My favorite adventure of the summer is Bonnaroo and a good road trip will tide me over until the next wonderful weekend in June when I get to listen to great music, see awesome art installations and camp with 80,000+ of my closest friends.
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| View of the campgrounds from the ferris wheel. |
So how exactly does one prepare for this jolly time marathon that is Bonnaroo and other random adventures? Well, we start the prep season with a MASTER LIST OF SUPREME ORGANIZATION! This list will get you through Bonnaroo and any other camping trip you might have planned.
Questions you may have: Bonnaroo has a prep season? When is it? What is the master list of supreme organization? How is it compiled and may I have a copy?
Well, friends, here are the answers to those questions.
Yes, in my opinion (and that of many Bonnaroovians), the 'Roo does have a prep season. For me the whole thing is sort of a never ending cycle. About the second week of February we get the initial lineup. This is when you start freaking out over all the great artists playing that year's festival. You're thinking about how you're possibly going to make it from This Tent to That and back over to the Which stage if your favorite artists are scheduled back to back to back. You mentally take stock of what camping gear you have but you know that there will be more time for that once the tickets are purchased and your confirmation number is resting easy in your inbox. The Saturday following the lineup announcement tickets go on sale (usually at noon, sharp!) and you get a sense of excitement and anxiety as you continue to refresh the Bonnaroo website until ticket sales open. At this point you will get booted from the checkout a few times and curse the tech gods who maintain the ticket buying page. From there you will spend hundreds of dollars on your ticket (and maybe an extra for your lucky partner or bestie) and walk away with no regrets because you know, based on the lineup and excitement of thousands of other Bonnaroovians, that you just purchased the golden ticket to awesome town. You spend the next few months gathering information, supplies and probably some DIY ideas to bring with you to The Farm. When late May rolls around you start getting serious about your game plan for drive times, arrivals, which exit to use, whether or not you will stop at the Manchester Wal-Mart and how the hell you're going to keep track of your friends in the line entering The Farm. Then that sweet Wednesday (or Thursday if you're not taking advantage of the early gate openings) rolls around when you're on your way. Car is packed, friends are in the car and ready, your wristband is safely in your glove box or console (NOT on your wrist) and you're cruising down I-24 (or whichever route you're using) into Manchester. You spend four glorious days in the Tennessee sun listening to great music and doing whatever else you are drawn to doing on The Farm and then it's time to pack up camp and go home. Sadness ensues but you know that you'll probably be back next year because barring a zombie apocalypse you wont want to miss what's going down in rural Tennessee that weekend in June next year or any year after. So then it's back to the daily grind and summer ends, fall begins and the next thing you know, Thanksgiving is upon us. BUT WAIT, Thanksgiving means pre-sale! Yes folks, you can pre-purchase your tix for next year and bypass the anxiety of the post-lineup sales frenzy! So maybe you bought your pre-sale tickets and maybe you didn't but the holidays are coming and you know just what to ask for. Santa's getting a long list from you that includes camping gear, merch from the Bonnaroo store and a case load of baby wipes! Then we're back to the new year and you're getting hyped up over the speculation of artists that might play Bonnaroo that year and you also have your eye on those strings of lights that are on clearance after the winter holidays. You know February is close and you're trying to get solid commitments from friends and family that you want to share the magic of Bonnaroo with. Chances are they wont go or will say they're going and then flake but it doesn't matter because you're ready for another Bonnaroo experience!
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| The Roots on What Stage, Bonnaroo 2012 |
That brings us to the MASTER LIST OF SUPREME ORGANIZATION. It is my big list of what to pack, buy, make and prepare for Bonnaroo. It started as a huge disorganized checklist and transformed into a word document sorted into various sections with tables and checklists. It starts with crucial items (wristbands and spare cash) and moves on to camp gear, toiletries, clothing and food & drink items. I do plan on polishing it up and turning it into a PDF to share with everyone so you can have a copy...just not right now.
