Bonnaroo 2015 - More Than Meets The Eye

  • Tuesday, June 23, 2015
  • Macy Hashop

What comes to your mind when you hear the word "Bonnaroo"?

Everyone you ask will surely have their own take on the event. According to CNBC, Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival is one of the worldís biggest music fests, with an average of 80,000 attendees each year.

Bonnaroo hosts some of the worldís most favored musicians, new up and coming artists, and comedians guaranteed to make you laugh.

This year kicked off the 14th year in a row that Bonnaroo has been going long and strong, showing people of all ages a really good time.

In fact, Bonnaroo in itself is a Creole term meaning, ìa really good time, or good stuffî.

For four days, you get to experience a world filled with echoing music and celebration from every corner.  It means lots and lots of walking, great food vendors and plenty of sunshine, surrounded by thousands of happy people.

Bonnaroo offers much more than good music and a mushroom fountain in the Tennessee heat.

Planet Roo at Bonnaroo is an area where non-profit and mission based organizations partner with Bonnaroo to educate people from all walks of life about major causes, organizations, and sustainable companies.

One interesting organization was the non-profit movement ìTo Write Love on Her Armsî (TWLOHA), whose mission is to provide hope and find help for people who struggle with depression, addiction, self-harm and suicidal thoughts.

They are a valuable resource for anyone at Bonnaroo who needs advice or wants to learn more about their mission. TWLOHA has been around since 2006 and has helped many people since then find hope for a better life. They can be found at other festivals around the country including Sonshine Fest and have presences in 74 countries worldwide.

Next to TWLOHA you can find tents housing other organizations such as The Nature Conservancy, The Sierra Club, Global Zero, The Art of Living, Shelter Box, Eat for Equity and many more.

All together there were 26 organizations this year and all had something unique to offer.

The Art of Living welcomed people with loving arms to teach them about mediation, offering multiple daily sessions. They provided earphones and a guided mediation designed to help you discover your inner voice.

The Nature Conservancy partnered with Martin & co Guitars, offering festival goers the opportunity to play a guitar and to draw a picture of an elephant. All of these efforts go to help save the African Elephant population by fighting poaching and protecting habitat. The world-wide demand for ivory is still one of the major causes of elephant death. With team efforts from both Martin & Co. Guitars and The Nature Conservancy, they are attempting to stop this vicious cycle.

The #Elegram project asks you to send in your original artwork depicting an elephant.  All weekend people created their elephant art at the Nature Conservancy booth and submitted them, both as   drawings and paintings.  This helped generate positive feedback in the Bonnaroo community.  When they collect 20,000 elephants, they will receive $150,000 dollars in support of their mission. That money will be used to help pay for security in elephant habitats, reduce the demand of ivory, and build support in local communities by boosting the economy.

Planet Roo also held a series of workshops offered daily, taught by people experienced in a variety of disciplines.

This included Vinyasa yoga in the mornings at the Solar Stage and hula hooping classes at The Academy. Whatever youre looking for, you will most likely be able to find it at Planet Roo, just make sure to check the schedule before hand!

The Academy has instructors Thursday through Sunday, teaching classes including citizen storytelling, wilderness ethics 101, wild fermentation, how to build a hula hoop and a class teaching how to write letters for change.

Graduates of The University of Knoxville, just a few hours away, taught wonderful courses on sustainability, edible gardening, chicken clinic - basics to hen health, and how to build a tiny home.

We were amazed by how the crowd grew after each class as more people found out that you can learn valuable skills at Bonnaroo. I walked away with a heap of knowledge. Attending workshops is the perfect way to expand your knowledge base during the day and when the academy closes, you get to experience great, live music.

There were many bands that blew the crowd away this summer including Mumford & Sons with their spectacular light show, the very soulful Alabama Shakes, crowd pleasers My Morning Jacket, powerful vocals from Florence the Machine, and energetic performances from Twenty One Pilots, Kendrick Lamar, Shakey Graves, Trampled by Turtles, the legendary Robert Plant & the Sensational Space Shifters and of course the Piano Man, Billy Joel.

Bonnaroo proves every year that it cares not only about big acts and headliners, but up and coming bands and musicians as well.  This year they had a stage set up exclusively for up and coming artists, called ìNew Music on Tap Loungeî.  It hosted a variety of tastes and styles of music ranging from the three part harmony of rock/folk/country and soul band Fruition, to the Manchester, UK based BC Camplight.

Festival goers often come to Bonnaroo to see their favorite band or artist, but leave having discovered many more. Music festivals are a great place to discover new music, make new friends and try new things, whether its dancing to a song you never heard before, trying new food vendors or delving into the night life, you never know what your'e going to get.

We can't forget the many inspiring vendors in the Bonnaroo Market. There you can find sustainable, eco-friendly companies to buy from. The market is lined with incredible hand-made jewelry, fair trade clothing, hammock companies, natural shoe companies and plenty of the essentials needed to survive the summer heat and festival extravaganza.

These companies have great background stories as to why they started their company and what their mission is. The Transient Design was one of my favorite companies as I searched the line of markets to find the best good fair trade clothing. 100% of their profits goes toward The Transient Foundation, which provides direct financial aid to empower people who are in need of basic human rights such as food, shelter, and education! Save your yearly shopping for the Bonnaroo Market if youíd really like to make a change, or find out which companies sell here and learn about how you can participate.

A lot of people at Bonnaroo don't realize the scope and variety of experiences to be had there other than just music and entertainment. 

With hundreds of mission-based vendors, non-profit organizations, and hours and hours of workshops providing education and networking opportunities, Bonnaroo has undiscovered potential for every person.

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