The Allman Brothers Band

3 Days of Partying and Music

By: Rita Bauer
For The Tullahoma News

They came from New York, Missouri, Wisconsin, Texas, Illinois, and every-where in between, and looking at them made a person feel like they were back in the ’60’s. They came for three days of music this Friday through Sunday at the Sam McAllister farm off Brushy Branch Road near Man-chester.

About 80,000, 20,000 more than came last year to the first Bonnaroo music festival, camped on the grounds in trucks, tents and RV’s, and took in at least 60 musical acts that per-formed on five huge festival stages. They paid $140 for a ticket to hear scheduled acts such as James Brown, The Dead, Emmy Lou Harris, The Allman Brothers Band and much, much, more.

Security seemed more than efficient for crowd control throughout the weekend.

Area law enforcement agencies, including the Coffee County Sheriff’s Department and Manchester and Tullahoma Police De-partments, assisted private security officials. There were even security officers patrolling the grounds on horseback, provided by Alpha and Omega Services of South Lake, Texas.

“We serve as a good visual aid deterrent. We are so highly visible on the horses,” an officer said.

There were 60 security officers on horseback at the festival. No major incidents were reported Saturday, Bonnaroo staff spokesper-son Tina Thompson said.

“Actually, it’s been go-ing very smooth, especially considering that there are so many people here.

“It’s been the greatest group of people. I was up at the traffic gate and these people had been waiting three-to-four hours to get in and they still had a smile on their face,” she said.

There were a lot of smiles at the festival and most fans commented that the problems with traffic lines were worth it.

Besides the music, they shopped for clothing, sun-glasses, jewelry and art-work, most befitting that 1960’s style.

When asked if they’ll come again next year, they all said “yes”.

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