Domeguy
06-23-2015, 04:25 PM
As I posted several weeks ago, I attended Bonnaroo. To those smart people who don't know what Bonnaroo is, it is a music festival held in Manchester, TN. It was from June 12-15, 2015. Manchester is a smallish, boring town next to interstate 24 which normally has a population of 10,000. But during the week of Bonnaroo, the population soars to 80,000-90,000, over night displacing Jackson as Tennessee's 7th largest city.
I had never been to a concert before, so I thought I would volunteer to work it and get my $300 ticket for free. I was to work the information booth at the main stage area for 3 separate 6 hr shifts, Thursday 2-8 pm, Friday 9pm-3am, and Sunday 12-6pm. But I had to be there on Tuesday morning to register, with a mandatory meeting at 7pm, an 1 on Wednesday at 2pm. Also once on site, we were not able to leave the 700 acre farm unless of an emergency.
I arrived to register at 9am, and an hour later, I was on my way to the camp site. They put me with the volunteers camp site, but I was to be at the volunteer handicap access campsite, so an hour later, I was sent there. Not knowing where to go, I asked directions, and was passed from person to person. At one point, I was directed to cross a large field to find a person in a golf cart who I would follow, but upon finding him, I was told to turn around and go back the way I had come. He could not help me. About an hour later, I pulled into the Handicap access camping area, now just called access, and was told we would have to wait until the striping crew painted the stripes on the field to designate the sites, which were 10'x20'. Around 1pm the crew arrived and started, but after making 2 lines stopped and just stood around for an hour. There were now 4 of us waiting to set up, and we were not allowed to leave the area we were waiting in under an awning. We could not walk to our vehicles were they were parked across the field due to safety regulations. So by this time, all the ice in my 2 coolers was starting to melt in the scorching sun. At 3pm, the striper guys just left, and after asking about 20 different people, I found they were to orient the lines parallel to one of the roads, but they did them to the other road. So instead of fixing it, they just left. I asked if we could set up, and was told no, due to they needed the lines co they could could run a electric line for those who needed to power medical equipment.
So at 6:15, it still wasn't done, and the 3 of us that were left were told no one could come get us, so get this...THEY MADE THE HANDICAP PEOPLE WALK ABOUT 2 MILES TO THE MEETING. The mandatory meeting was at the volunteer camp site, with a BBQ supper after the meeting, which was just the main people thanking us us for helping. Then we got in line for the BBQ, saw it would be about an hour before we could get any food and eat, so one of the women and I decided to walk back and see if we could set up our camp. It was about 9pm when we got back, and the striping still wasn't done, and at 10:30, they finally just put us in a corner and let us set up our camps. I finally got everything set up about midnight while also helping the other 6 women set up their tents. With nothing to eat since breakfast, and everything melted in the cooler, I fired up the grill and cooked my steaks and chicken, as I found they wouldn't open the ice trailer to sell ice until Thursday. So I cooked for everyone, we ate a good meal, fired up the generator and made daiquiris, and everyone went to bed around 3:30. Except for me, as I had a very small mini seizure in bed, it only lasted about 3 seconds, but it was enough to let me know I would be getting no sleep that night. So I did the dishes, and waited to watch the sun come up.
The rest of the week was a lot like this one. Although I did help security subdue one person, helped make 2 medical emergency runs, and generally have a miserable time. If anyone is interested,I can detail the rest of my adventure.
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f226/gantsum/d43bd5bedf2020636ddd437658537004_zpsluvgznqc.jpg
You can see me in the lower left...I'm the one wearing the brown hat.
I had never been to a concert before, so I thought I would volunteer to work it and get my $300 ticket for free. I was to work the information booth at the main stage area for 3 separate 6 hr shifts, Thursday 2-8 pm, Friday 9pm-3am, and Sunday 12-6pm. But I had to be there on Tuesday morning to register, with a mandatory meeting at 7pm, an 1 on Wednesday at 2pm. Also once on site, we were not able to leave the 700 acre farm unless of an emergency.
I arrived to register at 9am, and an hour later, I was on my way to the camp site. They put me with the volunteers camp site, but I was to be at the volunteer handicap access campsite, so an hour later, I was sent there. Not knowing where to go, I asked directions, and was passed from person to person. At one point, I was directed to cross a large field to find a person in a golf cart who I would follow, but upon finding him, I was told to turn around and go back the way I had come. He could not help me. About an hour later, I pulled into the Handicap access camping area, now just called access, and was told we would have to wait until the striping crew painted the stripes on the field to designate the sites, which were 10'x20'. Around 1pm the crew arrived and started, but after making 2 lines stopped and just stood around for an hour. There were now 4 of us waiting to set up, and we were not allowed to leave the area we were waiting in under an awning. We could not walk to our vehicles were they were parked across the field due to safety regulations. So by this time, all the ice in my 2 coolers was starting to melt in the scorching sun. At 3pm, the striper guys just left, and after asking about 20 different people, I found they were to orient the lines parallel to one of the roads, but they did them to the other road. So instead of fixing it, they just left. I asked if we could set up, and was told no, due to they needed the lines co they could could run a electric line for those who needed to power medical equipment.
So at 6:15, it still wasn't done, and the 3 of us that were left were told no one could come get us, so get this...THEY MADE THE HANDICAP PEOPLE WALK ABOUT 2 MILES TO THE MEETING. The mandatory meeting was at the volunteer camp site, with a BBQ supper after the meeting, which was just the main people thanking us us for helping. Then we got in line for the BBQ, saw it would be about an hour before we could get any food and eat, so one of the women and I decided to walk back and see if we could set up our camp. It was about 9pm when we got back, and the striping still wasn't done, and at 10:30, they finally just put us in a corner and let us set up our camps. I finally got everything set up about midnight while also helping the other 6 women set up their tents. With nothing to eat since breakfast, and everything melted in the cooler, I fired up the grill and cooked my steaks and chicken, as I found they wouldn't open the ice trailer to sell ice until Thursday. So I cooked for everyone, we ate a good meal, fired up the generator and made daiquiris, and everyone went to bed around 3:30. Except for me, as I had a very small mini seizure in bed, it only lasted about 3 seconds, but it was enough to let me know I would be getting no sleep that night. So I did the dishes, and waited to watch the sun come up.
The rest of the week was a lot like this one. Although I did help security subdue one person, helped make 2 medical emergency runs, and generally have a miserable time. If anyone is interested,I can detail the rest of my adventure.
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f226/gantsum/d43bd5bedf2020636ddd437658537004_zpsluvgznqc.jpg
You can see me in the lower left...I'm the one wearing the brown hat.