Seems to me that TBF just gets better and better every year. Here are 2 little things that I noticed and appreciated:
Raising the price of a beer CUP! Yeah, I loved that. Instead of raising the price of the beer, raise the price of a cup.
As a buddy brought me my first fest brew, I asked him how much they were, bracing for the inevitable price increase. “$24 for four”, he said, and I figured that it was $5 fo the beer and $1 for the cup. What a PLEASANT surprise that it was $4/$2. Especially cuz it was MY turn to buy, and I had brought my own cups!
We veteran fest’ers who bring our own cups every year say “go higher next year!”
Sanitizer in the bathrooms. Although I heard they were sometimes empty, I personally never used a bathroom that had no hand sanitizer. Nice!
It’s little things like that that make this the best festival anywhere. Thanks, PB!
The new field lay-out that moved the low fence on the east side of the field, created more space and rearranged the Kelty Sunshade area, especially the striped walkway up the east side fence. Way huge improvement when going to the bathroom up the east side of the field. Way better seating/views for the family/sunshade crowd as well. Way better view from the porta-john line. Way better.
This also made it much easier for those of us that wander to get from the front to the johns. Thanks for this great improvement to the field! :thumbsup
1-Cool stage backdrop for a change too! Not great from far away but looked neato from the sound board…
2-Official poster- Un freakin believable. If they top that one I’ll be surprised.
3-They also got Bridal Vail falls to dump more water just for the fest.
4-And how bout the fancy speaker towers? They could be gussied up but sure look sturdy an all…
Liked the new layout of the grounds. It made it seem more ‘open’, despite throngs of festivarians.
The new speaker towers ROCKED! Gotta love technology and the ability to project more sound with smaller components. Sitting behind one of the speaker towers still permitted great views.
The levels-balancing of the sound system. I don’t know who the folks are that do the acoustic science for the arena, but they deserve ultimate kudos!
The killer flank steaks were somehow even better than last year … don’t know how that was even possible!
Kudos to the merchandise tent! They didn’t run out of some of the T-shirts after the first day!
Rant – some folks didn’t get the message about topper chairs and umbrellas being relegated to in front of the sunshade area. I find it to be rude to put those things up and block the view of the folks behind them.
Rant – those laser pen-lights need to be banned from the fest. They are annoying and distract from the performances when zipping above the stage at night (Sam Bush set, in particular).
There seemed to be less ‘down time’ between sets … the PB folks did a great job keeping the music flowing and did a great job accommodating sets that ran long or short!
KOTO did a great job filling in and communicating the very few problems that occurred with the live feed.
Lyle Lovett ROCKED … thank you PB for bringing him in!!! What a treat … Sam, Jerry and Bela along to boot!!!
Another great TBF. Looking forward to next year already.
/r
Kevin
PS. THANK YOU Planet Bluegrass for selecting one of my Haikus to be included in this years program!!!
Especially found that the porta potties were cleaned more often and were not bad, like last year. I couldn’t believe they never were out of paper! Would be nice if people didn’t put trash in the urinal. Found 2 of 'em full and about to blow because they were stopped up.
Liked the signs about SMOKERS being considerate. I guess maybe some stayed in the back, but one spot I sat I was surrounded by puffers for hours. I’m still coughing…
Liked that the sunshades weren’t allowed in front of the food vendors. Was great to be able to see all around this year!
One highly needed improvement- Need to limit the tarp size. I saw so many empty tarps the size of a 1 bedroom apartment. Had 2 different people bitch at me for asking if we could use the corner of a tarp that had 2-3 people on it. People really taking advantage here. Needs to be evaluated for sure!
Incredible festival all around. I have a few friends who sleep in line and grab a good spot, BUT I couldn’t agree more with the above posting concerning tarp size. Many are way too big. WAY too big. It’s very selfish, and shouldn’t be allowed. People always respond by saying it is your right to sit on empty tarps, but few people ask because of the reaction described above. I can’t think of one good reason NOT to limit tarp size.
The only reason to not limit tarp size is that it would be nearly impossible to regulate. I’m all for it, but would we all have to open up our tarps prior to the run for pre-approval? Or allow people to put their tarps on top of previously placed over-sized tarps? That could get ugly.
Yes, it’s wrong, selfish, maybe even rude. But how do ya stop it?
One other problem this year - on Saturday there were LOTS of hula hoops behind the sound board, which made it difficult to walk thru. It didn’t seem to be a problem any other day, so perhaps they were told to move. I think all that’s needed is a sign posted there. I think there used to be one regarding hackeysacks and hula hoops, or was that over by the porta-potties?
Does anyone know how I might acquire a used Ticket stub??
I asked several times and they said that ultimately they’d put them out after 8pm on Sunday but they never did [and were locked up tight after the House band]… I’m a pack rat and collect my stubs to all events. Would love to have my Town Park Ticket for posterity if anyone knows how to make that happen…Please???
Easy solution to the oversized tarps - have the tarp nazi do a walk-through immediately after the tarps are laid and pick up the tarps that are too large. It would not require that much time or effort.
IMO, carrying in a huge tarp, or more than one tarp is a bit unfestivarian-like.