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An Eco Friendly Festival

Bonnaroo. 4 sweaty days in the beginning of June. The grounds open at a fresh 7am Thursday morning and they do not close till Monday at noon. This festival takes place at Great Stage Park, in Tennessee. The park is like a farm and consists of about 650 acres. It wrangles in over 800,000 people over the course of the four days. Its about 65 miles away from Nashville. So it is possible for people to fly from other parts of the country and drive to The Farm; but a majority of the attendees are within a manageable driving distance.

The festival definitely differs from the past few I have discussed. It has a lot more of a homier, family feel. Camping is a very large part of the festival because there is plenty of room for large campers. But if you aren't a big nature person, don't worry, there are plenty of hotels. And if you do decide to stay at a hotel, there are direct shuttles to and from The Farm and the hotel of your choice.

From Billboard
What makes Bonnaroo really different is that there are a lot areas designated for other activities rather than music. For example there is a stage for just comedy performances. Another area is the Solar stage and it has more of an organic feel. According to Bonnaroo, it has yoga sessions, wellness practices, talks about beer, and environmental speakers. In addition to music, Bonnaroo is also an arts festival. They offer a poster exhibit, a newspaper and magazine stand, a silent auction and even a market! Theres even a parade and a 5k run! There is a show called Little Cinema which incorporates music and dance with film and circus acts. So if you get tired of dancing to the music there are plenty of other attractions.

From Lineupping
From Bonnaroo
The music is very diversified so it accommodates all tastes. There are five different stages (with some pretty unique names): What Stage, Which Stage, This Stage, That Stage, The Other. The What Stage is the largest stage while, The Other is solely dedicated for electronic and Hip-hop music. The Who stage is set aside specifically for bands so if you like some guitars and drums, The Who is definitely for you. Kalliope is a late night stage that goes into the early morning consisting of light shows and fire! A unique area to Bonnaroo, called Silent Disco, consists of a tent with headphones. This seems a bit weird; a bunch of kids dancing with big headsets on. But the pro to this is that it is silent, so attendees can still listen while others won't be disturbed. 

This years upcoming lineup will consist of: Eminem, The Killers, Muse, Future, Bassnectar, Bon Iver, Khalid, Paramore, Kaskade, Alt-J, Sheryl Crow, Anderson.Paak, The Revivalists, Nile Rodgers & Chic, Moon Taxi and many more!

From Live for Live Music
Bonnaroo takes a lot of pride in their food. They have different kinds of cuisine ranging from Mexican, to American to Italian. They have a handful of food trucks and even a brew and cider festival at one end of the park! A lot of their food is grown locally. And something they take pride in is bringing in organically grown food in addition to being very eco-friendly regarding all aspects of the festival. According to the US News, they have almost 200 solar panels and as of 2013, Bonnaroo was the first festival in US history to run off of them!

From Odyssey
The fashion at Bonnaroo is a lot like Lollapalooza. It isn't anything extremely extravagant but there are definitely some unique outfits. It is very hot in Tennessee during the summertime so most people are wearing next to nothing (starting to become a typical festival fashion trend). Refinery29 put together a slideshow of their best fashion finds at last year's festival. If you scroll through, you can see that the outfits are a lot more subtle than some of the other trends I have discussed. This is definitely due to the family type feel of the festival in addition to there being more than just music to listen to.

Festival Tip: Bring an extra roll of toilet paper if you're camping, you'll thank yourself later.
Location: Great Stage Park, Tennessee 37355, USA

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