Anna says: I survived Bonnaroo with Cornelia, Jen & Carolyn!

We headed down to Bonnaroo, a 4-day music festival in Manchester, Tennessee, to promote Farm Aid’s HOMEGROWN.org.

After a long day of driving, flying, driving and of course waiting, we arrived at our campsite at around 11 o’clock at night and set up our tents in the dark. (I believe this is what caused my tent to flood on night #3). Our Boston based team was happy to see that the Celtics – Lakers games were added to Cinema Tent’s lineup!

The festival was hard to imagine before we got there. Over 130 performances in 4 days and a crowd that surpassed 90,000! Our booth was set up in Planet Roo- where we were surrounded by other non-profits and earth friendly organizations from across the country. A real working Post Office made of straw and mud was in the center of Planet Roo. At the Carbon Shredders booth I pledged to reduce my carbon footprint. A few people stopped by our booth that recognized HOMEGROWN from Farm Aid 2007: A HOMEGROWN Festival! Yay—people remember us! One couple from Wisconsin told me how they were taking eating locally to the extreme by not eating anything from more than 25 miles away. Talk about eating your zipcode!

Lots of microbreweries were serving up their finest brews. The Tennessee heat prevented me from getting to try most of them. ;-(Here’s a picture of me trying my first veggie corn dog!
The music was the real treat of the festival! Of course I caught Willie’s performance. I was psyched to see Alison Kraus and Robert Plant and the Wood Brothers with John Medeski! The airconditioned ‘Something Else-New Orleans’ stage was a real treat! While it required a small donation to enter, the money went to some great causes down in Louisiana. The fountain provided another option for cooling off.What surprised me the most: The number of babies in attendance & how often porta potties were cleaned!

To see more about our experience at Bonnaroo, check out www.HOMEGROWN.org and sign up while you’re there!