Last over 80,000 people gathered on a farm outside of Manchester, Tennessee to attend Bonnaroo, one of the largest music festivals in the world. For four days, Bonnarooers attended comedy shows, live music concerts at any of the six stages, and helped save the environment. The Gulf Restoration Network made its third appearance at Bonnaroo with a booth in the Planetroo section of the festival. One employee, four interns, and two volunteers worked in two 9-hour shifts each of the four days, educating people about the wetlands and the issues surrounding them and pushing the Text Coast campaign, which allowed interested individuals to demand action at the push of a button.There were several setbacks, but in the end, the Bonnacrew made it a successful venture for the GRN and created many great memories; from the man covered from head to toe in mud and little else who pretended to be a dinosaur, to the fan who, unprompted, donated to the GRN moments after hearing our mission. The response from the festival-goers was unexpectedly enthusiastic, owing in part to the environmentally conscious nature of the event and in part to the enthusiasm of those staffing the booth. Our heartfelt thanks go out to Michelle Denney, Megan Morikawa, Mitchell (Moe) Long, Stephanie Short, Nari Ely, and our dedicated volunteers Danny Durkee and Joseph Imhof for their hard work and commitment to our cause of restoring the gulf coast. Bonnaroo also hosted a screening of Walter Williams’ short films on New Orleans’ coastal crisis, as well as some of his PSA’s featuring Mr. Bill and the Estuarians. Beyond the great films, the screening had the added draw of Stanton Moore, the founding member and drummer of Galactic – one of the major bands that performed at Bonnaroo – discussing the importance New Orleans in the development of all the music heard at the festival, and the importance of protecting and restoring the wetlands. Our thanks go out to him as well, for his repeated support and dedication to the cause. A special thanks to Michelle, who participated in a roundtable discussion on water pollution in which she explained to concert goers why water pollution and the Dead Zone were real problems in need of solutions and how they could get involved in the fight for Louisiana and the gulf coast.
