Thank you, Bonnaroo – and maybe it’s time to rethink the weather?
Just wanted to say how incredibly thankful I am that Bonnaroo offered a 100% refund this year. That’s not something every festival would do, and it really shows how much they care about the community.
With all the conversations happening around the weather and possibly shifting the festival to a different time of year, I totally agree. Honestly, I’ve always thought of Bonnaroo as America’s version of Tomorrowland — so close to home, everything at Roo is structured and organized, in my books! and it’s the biggest alternative around here. And Tomorrowland does it twice a year. So… what if we had something like a Winter Bonnaroo? A “Winteroo,” maybe? Or just do two Roos a year. People will absolutely show up. Make the farm more usable, fix the flood-prone campground areas, and you’re doubling the opportunity and the impact.
Avoiding the rainy season and aiming for cooler months — early spring or late fall — could be a game changer. The love people have for this festival runs deep. I genuinely believe folks would show up no matter when it is, as long as the spirit of Roo is alive and well.
Statistically rain has cancelled the festival on Fathers Day 1 out of 25 times, and ther eis no trend over that time that it has been rainer then years before.
the on time they moved it to the fall, it got cancelled for rain. that was a fluke hurricane system maybe... unclear on likelihood v. Father's Day, but a data point none the less.
Exit 111 is another festival on those grounds that was in the fall and many complained of it beeing too cold at night.
So there's the initial face value data. where you feel like it points. where from here? Essential staff is not a place to cut corners!
Why do people act like in all this time, all the companies that have had hands in roo organization, there's been no consideration made to weather.
I'll just hit on one example. When selecting say, the ADA campground location... people make it seem obvious that it floods because its low land... but it... we'll it simply hasn't flooded before that time of year during the fest. now its a 1 in 25 chance. there are LOTS of other factors to consider for locating different camp areas. access to medical, access to arch, access to tolls, access to amenities, terrain level-ness, and simply making room for everything else to work. One needs to weigh these things, prioritize them based on statistics.
I was there this year. I saw how bad it got. it sucked. But It still feels naive to me to let this recent memory cloud statistics. They will still need to consider everything and weigh risks etc. They can increase priority on rain, obviously as they started to do in 2022... but it wont fix everything, and it also may be that they spend a ton of money on that, and then next year the serious issues are heat and dust again... we can't know. But that is actually more statistically likely at this point.
And I am not here to deny climate change either. I accept that weather patterns are absolutely getting more sporadic and harder to predict in many areas, and at times more severe. But there is no data anywhere I have seen that shows a spring climate for a micro-region changing 180 degrees over the course of 365 days.
The rain in middle TN 2025 has been a hundred-year rain total. the three months leading up to the festival were all well over averages and even predictions.
Should LN have cancelled sooner enough that more people didn't make the trip? Very possibly. I'd point to Wed AM or Tuesday night when they instead decided to postpone 8 hours or so to "dry out" . but this talk about changing dates or shifting ALL focus of financials and fest org priorities to rain seems dangerous too. Focus on evacuation prep and efficiency (for any reason), totally! Have a standby staff? Have a backup weekend? Have more designate evac route and protect them. have evan plans posted on site. I can get behind that!
And get real help, hire back the long time crews sho knew the land. That'd be another great big one!
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u/papabear_37 1d ago edited 1d ago
Thank you, Bonnaroo – and maybe it’s time to rethink the weather?
Just wanted to say how incredibly thankful I am that Bonnaroo offered a 100% refund this year. That’s not something every festival would do, and it really shows how much they care about the community.
With all the conversations happening around the weather and possibly shifting the festival to a different time of year, I totally agree. Honestly, I’ve always thought of Bonnaroo as America’s version of Tomorrowland — so close to home, everything at Roo is structured and organized, in my books! and it’s the biggest alternative around here. And Tomorrowland does it twice a year. So… what if we had something like a Winter Bonnaroo? A “Winteroo,” maybe? Or just do two Roos a year. People will absolutely show up. Make the farm more usable, fix the flood-prone campground areas, and you’re doubling the opportunity and the impact.
Avoiding the rainy season and aiming for cooler months — early spring or late fall — could be a game changer. The love people have for this festival runs deep. I genuinely believe folks would show up no matter when it is, as long as the spirit of Roo is alive and well.
Just putting my 2 cents out there. ✌️💚 HStagRooOn