Music festivals
are numbers games, considering the mass of humanity that flood them each summer.
So, here are some pertinent numbers for the local Wakarusa festival, which begins Thursday at Mulberry Mountain on Arkansas 23 about 15 miles north of I-40. The festival will attract about 20,000 visitors from almost every state in the nation. About 80 percent of those guests will come from outside of Arkansas. Several thousand more will attend the festival as support staff, security, volunteers or vendors.
That’s to say nothing of the approximately 150 bands that will perform on the festival’s five stages.
About 200 sets of music will take place.
The possible permutations for a fan and his potential music choices make sure that almost no two people have the same festival experience. And that, says festival director Brett Mosiman, is one of the greatest features of Wakarusa.
The festival, returning for its fourth year in Arkansas, becomes a create-yourown-adventure situation.
Mosiman points to those who want to live it up and have things (such as food and beer) handed to them;
those are the VIP ticket holders. As a contrast, hefirst Wakarusa - which
took place in 2004 near Lawrence, Kan. - and about double over the first visit to Arkansas in the summer of 2009.
“The more you study the lineup, there are just some really cool acts,” Mosiman says.
Even if the lineup has some familiarity, it hasn’t stopped ticket buyers from making plans to visit Mulberry Mountain.
Mosiman says ticket sales are on pace with last year and may sell out this year.
Already, Wakarusa staff members have worked to expand the footprint of the festival, clearing out parts of adjacent land to increasePrimus, Slightly Stoopid,
Umphrey’s McGee and Girl Talk, are familiar to Fayetteville audiences, having performed in that city within the last year or so. Even so, Mosiman says, approximately 50 percent of all acts taking the stage during the four-day festival have never previously performed at Wakarusa.
Even if this year’s lineup doesn’t include a Black Keys or Mumford & Sons - both of which went on to major radio success immediately after visiting the festival - the talent budget is larger than it’s ever been. Mosiman says talent expenditures are up three to four times over thefestival are electronica
act Pretty Lights, folk rockers The Avett Brothers and eclectic progressive rockers Primus. Many genres are represented by other festival artists, including electronica (Big Gigantic, EOTO, Ghostland Observatory, Girl Talk), indie rock (Blizten Trapper, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, The Heartless Bastards), world (Balkan Beat Box, Tinariwen, Beats Antique), jam (Umphrey’s McGee and Weir, Robinson & Greene, which features former Grateful Dead member Bob Weir) and many more.
Many of the acts, including Pretty Lights,mentions those who buy
the riverside camping option and balance their concertgoing with spending time relaxing by the water.
“You can kind of shape your festival experience,” says Mosiman, who works with Pipeline Productions, the festival’s production company.
Indeed, there is much to experience at the festival, including a disc golf course, fishing and several nearby scenic hikes. New this year is a multi-story water slide located near the main stage.
Even with many opportunities for adventure, music remains the top draw.
Headlining this year’sthe amount of available
camping space. Organizers have invested in many site improvements, including a new foot path between the auxiliary camping shuttle drop and the main stage.
Mosiman says he would love to see additional support infrastructure near the site, such as campgrounds, improved cell phone service and a turn lane on Arkansas 23, the only access point in out of the festival grounds.
For continuing coverage of Wakarusa, including day by-day reviews, maps and photo galleries, visit www.
nwatunedin.com.
Whats Up, Pages 10 on 05/25/2012