The big rumor heading into Sunday’s Kiss Country Chili Cook-off was that Jimmy Buffett might make a special guest appearance alongside his friends, the Zac Brown Band.

Buffett, who performed Saturday night at the AmericanAirlines Arena in Miami, didn’t show. But that hardly dampened the good mood for the record crowd of 25,000 fans who crammed into C.B. Smith Park in Pembroke Pines for the 27th annual country music festival, the first sell-out in the event’s history.

“I was hoping he [Buffett] would come, but I’m not disappointed,” said Cory Lombardo, 20, who drove from Tallahassee for the show. “He’s a busy man! Zac Brown is awesome without him.”

Sonia Leigh opened the concert at 10 a.m. and was followed by Chris Cagle, Clay Walker and Luke Bryan before the headlining Zac Brown Band made it on stage about 4:15 p.m.

A handful of fans climbed up trees to get a better view while some women — most wearing cowboy hats, boots and sunglasses — jumped up on the shoulders of boyfriends and husbands to watch the day’s final performance by the two-time Grammy winners, who opened with Knee Deep, the band’s recent collaborative hit single with Buffett.

Later in their performance, Zac Brown Band sang America the Beautiful in honor of the armed forces. Many fans waved their cowboy hats in support.

“There’s a lot of people, which makes it difficult to maneuver,” said Darylyn Savage, 17, from Lake Worth. “But overall I’m having fun.”

Pembroke Pines police Sgt. John Gazzano said he believed the festivities “went along normally without any major incidents.” Aside from possibly a few minor arrests, Gazzano said, the only big news of the day involved a rollover accident near the event Sunday morning.

Gazzano said two people were taken to the hospital after the driver of a car westbound on Pines Boulevard lost control and the vehicle flipped onto its roof near Southwest 136th Avenue about 9 a.m. None of the five occupants suffered serious injuries, Gazzano said, before adding that alcohol appeared to have played a factor in the crash. He said it was unclear whether the crash was related to the festival, but an investigation was under way.

Traffic in the area was bumper to bumper for most of the morning and early afternoon. Entrance to the park began at 1 a.m. for tailgating — earlier than it has been in the past.

“Letting people in here a little earlier wasn’t a great idea,” said Kanen Moffett, a 30-year-old bartender from South Beach who was providing ’Free shots for Chicks’ from the back of his truck — after checking their IDs.

“Some of the people were really wasted and acting amateur when we first got here [about 9 a.m.]. But once we got past a few of the rowdy ones, everything was fine. We’ve been having a really good time.”

Said Moffett’s friend Ollie Sanders, who skipped a South Beach pool party to be at Sunday’s festivities: “It just seems like a big Dolphins tailgate to me — with country music.”

Aside from the dancing and drinking, there was also a chili contest — one with more than 120 contestants.

“Besides the world championships [in Charleston, W.Va., in October] this event is now the biggest based on the numbers in the country,” International Chili Society administrator Vickie Marnick said. “We’ve seen entrants from Hawaii, Maine and Florida. They come from all over trying to earn a spot in the world championships.”

Awards were also handed out for “best booth” and “best showmanship,” categories West Boca Medical nurses Debbie Putnam and Fatima Smith — known as the Swamp Sisters — were more interested in winning. The Florida Gator fans decked out their booth with blue and orange gear and welcomed visitors to try their mojitos and conch fritters.

“What’s better than country music, chili and mojitos?” said Putnam, whose team won for Best Showmanship. “In the end, it’s just fun getting together, getting away from work and letting go.”