Bonnaroo organizers buying festival's Tennessee farm site

By LEON ALLIGOOD Staff Writer - THE TENNESSEAN

Bonnaroo, the outdoor music festival that draws up to 90,000 music lovers, teenagers and hippie wannabes to a Coffee County farm each year, is apparently going to stay in Middle Tennessee.

The organizers of the days-long concert series are buying the farm, literally: They're purchasing the 500-plus acre site adjacent to Interstate 24 that has hosted the event each summer since 2002.

The purchase is likely to make permanent Bonnaroo's annual infusion of bushels of money into the local economy and tax coffers. It also will extend the love/hate relationship the locals have had with the festival: They love the money the "Bonnaroonies" spend, but it comes with traffic problems and rumors of attendees' drug use.

Sam McAllister, the landowner, said Wednesday he hopes to wrap up the sale to festival organizers as early as next week.

"Well, there's a few little things that have got to take place before it happens," McAllister said when contacted by phone at his Manchester, Tenn., home.

Bonnaroo officials would not comment on the proposed purchase of the cow pasture they have rented for five seasons. Bonnaroo VI will take place at the site from June 14-17.

"We'll have an announcement (on the land purchase) if anything gets finalized," Ken Weinstein, of Bonnaroo's public relations firm in New York, wrote in an e-mail concerning the purchase.

However, Ashley Capps, one of the festival's organizers, indicated to members of the county's Board of Zoning Appeals last month that a deal was imminent.

Capps asked the board for a type of zoning permit for the land that would streamline the music festival's planning process. The permit was approved contingent on the sale of the land, said Ronnie Branch, the zoning administrator for Coffee County.

"They wanted to" have the land "by the end of (last) year, but it's going to be the middle of January," said Branch, who said Capps indicated the purchase would allow the festival to improve infrastructure at the site, such as water lines and roads. It was not clear whether permanent structures are in the works.

The zoning official also said Capps indicated the purchase would free Bonnaroo to stage an unnamed number of other musical events on that site during the year.

"Well, they can use it when they want to use it, but they can only get so many mass-gathering permits in a year, so I'd say they'd be limited to three or four events" in addition to Bonnaroo, she said.

Branch added that Capps told the board these other events would be smaller affairs.

Festival fires up economy

A study by a Middle Tennessee State University professor of the 2005 festival indicated the music-craved 'Roonies spent $8.6 million in Coffee County, while the festival plunked down an additional $1.9 million in the county. Local governments received about $412,000.

Last year's event grossed $15 million in revenue with a sold-out audience of 80,000, making it the top-grossing event of its kind in the world, Billboard.com reported last summer.

But traffic problems, especially in the first couple of years, and drug-related deaths and arrests have put a damper on the economic success for some.

Likened to new industry

County Mayor David Pennington welcomed news of the impending sale.

"To me it's like a new industry coming to town. That's the way I look at it. They generate a lot of cash flow and contribute to the county and the community," he said.

"I believe they are here to stay. Buying this property will give them the freedom to hold more events. I think they'll grow from this. They didn't buy that just to do one event," the county mayor said.

Jerry White of Al White Motors in Manchester also said he was glad to hear Bonnaroo "was settling down and going to be here.

"I think Manchester has something to offer them and they have something to offer us. I'm glad they're here even though there have been some problems," said White, referring to two drug-related deaths in 2004 and the death of an attendee last year, struck by a bus as he crossed the interstate.

"The traffic was really bad at first ... but once they get inside, the town quiets down," said Nona Jarratt at The Computer Shoppe in Manchester.

Pennington said Bonnaroo is no more a center of lawbreaking than "any other big event."

"We've got a good sheriff's department and good police departments. We won't turn our backs on a problem just because it's Bonnaroo," he said.

The music and art festival has done more good for Manchester than harm, the county official concluded.

"They've paid for all the overtime" of county workers. "They take care of the roads. If they tore something up, they fixed it. They've become good neighbors," Pennington said.

"Bonnaroo has helped out with a lot of charitable contributions. They've been good for the community. Buying the property may bring more people to town in the long run," Jarratt added.

"That's not a bad thing."