Bonnaroo has announced it will hold its 2026 edition from June 11-14 and revealed a list of changes for next year’s festival. The updates are designed to mitigate the potential for flooding that the event experienced in 2025, forcing its cancellation.
An announcement made Thursday (July 17) on social media notes that after sending out an attendee survey, “we’ve been taking your feedback to heart over the past few weeks as we plan improvements and talk about what’s next for the festival.”
These changes include discontinuing the use of campsites located in the areas of the festival that were most affected by flooding last month, a development that will necessitate a reduction in capacity next year. Additionally, camping entry and programming in the festival’s Outeroo area will begin on the Wednesday of the fest, later than in previous years.
Stages within the main festival site, called Centeroo, will only be fully programmed Friday through Sunday. This eliminates the event’s traditional Thursday performances, although there will be a Thursday night “welcome party” on the What Stage.
After traditionally being located in the “Outeroo” camping area, the Where in the Woods UFO Stage will be moved to Centeroo. The stage will feature DJ sets and late-night parties and replace the Infinity Stage, which will not return after debuting at the event last month. Finally, organizers say that “Centeroo and the caliber of artists you expect from us will remain very similar to previous years.”
The statement continues that after the festival was cancelled in 2021 due to Hurricane Ida, the fest undertook “a multi-million dollar, multi-year plan,” developed in conjunction with drainage and land management experts, to improve conditions on the site (traditionally referred to as “The Farm”) in the case of heavy rain. The festival says that in the current off-season, it will dedicate millions more dollars to “initiating improvements that prioritize the campgrounds and other areas affected by the extreme weather in 2025.” These projects will include reseeding the property, increasing access roads within the campgrounds, adding additional drainage and reinforcing primary water runoff pathways.
Bonnaroo 2025 was cancelled on its second day (Friday, June 13) as heavy rains caused severe flooding to the site and the forecast predicted continued heavy precipitation that, the festival advised in its cancellation statement, “will produce deteriorating camping and egress conditions in the coming days.”
In the latest statement, organizers note that “weather experts have confirmed that we saw record-setting rainfall this spring and early summer, making what we experienced extremely uncommon. All things considered, our traditional June time frame remains the most optimal time of year for Bonnaroo.”
