LAKE WORTH BEACH, Fla. — Street painting is taking over the pavement of Lake Worth Beach this weekend, and it’s the largest festival of its kind in the country.
“100,000 people come to your town, who can complain about that?” Lilo’s restaurant owner Joe Lipovich said about the event that goes from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday and 10 a. m. to 7 p.m. Sunday.
For Lipovich, the festival means big business.
“You’re at capacity all day long,” Lipovich said. “It really kind of sets the rest of the season and from there on, almost through July, it’s very busy.”
Etched in the center of downtown Lake Worth Beach, Lipovich said Lilo’s becomes the busiest corner for customers and his servers.
“[It’s] all hands on deck,” Lipovich said. “I believe last year we served 4,000 customers on Saturday and Sunday. Now to give you an idea, our customer count on a weekly basis is 23/2400 so it’s basically two weeks’ worth of foot traffic.”
Festival director Lauren Bennet said the downtown area sees more than 600 artists and 100,000 people between the two days of the festival.
“I think this festival is the image of Lake Worth Beach because it’s a welcoming event to all,” Bennet said. “It pretty much speaks for itself at this point and they’re coming from all over. I have artists coming from Colorado, California, all over the state.”
Bennet said it brings in more than $4 million to the city and to Palm Beach County.
It’s a new challenge for South Beach Coffee Company owners Paul and Yulia Coate.
“We’ve only been open for two months so we don’t really know what to expect,” said Yulia. “So, we’re kind of nervous but excited at the same time.”
They’re up ideas for how to roast enough coffee for thousands of people who may walk through their doors.
“Hopefully the community will respond to that, and this festival will bring in lots of new faces to try new things and hopefully everyone will love it,” said Paul. “That’s the goal.”
Lake and Lucerne avenues between Dixie and Federal highways will be closed.
