MANCHESTER, TN (WGNS) - Bonnaroo 2026 is rolling along in neighboring Manchester as the festival battles just about everything Mother Nature can throw at it. This year crowds topping 45,000 have been slogging through steady rain, traffic jams on I‑24, and even a two‑hour power outage that briefly froze stages and stopped the Ferris wheel mid‑air. Everyone was safely evacuated, but it added another layer to an already chaotic weekend.
Still, the spirit of the Farm hasn’t dimmed. Roovians are doing what they do best — dancing in the mud, swapping ponchos, and keeping the vibe alive. This year’s headliners, including Skrillex, The Strokes, RÜFÜS DU SOL, and Noah Kahan, have kept energy levels high despite weather delays and technical hiccups.
The storms have been relentless, with daily downpours and heavy winds battering tents and tarps. For longtime festivalgoers, it’s impossible not to think back to 2025, when flooding forced organizers to shut down the rest of the event. So far, 2026 is soggy but holding steady.
Traffic, of course, has been its own adventure. Tens of thousands of fans funneled through exit 111, creating long backups on I‑24. TDOT and local authorities have been working overtime to keep traffic moving and prevent shoulder parking from getting out of hand.
As usual, law enforcement has a strong presence in the campgrounds. Manchester Police and Coffee County deputies are running a full operation, and the familiar list of citations is stacking up — mostly drug possession, underage drinking, and public intoxication. Online chatter shows mixed feelings: some festivalgoers argue the arrest numbers are used to paint Bonnaroo as unsafe, while others say the undercover officers and canine units feel overly aggressive this year.
Meanwhile, the MTSU connection remains one of the festival’s most impressive behind‑the‑scenes stories. A decade into the partnership, students from the Scott Borchetta College of Media and Entertainment are once again producing live television from the heart of the festival. Twenty‑six video and film students are putting in roughly 60 hours of work inside MTSU’s 46‑foot Mobile Production Lab — “the truck” — directing broadcasts, running cameras, and managing audio. MTSU is producing eight shows a night from the This Stage, one of the Hulu‑featured livestream stages, meaning the university is handling a quarter of all telecasts.
Another ten journalism students are on the grounds as credentialed media, covering the festival like working professionals. Dean Beverly Keel says the experience is transformative, and alumni like Jo Litzenberger — now a freelance live video director who’s worked global tours, including Olivia Rodrigo’s “Guts” tour — prove it.
Bonnaroo officially winds down late Sunday night, June 14, with the monumental Monday‑Morning Exodus beginning at dawn. By noon, most campers will be rolling out, inching down I‑24, swapping leftover snacks, and saying their muddy goodbyes. Expect shopping centers and gas stations across Rutherford County to feel that Bonnaroo bon‑voyage rush as travelers head home.
