Overview The 30A Songwriters Festival fills the beach towns along Scenic Highway 30A in South Walton, Florida, with songwriters every Martin Luther King Jr. weekend, and the stages run from a 3,000-seat amphitheater down to coffee houses and corner bars. In 2025 that meant 175-plus artists across more than 320 shows in 30-plus venues. For 2027 the festival put its main stages at Grand Boulevard's Town Center in Miramar Beach and the SEASIDE Amphitheater. The Cultural Arts Alliance of Walton County co-produces it with Russell Carter Artist Management, and net proceeds go to the Alliance, whose Art For All program has handed out more than $923,000 in grants and scholarships. On site A pass buys a weekend of moving between venues spread over about 20 miles of coast road: brunch shows in the morning, in-the-round sets in theaters, cafes and bars, the big outdoor stages at night and late jams after that. Solo, band and in-the-round performances run side by side. Every attendee picks up a printed program guide with the schedule, venue map and artist bios at festival headquarters, and the schedule also lives in an official mobile app. VIP main-stage packages add a hosted food and beverage area. Audience The crowd travels in. Per the festival's 2025 sponsorship guide, 91.5% of attendees came from outside Walton County, most in parties of two or more staying an average of five nights. The festival describes them as fun-loving but serious about music. Talent and Influencers Past bills have included Brian Wilson, Jackson Browne, John Prine, Emmylou Harris, Brandi Carlile, Lyle Lovett, Jason Isbell, Graham Nash, Lucinda Williams, Indigo Girls, Cheap Trick and Meghan Trainor, among many others. The first 2027 names released were Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, St. Paul and the Broken Bones, Larkin Poe, Booker T. Jones and Tommy Emmanuel, with Dawes, S.G. Goodman and Paul McDonald and the Mourning Doves on the Friday kickoff at SEASIDE. Track record The festival sold out its first year and regularly since, and the 2027 edition is its 18th. The Alliance puts its economic impact on Walton County at $7 million over the weekend. In 2024 the festival website drew 75,000 visitors and 233,370 page views, and more than 6,100 people downloaded the app. Brand presence The presenting partner's name rides on every mention of the festival as "presented by," and Grand Boulevard was named presenting partner for 2027. Below it, partners can name a stage for a weekend, from a cozy bar to an amphitheater; hotels and rental companies house the visiting songwriters in exchange for official lodging status; businesses can become official venues, put product in welcome bags for 150-plus artists, or buy ads in the program guide and app. Hearts Bluff Music, an annual stage partner, put it this way: "The Hearts Bluff team was pleased to sponsor The Boathouse stage. The space was cool, and the vibe and writers were fantastic."