From Brooklyn to Bonnaroo: A Bonnarovian’s Look Inside the Festival

By: Lauren Jackson

Now that I’m somewhat over my Bonnablues, I was able to sit at my desk to give you all an insider’s look at what I call “the greatest place on Earth”.

This year was my 6^th year attending Bonnaroo Music Festival in Manchester Tennessee. It was also the 15^th year the festival has been running and each year it grows more and more in size, attendees, lineup, and much more. I can boldly claim one exciting new feature this year was FLUSHING TOILETS. #bless

Bonnaroo was founded on the ideals of “radiating positivity” and believe me when I say, every single person that is at the festival, where attendee, vendor, volunteer, or police; truly radiates positivity. The word Bonnaroo literally means “a really good time”. The founders of the festival choose this usage of this Creole word because they were very much inspired by the music and all around vibe of New Orleans music. Since the first festival in 2002, every single attendee can attest to being the best time of their lives. True bonnarovians return each year to experience those few short days of pure enjoyment of music and art culture.

For the past 6 years, I have worked the festival as a vendor at Viva La Fajita, serving up some of the best fajitas and fish tacos that side of the Mason Dixon line. Not only do I get a chance to serve and eat great food while listening to all of my favorite musicians, I get to meet some of the greatest friends in my life. With those friends, I got to experience the sounds of some of my personal favorites; Death Cab for Cutie, GRiZ, Miguel, LCD Soundsystem, Eli Goulding, and Dead & Co. Plus other fun parts of the festival, such as the Silent Disco, the Brooers Tent where I found our Brooklyn Brewery friends serving up their Summer Ale, the water slide, artists, and all the other great food vendors, even though Viva La Fajita was named one of the best food vendors in the entire festival!! 😁👌🌮

Its hard to truly explain written or even spoken words how amazing the experience is of traveling to a place where a person can feel totally themselves and at ease even in a mass of hundreds of thousands of people. Which means next year you should all go check it out yourself. Until my travels next year, I’ll continue to radiate that positivity here at the Brooklyn Cloth headquarters ✨