Bonnaroo offers eclectic mix

By JAMES CLARK / Editor for the Southern Standard

Dress was casual, and often outlandish, Friday night at the Bonnaroo music festival in Manchester. Costumes included a grape creature and a stalk of broccoli. (James Clark photo)

Richard and Jaleh Browder didn’t have any question where they were going for their honeymoon. The San Diego residents had Manchester in their plans.

“We wanted to come to Bonnaroo,” said Richard, wearing his wedding ring and a tie-dyed shirt.

Judging from a massive Friday night crowd estimated around 250,000, and looking at the assortment of license plates, people from Vermont to South Dakota came to the festival.

A 10-minute downpour hit during a Friday night performance by The Allman Brothers Band, but the rain held off for a later concert from headliner The Dave Matthews Band. On Saturday, The Black Crowes and Widespread Panic grabbed top billing on the main stage.

The four-day festival is not only known for its music, but also the hippy community which accompanies it. Showers can be purchased for $5, and bead necklaces are around every corner. People sleep in tents and sometimes dance around when there’s no music.

The Coffee County Sheriff’s Department and local security forces had a more visible presence for the festival’s fourth year. One Bonnaroo vendor, who was openly handling bags of marijuana, had his tent raided and searched by several officers.

The vendor declined to give his name or have his picture taken, and would only say he was a resident of Georgia. He said officers confiscated marijuana, mushrooms, $600 in cash, and several bottles of liquor. He was given a citation and released. Flat broke, he hoped to earn enough money selling his jewelry to make the trip home.

Last year, officers confiscated an array of drugs when they arrested 27 people and issued 132 citations for drug violations.

There’s food around every Bonnaroo corner. People used Coleman camp stoves to heat water and sell hotdogs for $1. Other vendors brought huge grills and deep fryers to sizzle everything from fajitas to funnel cakes.

Bonnaroo ends tonight with a second performance from Widespread Panic. Traffic around Bonnaroo is expected to be heavy through Monday. Since much of the 700-acre farm is reduced to a mud pit by the end of Bonnaroo, tractors and tow trucks do a steady business pulling vehicles out.