'Shining light on darker times': Inaugural Mango Music and Art Fest coming to Lake Worth Beach
By Wilkine Brutus
August 5, 2026 at 10:38 AM EDT
Four venues, six stages, 20 bands — and a mango-themed cook-off.
The inaugural Mango Music and Art Festival will be bringing small-town artists and businesses together for one day next month on downtown Lake Worth Beach's popular J Street.
Performances will be spread across well-known venues including Propaganda, Rudy's Pub, Bamboo Room and Pomona, an American bistro.
The festival celebrates "the city’s diverse communities" amid current immigration crackdowns affecting local families and businesses, founder Alexandra Dupuis told WLRN.
"It's all in the name of shining some light on, in other words, kind of darker times," said Dupuis, who co-owns Pomona.
"It's just to celebrate cultural diversity really, and I think it speaks to every walk of life... specifically in downtown Lake Worth, we're surrounded by that, and I don't think it's celebrated enough."
That celebration of diversity extends to the festival's "Mango" moniker.
"Mango, the fruit, has an agriculture and a cultural history in South Florida," Dupuis said. "You can celebrate the fruit of mango, and you can translate that to every walk of life, every ethnicity."
This blend of cultures will be on full display musically.
Miami-based nine-piece band Cumbiamba — whose psychedelic Peruvian Cumbia music and lyrics center the immigrant experience — is one of 20 acts featuring genres including Latin, jazz and funk.
READ MORE: New festival to bring elite-level ballet, modern and jazz forms of dance to West Palm Beach
The Glades band, three-piece soul-jazz organ trio. (6000x4000, AR: 1.5)
The festival features a diverse sonic landscape. Co-headliners, Tony & the Kings, deliver high-energy Latin funk and soul; Soul Vaccinators, bring gritty soul-jazz; and The Glades perform funky, blues-rooted organ instrumentals.
The festival includes vinyl DJs, and features 30 artisans and vendors, "everything from canvas to print to jewelry to candles," Dupuis said — while supporting local nonprofits like The Gautemalan-Maya Center and Path to College.
Dupuis partnered with local artist Emmanuel Gonzalez, founder of Art Wars and curator of the Open Studios event at HATCH 1121, a cultural hub and event space in Lake Worth Beach, to help coordinate the artisan vendors.
Gonzalez is also a featured artist performing a live painting of a mango.
Mango-themed cook off
Beyond the music and art, the festival features mango-inspired food and cocktails, a community mango drive and a neighborhood dish competition that organizers call the "Mango Showdown."
Dupuis partnered with the Neighborhood Association Presidents' Council for the food-related competition because it helps unites vocal and highly competitive Lake Worth neighborhoods, such as Mango Groves, Pineapple Beach, Eden Place and Parrot Cove.
"Each neighbor is gonna bring 100 different samples of their item, and then the public is gonna vote," she said. "It's all free to the public."
IF YOU GO:
What: Mango Music and Art Festival
When: September 5th, 2026; 1:00 p.m. kickoff, headliner on at 10:00 p.m.
Where: Venues in downtown Lake Worth Beach: Pomona, Propaganda and Bamboo Room
For more information, see here.
The inaugural Mango Music and Art Festival will be bringing small-town artists and businesses together for one day next month on downtown Lake Worth Beach's popular J Street.
Performances will be spread across well-known venues including Propaganda, Rudy's Pub, Bamboo Room and Pomona, an American bistro.
The festival celebrates "the city’s diverse communities" amid current immigration crackdowns affecting local families and businesses, founder Alexandra Dupuis told WLRN.
"It's all in the name of shining some light on, in other words, kind of darker times," said Dupuis, who co-owns Pomona.
"It's just to celebrate cultural diversity really, and I think it speaks to every walk of life... specifically in downtown Lake Worth, we're surrounded by that, and I don't think it's celebrated enough."
That celebration of diversity extends to the festival's "Mango" moniker.
"Mango, the fruit, has an agriculture and a cultural history in South Florida," Dupuis said. "You can celebrate the fruit of mango, and you can translate that to every walk of life, every ethnicity."
This blend of cultures will be on full display musically.
Miami-based nine-piece band Cumbiamba — whose psychedelic Peruvian Cumbia music and lyrics center the immigrant experience — is one of 20 acts featuring genres including Latin, jazz and funk.
READ MORE: New festival to bring elite-level ballet, modern and jazz forms of dance to West Palm Beach
The Glades band, three-piece soul-jazz organ trio. (6000x4000, AR: 1.5)
The festival features a diverse sonic landscape. Co-headliners, Tony & the Kings, deliver high-energy Latin funk and soul; Soul Vaccinators, bring gritty soul-jazz; and The Glades perform funky, blues-rooted organ instrumentals.
The festival includes vinyl DJs, and features 30 artisans and vendors, "everything from canvas to print to jewelry to candles," Dupuis said — while supporting local nonprofits like The Gautemalan-Maya Center and Path to College.
Dupuis partnered with local artist Emmanuel Gonzalez, founder of Art Wars and curator of the Open Studios event at HATCH 1121, a cultural hub and event space in Lake Worth Beach, to help coordinate the artisan vendors.
Gonzalez is also a featured artist performing a live painting of a mango.
Mango-themed cook off
Beyond the music and art, the festival features mango-inspired food and cocktails, a community mango drive and a neighborhood dish competition that organizers call the "Mango Showdown."
Dupuis partnered with the Neighborhood Association Presidents' Council for the food-related competition because it helps unites vocal and highly competitive Lake Worth neighborhoods, such as Mango Groves, Pineapple Beach, Eden Place and Parrot Cove.
"Each neighbor is gonna bring 100 different samples of their item, and then the public is gonna vote," she said. "It's all free to the public."
IF YOU GO:
What: Mango Music and Art Festival
When: September 5th, 2026; 1:00 p.m. kickoff, headliner on at 10:00 p.m.
Where: Venues in downtown Lake Worth Beach: Pomona, Propaganda and Bamboo Room
For more information, see here.