It was exactly one year ago today my best friend Sofia, her sister and I packed up our car to hit the road for Manchester, Tennessee bound for one of the greatest experiences of our lives. Manchester is home to Bonnaroo, which is an annual four-day music festival held on a 700-acre piece of land titled as "the farm." Having had this post-graduation trip on the agenda for months, Sofia and I were beyond excited for the trip ahead of us, and spent weeks planning and making sure we had everything that we would need. As we drove closer to our destination, we began passing other Bonnaroo-bound music lovers and found ourselves already feeling the positivity as we would all stick our admission bracelets out the window and cheer as we passed them. Bonnaroo's message was to "spread positivity wherever you go," and it was incredible how we were able to experience that before we even got there.
It is one year later now that I realize Bonnaroo was a truly live changing experience for me. Sofia managed to convince me to go because Billy Joel and Twenty-One Pilots were to be performing as well as a multitude of my other favorite artists, and we signed up through a program that allowed us to attend for free if we helped the cleaning crew for a few days after the show. To this day I am so incredibly grateful that I decided to go, and for every single moment spent on that blistering hot, flower-crown infested, music fantasy land.
The moment we arrived I knew we were somewhere special. We were directed into a designated camping lot, parked in a tight line that gave us no way of driving back out, with a small area next to us to be able to set up our camp site. We quickly became acquainted with our neighbors, who soon became our best friends throughout our time there. Our neighbor friends became half of what was so amazing about our experience. We spent only four days with these people, but they are still near to my heart as some of the greatest people I have ever met, and we still keep tabs today. Our two campsites became one, and we found ourselves bouncing around each others space as if we had known each other forever. We spent hours trying to cool off in the beating sun, and even more time playing music, bonding, and just talking about our lives. On the last day, we returned from a concert to find their entire campsite gone. For a brief moment we panicked, thinking they had left without saying goodbye, until we walked closer and found them huddled underneath our E-Z UP waiting for us to come back. It continues to amaze me how after knowing these people for such a short amount of time, I felt like I have known them forever, and I attribute a lot of that to the magic that was Bonnaroo. We were all there for the same reason; to experience something like none other, and listen to great music for four days straight, and something about all of that brought everyone even closer together.
Bonnaroo was a true festival experience, meaning there were no shower facilities or hotels, just you and your campsite and whatever you brought to survive. With that being said, Sofia and I brought along a five gallon portable shower that each morning took both of us to haul to the water fountain and back. We would then heave it on top of my car and hold it in place while the other awkwardly used it while wearing a swimsuit in front of everyone. Making the extra effort to acquire something so ordinary also made the experience everything that it was. Instead of wasting our money at the overpriced food stands, we survived off putting soup cans in my car, letting the sun heat it up and packaged lunch meat. We also brought a portable gas stove that we had to assemble each time we used it, roasted hot dogs over the flames, and walked a mile each way to get ice everyday to keep our drinks cold. Complicating these simple tasks truly made me so grateful for everything that I have at home and in my life outside of the farm.
Another adventure that made the trip one I will never forget, are the three days we spent afterwards to help clean up the farm from all the festival activities. We were given one day of rest to get ready for the work ahead, and were required to pack up our campsite and move it a few fields over to where all the other volunteers were staying. After we accomplished that, we left the farm for the first time to go get some real food in town. We pulled into this dinky little Mexican restaurant that on any other normal day would have been subpar, but to us, we felt like queens. We were talking with people who had normal clothes on, then sat in actual dining chairs, ate off actual plates, and ate something that was nicely prepared and completely cooked. To us, it was the best meal anyone could have ever asked for. The next two days consisted of two 10 hours shifts of constant compost sorting and picking up trash. The work was humbling and I would highly encourage everyone to sign up for it if you make the decision to go to Bonnaroo. It gets pretty miserable, but at the end of the day you know you gave back and helped make the farm healthier for next year. After our last shift, we made the decision to pack up that night and make the 6 hour-drive home. (Which was an entirely different adventure in and of itself that involved multiple Red Bull energy drinks.)
Oddly enough, even after our vigorous two days of labor, we missed the farm. Bonnaroo truly was a disney world for music lovers. We missed the constant high-fives, the laughter, singing, happiness, and music that took over our lives for four days. I will never forget the amazing performances we saw, and the nights we spent just laying on the grass laughing and soaking up every second of where we were. I don't describe many things as a religious experience, but Bonnaroo was all of that and more. As I move forward in my life, the lessons I learned there will continue to be a part of me. Radiate positivity wherever you may go, and be kind always. Through the amazing people and beautiful music, Sofia and I found everything we could have hoped of and more under the rainbow.
