Madeline Whisenant, Kenley Thorn and Alexus Locke spent Thursday afternoon as greeters at Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival. In exchange for free admission to the anticipated four-day event, they scanned in festivalgoers, shouting “Happy Roo!” as tie-dye embellished wooks swarmed the grounds.
In the weeks leading up to Bonnaroo, the trio of MTSU students geared up for a fun-filled weekend, topped with anticipated performances from some of their favorite artists, such as Hozier, Remi Wolf and Role Model. But they found themselves packing up their campsites and heading home late Friday evening, without watching a single set.
Held in Manchester, Tennessee, organizers canceled the festival due to inclement weather, and the news hit volunteers especially hard. Best friends Whisenant, Thorn and Locke spent time and money in the weeks prior preparing to camp together for the first time and looking forward to the shows ahead of them.
“When we found out about it, we all cried, honestly,” Whisenant said. “I was so so excited, especially for Sunday.”
The volunteers were three of many who worked on the grounds in the days ahead of Bonnaroo. Volunteer positions include anything from working toll booths to logistics and setup. Bonnaroo doesn’t release the number of volunteers each year, but these individuals support staff and fans in multiple areas of the festival, according to Bonnaroo’s website.
To Whisenant and Thorn, both first-time Bonnaroovians and first-time volunteers, the festival lacked strong communication with volunteers. They found out the festival was canceled the same way many general admission Bonnaroovians did: via social media.
“All of us are really frustrated because volunteers have gotten it dirty,” Whisenant said. “Everybody’s been in a horrible mood, super rude. It’s been very rough.”
They logged hours Thursday and were up before the sun to start again Friday morning. They endured multiple schedule changes before the festival was canceled.
Some volunteers chose to stick out the night, others joined the traffic fighting to leave The Farm. Whisenant, Thorn and Locke waited out the standstill traffic by grabbing pizza slices from a nearby vendor. Storms broke the group’s tent, giving the girls nowhere to sleep and no choice but to fight the muddy traffic at the height of the confusion.
Devastated, the campers packed up the campsite and belongings, including a broken canopy, air mattresses and three coolers into their cars around 9:45 p.m. However, they couldn’t leave the grounds until around midnight because of the confusion brought on by mud and miscommunication.
Just before midnight, security began allowing people through and festival-goers’ vehicles slowly crawled away from the grounds.
Thorn, Whisenant and Locke finally made it home to Murfreesboro around 1:00 a.m. Saturday morning, after a draining few days and a discouraged 40-mile drive.
“I spent a bunch of money on camping because they told us that camping was the thing to do.” Whisenant said, “It was a complete waste.”
After this weekend, these first-timers seem hesitant to volunteer again. Locke was disappointed to see her friends leave their first Bonnaroo with a bad taste for The Farm, she said.
“I think this whole experience has cut a lot of people off from volunteering.” Locke said.
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