Hi :wave. I’m a newbie, first time to TBF and the Town Park. I will be arriving by bicycle as part of a long bike tour! Can I safely keep my bike in the park with my tent, or maybe best to find a local bike shop or another place to store it?
Thank you!
Absolutely! :thumbsup
We had a couple in our camp last year who rode from festival to festival finishing with T-ride. (Kiki and Gary).
C’mon in to Run-a-muck and have a crunchy frog when you get to town! :cheers
Your bike and all your gear will be completely safe! :flower
It looks to me like we need to find a crunchy frog emoji to add to the emoji options!
Great to hear! :thumbsup Can’t wait to be at the festival and try the festival specialties! :cheers My bike tour is not defined yet and I have thought about visiting various festivals. I need to get on that if I want tickets!
Thanks for the warm welcome and good info! :flower
We have a Crunchy Frog emoji… it’s even titled "hooch’
:hooch
Oh that is so perfect, I need to study my emojology. :thumbsup
Hello all,
This year will be my first time attending the TBF. I am very exicted and just trying to figure everything I need.
My main question is how necessary is a vehicle pass at mary illium. Obviously all of my camping gear and instruments will be in my vehicle, is it easy to park in free parking and shuttle every thing over? Does anyone who camps at Mary Illium have any opinions on this matter?
Thanks,
Taylor
Hey there Taylor,
I spent my first festival four years ago camping at Mary E, and still have great friends that I met camping in Mary E.
Mary E. is nice. It is quiet, and has trees n shade, and I imagine there are probably regular campers there that have some nightly picking circles etc.
It is a bit of a shuttle ride to the fest, and free parking can be some distance from the camp ground. My advice, is keep all your gear in your campsite (you will be able to unload in the campground then move your car to a parking spot), or get a parking pass. When I was there, there seemed to be plenty of room in the campground for cars and tents.
Welcome to the festival, you’re gonna have a great time, and meet the BESTEST, I meant FESTEST people!
Cheers,
:wave Hi everyone, we entered and won the lottery! I have a few questions:
Can we plop down our small truck camper at Town Park and then park our truck at the free parking area or are campers not allowed? It’s smaller than usual truck campers at 10’x7’x6’ that will take up as much space as our tent/gear anyway.
I saw that there are groups that stay year after year…I thought it was a lottery, how do groups get to stay year after year?
No way without a vehicle pass. Even if you take it off the truck it’s considered a vehicle.
Our little community has quite a number of “assistants” that put in for the lottery in case someone doesn’t get picked, and we keep in contact with each other to see if our friends need passes. Once our community is covered any extra tickets go up on the forum here or get sent back to Planet Bluegrass for resale later. Make new friends when you get there this year and you can be part of the fun.
Welcome to our community. :flower
Well crud. Is there any way to still get a vehicle pass?
Town Park vehicle passes are the unicorns of TBG tickets. They are also sold in the lottery and, unlike TP camping tickets, are hard to come by. You can plead your case in the ticket exchange area.
That said, welcome to the best time ever! You won’t want to go to bed anyway, so you won’t even miss your camper. :cheers
Also, we when one of us gets a vehicle pass we like to make sure that some of the festivarian with some health issues are able to use their vehicles while the rest of us that can bear it camp in tents. You will be able to drive your truck into town park right to your camp site and in load and if you are friendly you will most likely get some help. You have plenty of time to work yourself into one of the “traditional” camps. Our first year in TP was 2001 and we landed in one of the great traditional camps by make a pre-fest offering! We offered to bring a case of tequila in exchange for some one laying down a tarp for us. When we arrived we were welcomed with open arms! Be friendly, make friends, and you won’t miss the camper! Welcome!
Just to give you an idea of how precious the vehicle passes are, There are 1200 camping passes sold for Town Park, and only 30 vehicle passes.
Like Pirate says, we try to get the vehicle passes to those that have health issues and simply cannot tent camp.
:flower
Understand the vehicle passes being important for health related issues…I’m planning on being pregnant…god willing. :flower Curious, by what date are all the good spots taken up? We can get there early but not sure how early makes a difference.
Town Park opens up at 8:00 AM the Saturday before fest. At that point there are pretty much lots of open spaces. The closer you get to fest the fewer there will be. Monday is safe, but much after that then the parking in town starts to get crowded. There are lots of activities planned all week long so the sooner the better! :pirate
This will be my first time at TBGF, and our Town Park camping is drawn. Been to Rocky Grass several times, and I love the campground jams. I would like to join in at Town Park this year, but I play no strings. I play a small djembe drum or harmonica. Are these instruments used, or is it strictly bluegrass instruments? I’d love to play, and don’t want to be a fool, but those are my instruments.
You’ll be fine as long as you don’t start a drum circle. 
You’ll have plenty of chances for showing your licks on the harp, and a subtle drum beat keeps the timing going when there’s no bass around. :thumbsup
Welcome to the family. :cheers
I’ve brought my djembe a few times, but never got much use out of it. I’d say just bring the harp. Harps are welcome in most circles.
First year at Telluride. Camping at Illium. Arriving Saturday or Sunday the weekend before. What all pre-festival events will be going down monday-wednesday? We are bringing bicycles and plan on riding to Ouray one day, but looking to get the full weeks festival experience, and really get to spend some quality time in Telluride. Any suggestions on must do activities, music, eats??
Hello,
First timer to the festival and had some questions about camping:
Do I need an additional vehicle pass if I plan to camp at Mary Ilieum, and want to be near the car?
If so, can I get the additional vehicle pass when I buy my Mary Ilium campsite pass? (can’t spell it for the life of me.) 
I plan to buy two 4day passes on this shop forum(I understand from other posters who have messaged me that plenty of tickets will show up here in the coming weeks.)
Do you suggest I get my Mary Ilieum campground passes now, before I get tickets, just to secure a spot?
Thank you for any advice or information you can provide!