This Dollar Store Hack Could Save Your Bonnaroo Weekend in TN

My fellow Bonnaroovians and I are counting down the days. It is almost time to firmly plant our feet on the Farm for the first time this year, and shout an exuberant "Bonnarooooooooo!" at the top of our lungs, but before we get there, we have to make sure we are ready.

Countdown to Bonnaroo 2025 Has Begun

Of course, this means getting all of our supplies and gear prepped and ready to go. For me, it meant dragging out the canopy tents this weekend and finding that I have a torn seam that I need to repair before I can load it into the car and make the trek to Manchester next week.

READ MORE: Tips to Keep Your Drive to Bonnaroo Smooth

It also means that we are all obsessively checking the weather, and rightfully so - living in tents for multiple days in the middle of a Tennessee field in the middle of June isn't something you should show up to unprepared. To properly "prepare thyself," as the Bonnaroovian Code requires, we have to know what kind of weather we're looking at.

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Rain in the Forecast for This Year’s Festival

Unfortunately, at just 8 days away from Troo-Roo Tuesday entry folks, it's looking like it could be a very wet festival experience. Weather.com is forecasting rain, and even thunderstorms, almost every day of the festival. Meanwhile, Accuweather and TimeAndDate are indicating rainfall at various points during the festival as well. While we are still a week or more out, and the forecast could certainly change, it's probably safe to assume it will rain at some point this year while we're at Bonnaroo.

How to Prepare Your Campsite for Rain

That leads to the very important question: Just how exactly does one "prepare thyself" for rain on the Farm? Aside from the obvious preparations like waterproofing your canopy and tent, packing a rain jacket or poncho, and grabbing your rainboots before you head out the door, I have a small hack that could be a big help in keeping you and your temporary Tennessee home dry.

Since each car that will be camping at Bonnaroo receives a 20x20 space to set up their site, the standard go-to for most everyone is to erect two 10x10 pop-up tents side by side to create 10x20 feet of living space. A lot of people will hang tapestries or sheets from their canopies as a way to afford themselves some privacy, while maintaining the opportunity to allow airflow through their new home.

The Shower Curtain Hack That Could Keep You Dry

Our first time at Roo in 2023, we noticed a few days before that it might rain while we were there, and we devised a rather ingenious plan to ensure we kept our belongings dry and still allowed for plenty of airflow. We bought shower curtain liners - the really cheap, clear kind from Dollar Tree.

READ MORE: Don't Forget These Essentials in Your Bonnaroo Fannypack

As we set up camp when we first arrived on Wednesday, we hung the shower liners around the perimeter of our canopies on the outside of our tapestries. Now, before you panic and think we created a greenhouse and cooked ourselves, let me explain. Once they were hung, we rolled them up and secured them to the canopy. This allowed air to flow freely around our tapestries, but it also set us up for later.

While it was perfectly sunny and beautiful when we arrived, the forecast was calling for some showers the next day. When the rain began to fall, we were able to quickly let down the shower liners, giving us ample protection from the rain that would have otherwise blown in on our belongings. And once it stopped? We just rolled the liners back up for later.

We used 11 shower liners to go all the way around our canopies (technically, 10 is exactly enough to cover 60 linear feet, but we wanted to be able to have a little overlap rather than have them edge to edge). It cost us roughly $15 to give ourselves some on-demand rain protection, and we were grateful to be able to keep everything dry.

More Tips to Keep Your Roo Site Safe and Comfortable

Now, the storm that came through Sunday night after Foo Fighters was more than our little shower liner hack would have been able to handle. Fortunately, we had planned for that too, and broke most of the camp down before we went into Centeroo, including condensing to a single canopy, and dropping it to its lowest height to help prevent it from becoming an airborne hazard - there were a lot of mangled canopy tents on Monday morning!

READ MORE: Here's How to Properly Stake Your Canopy at a Festival

Get Ready for the Farm and Stay Dry

So there you have it. That's my hack. If you've got any great festival hacks of your own, I would love to hear them! You can email me at Kat@103gbfrocks.com. Otherwise, I can't wait to see you on the Farm! "Oh Baby, youuuuuu..."

Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival is taking place June 12-15, 2025, in Manchester, Tennessee. Learn more at Bonnaroo.com.