NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Among the thousands of people gathered around a stage or a tent at Bonnaroo, you’ll also spot special pieces of art carried by some Bonnaroovians as a way to spot friends in the crowd.
Totems are as synonymous with festival culture as the music itself, and they get more and more creative every year at Bonnaroo. Totems are largely used by those in larger “groops” at Bonnaroo. The larger the group, the harder it is to keep everyone at the same place at the same time. By making a totem, groups have an easy-to-locate landmark that can be used as a guidepost among the throngs of people.
Each year at the festival, you can find bountiful displays of creativity and meme culture in the form of totems. In years past, totems have been as simple as pool noodles or as elaborate as lighted jellyfish made with papier-mâché, battery packs and fur.
Regular household objects can also be made into a group’s North Star.
Lennon Terry, Stephanie Robins and Montgomery Sprague from Raleigh, North Carolina turned a broom into a confounding totem. They attached a sign with the word “MOP” onto both sides of the standard broom, added some string lights, and set about confusing every person who asked about it.
“When people say, ‘Hey, nice mop,’ we turn around and say, ‘Uh, it’s actually a broom,'” Terry told News 2.
The opposite is also true for Terry’s group. Should a fellow Bonnaroovian try to inform them their “mop” is actually a broom,” they pointed to the sign and affirmed it was indeed “MOP.”
One of the more elaborate totems spotted on The Farm this year was created by Mark Todd, who traveled to ‘Roo from Georgia. His totem was a working cardboard gumball machine that spit out small prizes he gave away to fellow Bonnaroovians.
He told News 2 that his goal for Bonnaroo 2024 was to have an interactive totem and he loved creating the post. Todd said he crafted the overall gumball machine shape and a small ramp that circled around his totem pole, passing by several Bonnaroo landmarks, including the Arch, What stage, the Centeroo sign and the Outeroo venue Where In The Woods.
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In order to receive a prize out of the machine, Todd challenged Bonnaroovians to a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors. If they won, they got to turn the dial on the machine and receive a prize.
Totems frequently revolve around inside jokes among “Groops,” but they can also be as simple as an appreciated meme.
Kirsten Rigby and Matias Alvarez of Indiana told News 2 that they chose an image of SpongeBob SquarePants dancing in a marching band uniform. They decided that would be their totem because they simply liked the show and felt that iteration of SpongeBob was fitting for the general vibe of Bonnaroo.
Squarepants took about two hours to print and construct, according to Rigby, but he was a crowd pleaser.
Abbey Cobb brought a supersized image of her father’s high school senior photo as her totem in 2024. She said that her group wanted to pay tribute to him as he drove them all the way to Tennessee from Maryland for Bonnaroo this year.
Jenna Gallegos from Wichita, Kansas, brought her fur baby Piper with her as her totem. Pets aren’t allowed on the Bonnaroo grounds—only service animals—so Gallegos decided to make her dog her totem as a way to bring her to the party even when she can’t physically be with her.
“She can’t come, so this is the next best thing,” she told News 2.
Russ Cooper and Clari Moldonado, of Knoxville, Tennessee brought a two-sided totem related to a word scramble moment of Moldonado’s, they told News 2.
The newly-engaged couple recently moved into a new home, Moldonado said. When they arrived in their new neighborhood, she told News 2 she wanted to befriend the crows in the area, as they can be helpful for pest control. But when the words came out, she said she wanted to “encourage crows.” The pair found the phrase funny, so they decided to make it their totem for Bonnaroo 2024.
This year, Bonnaroo even hosted its own totem-making workshop Friday, June 14, in The Academy at Planet Roo for attendees who ran out of time to create their own totem before the festival began.
That workshop is where Summertown’s Peter Broderick created his giant squid totem. His festival persona, Squid Rock, necessitated a totem of equal gravitas, he told News 2. A friend of his found a large plush squid toy that matched the squid hat he has worn at every festival he’s attended, and he used it as the centerpiece of his brand new totem. Utilizing the toy, a lampshade, some supporting pieces of PVC pipe and duct tape, Broderick created a certain conversation-starter. As of Sunday, the giant squid still lacked a name, but he said that he was open to suggestions.
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Some totems carry even deeper meanings to those who bring them to the festival.
Daniel Gwozdz and his son, Matrix, are second- and third-generation firefighters in Vermont. When they decided to come to Bonnaroo, they also opted to create a firefighter-themed totem as a way to find each other in the crowds should they be separated. A toy firetruck with extra red LED lights underneath gave the totem a firefighting feel.
