there we kept running into to really sad looking 5 – 7 year old kids whose parents apparently worked at the place that were basically running around on their own looking for something to do.
8. I stood in the restaurant for 5 minutes before walking into the kitchen and then the back area and never found anyone working, so I poured some coffee and left money on the counter.
8. People were partying and driving golf carts at all hours of the day and night, so that it was actually louder than our house in the city.
I could go on and on, but I guess the bottom line is that if you go to this place for a show it sounds pretty cool, but if you are looking for a nice quiet spot to rent a cabin, this is not it.

Beautiful campground and fantastic music venue. Sites range from full electric/​water hook ups to primitive. There are bathroom/​shower buildings scattered throughout the park as well as porta johns. The park can go from very peaceful and quiet to more than 20,000 people depending on the weekend and what event is taking place (check their schedule if you’re just looking for a quiet weekend getaway). Down at the river there is a fairly large sandy beach area for sun bathing and swimming and a canoe livery to rent a boat or put in your own. There is an excellent 18 hole disc golf course with cement tee pads and 2 levels of tees (red/​blue). There is a large general store, a bar/​restaurant, and arts and crafts type shops. There is a bat house where you can go watch thousands of bats take flight at dusk and thank them personally for eating up a lot of the mosquitoes. There seems to be a resident owl that we always hear on quiet nights. You can also rent golf carts, and cruising the park with decorated golf carts blaring southern rock seems to be a popular pastime of the regulars.
As previously mentioned, the amphitheater stage is really beautiful with large trees dripping Spanish moss and plenty of room to hang your hammock or set up a comfortable chair in the shade.
Beautiful one of a kind setting that hosts some really fabulous music festivals.

Probably one of the best venues for live music I’ve been to. In New England, you get a lot of festivals with stages set up in large fields with no shade, which is … great, but unoriginal and can be HOT. Spirit of Suwannee had the COOLEST amphitheater ever, under the canopy of probably two or three dozen huge trees, dripping with spanish moss. Hammocks were set up everywhere and one could just put up residency in one, chill out and listen to a bunch of really great music for the afternoon. Their smaller stage was on the porch of a barn and their big act stage was, as in New England, in a field, but with plenty of trees offering shade and tents set up. Not that I’ll likely have an opportunity to go again, but given the chance, I would totally go down to party with these folks again!!! Great people, great music, great place.