Bonnaroo: What to Bring and What You Should Leave at Home

As the opening day for Bonnaroo 2017 approaches, we wanted to share a bit of information about our local music festival, along with some tips that will help those who attend the festival make the most of their visit. First, let’s start with the basics. The Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival will take place June 8-11, 2017. The annual festival is located on a 700-acre farm in Manchester, Tennessee located about 60 miles southeast of Nashville and 40 miles northwest of Chattanooga, Tennessee. Bonnaroo is responsible for transforming a farm in the village of Manchester into the 7th largest city in Tennessee (of about 100,000 people) for four days every summer since 2002.

Bonnaroo: what to bring

Aside from what you would already pack for a four-day vacation, here are some items that you will be glad you brought with you:

• Sunscreen. Wear sunscreen. Keep re-applying sunscreen. You will be walking around in the hot, Tennessee summer sunshine for four days. Protect your skin.
• A hat. You’ll want to protect your head and your face from the sun.
• Bottled water. Drink lots of water and other (non-alcoholic) beverages to remain hydrated because of extended exposure to sunlight.
• Toilet paper. There could be close to 100,000 people at Bonnaroo this year; you want to be prepared.
• Earplugs. It may seem counterproductive, but extended exposure to loud music and noise can damage your eardrums. Earplugs could help dampen the noise. They could also help you get to sleep at night.
• Flashlight and extra batteries. It might not be as easy to navigate at night as it is during the day, so keep a flashlight handy.
• Your ID. Keep your ID handy, but not conspicuous. You’ll need it if you’re over 21 and would like to buy a drink, but it could come in handy for other reasons, too.
• A spare set of keys. You don’t want to get stuck searching in the grass for your car keys at the end of the festival.

We don’t have a lot of space here to cover everything that would be useful to you as you prepare to come to Tennessee for the festivals, so here is a Bonnaroo FAQ for first-timers.

Bonnaroo: what you shouldn’t bring

You are going to camping in a field in the summer amid thousands of strangers. Keep that in mind as you pack. There are some things you should leave at home:

• Don’t bring valuable items that are not replaceable and that you would be crushed about losing. If you ignore that last suggestion, make sure to lock any valuables in your car so that they are not visible.
• Do not bring in any drugs or alcohol. Drugs raise your body temperature while alcohol dehydrates you. Mixing drugs and alcohol with exposure to the hot sunshine and you’ve got a recipe for unconsciousness and other unfortunate consequences.
• Bad vibes. Bonnaroo is a place for positivity, fun, and hanging with other Bonnaroovians ’til before you know it you’re BFFs.

Finding help at Bonnaroo

If you should ignore the advice about not bringing in, buying or ingesting alcohol or drugs and you end up in a situation, there is always lots of help available at Bonnaroo. They have a policy of offering help with “no questions asked,” so it’s better to seek help if you are not feeling OK, and help your friends and neighbors get help if they are not doing OK. Bonnaroo staff pride themselves on keeping whatever you tell them confidential so you can feel safe.

Finally, you are coming to Bonnaroo for the music, so enjoy it. Break out of your comfort zone and take in some bands in genres of music that might not be in rotation in your Spotify or your .mp3 player. Be open to the experience of meeting new people, listening to so much music that your ears melt, and arriving home sweaty, exhausted but happy. (and safe)

You make the trek to Bonnaroo to have fun and create good memories with friends, not to wake up in jail. If your visit to Bonnaroo any other local summer music festival finds you on the wrong side of the law, we are here to handle it for you. You are encouraged to contact the Law Offices of Adrian H. Altshuler & Associates at 615-977-9370 or fill out our contact form for an aggressive Columbia or Franklin DUI or drug charge defense attorney who will protect your future.