Welcome to issue 57 of the Bonnaroo Beacon.

The paper debuted on Thursday, June 20, 2002—the very first day that festivalgoers were admitted to the site. There was no official music on that day as Thursday programming wouldn’t begin until the next year. There was, however, plenty of enthusiasm for all that would follow. That aspect of Bonnaroo life hasn’t changed.

Thursday at Bonnaroo is full of anticipation for the first notes, rekindled friendships, new connections and the warm buzz of returning to someplace welcome and familiar (or perhaps arriving at someplace welcome and familiar for the first time).

This sense of wonder and heightened expectation has been a constant from years one through year fifteen (although thankfully less of it takes place inside a vehicle, as traffic patterns have improved dramatically from the initial go-round).

When asked to look back on an initial memory from the festival’s debut, Rick Farman, a co-founder of Superfly (along with Kerry Black, Rich Goodstone and Jonathan Mayers) who created Bonnaroo with Ashley Capps and AC Entertainment, comments, “The first year we had a couple hundred arcade games and I remember when I first got to the site and those games were loaded in. Jonathan and I walked in and we were just giddy—‘Did we really get somebody to bring out a couple hundred arcade games to a field? How cool is that that?’ We had Frogger, Space Invaders, pinball machines…We couldn’t believe that this dream that we had with all these kooky ideas was actually happening.”

Happen it did, with the one slight hiccup being the traffic. As a result of this, Farman remember being caught up in operations issues, so that it took him a little time to appreciate what was happening on the farm. “I recall feeling that it wasn’t going so well at the beginning because of the logistical challenges we were having. Then somewhere on Friday night while Panic was playing, I found my brother who was having a great time and told me that everybody was having a great time. Up until then I really didn’t know that people were enjoying it.”

As for Farman’s favorite memory from years past, he points to an aspect of the Bonnaroo experience that should resonate with everyone who has attended the festival. “Like many of the people who have come here, my great moments are defined by who I was with and the memories of being with those people. The first year, the memory of being up on stage watching this thing unfold during Widespread with my brother and seeing Trey the last night with Jon, Rich, Kerry and Ashley, there was such a sense of accomplishment…I later had an amazing moment with my parents the first year they came…Also, like many cool stories I’ve heard from friends, I fell in love with my wife at the festival. So when I look back, I think about those special times with people who are close to me.”

Such memories may well be evoked by the visual design of Bonnaroo 2016, which incorporates a number of mementos from past years. In this spirit, co-founder Kerry Black reflects, “For our 10th Anniversary, we had Dr. John with the original Meters and Allen Toussaint cover the festival’s namesake record Desitively Bonnaroo. The show was amazing and a defining moment of Bonnaroo to showcase that record in SuperJam style. The craziness continued with a parade leaving from the backstage after that show which included Preservation Hall Jazz Band and members of My Morning Jacket. The parade ended in a remote corner of Centeroo where Portugal. The Man played a surprise late night set from our Mr. T float.”

Superfly’s Robyn Reitzes adds, “My first Bonnaroo was in 2007. I was recently hired by Superfly and having been a long time festivalgoer was incredibly excited to be a part of the team who produced Bonnaroo. I had one of the most fulfilling weekends of my life. It was the hardest I’ve ever worked but the reward at the end of the day was watching 80,000 smiling fans have the best weekend of their lives. I watched The Police headline on Saturday night from the Soundboard and the energy of the crowd singing along to every song was electric. That night I watched a SuperJam with John Paul Jones, Ben Harper, and Questlove and couldn’t believe that I was not only watching this once in a lifetime performance but doing so while working. Now 10 years later The Farm has become my second home. I look forward to the two weeks I spend onsite all year. The Bonnaroo staff is incredibly hard working and humble. Everyone works together and is out to ensure the festival is the best it can be.”

Of course for every Bonnaroo veteran there’s a future Bonnaroo veteran making his or her debut appearance, equally enthusiastic about these few days to come. Arriving on site Wednesday after a 10 hour drive from Pennsylvania was Jen Reynolds. As she exited out of her car, moments after parking, she howled, “Bonnarooooo! I can’t believe I’m finally here! I’ve been thinking about this for months and looking forward to it for years. I’m here with my girls and I can just tell, it’s going to be a new tradition for us.”

Welcome to year 15 of Bonnaroo. Many happy returns.