We’re preparing ourselves for the end of the 2023 festival season, but we’re making sure to close it out right with a cross-country venture to the Wakaan Festival! It’s once again time to see what’s going on outside of our PNW scene and head to the Ozark Mountains in Arkansas.
Photo Credit: Wakaan
Flying to a Camping Festival
Due to the remoteness of the location of Wakaan Festival, there’s not much choice for lodging besides camping at the festival itself. Tackling the task of flying to a camping festival isn’t the easiest route, but we think it’ll be worth the effort.
We plan to arrive in Fayetteville the day of the pre-party. After a quick stock-up trip at the store it’ll be time to take on the winding mountain roads of the Ozarks. We’ve heard the drive is a long, narrow, and loop-filled road. In an unfamiliar location, we’ll surely want to take our time.
Photo Credit: Adobe Stock
Arrival
We land in the early afternoon on the 27 and have about an hour and a half drive to the venue from the airport in Fayetteville. Gates will open to pre-party ticket holders at 8 a.m. that day. This is a smaller-capacity festival, so we look forward to seeing how the arrival process goes compared to some of the bigger festivals we’ve been to. The event is held at Mulberry Mountain Lodging and Campgrounds, a regular host for music festivals in Arkansas.
Photo Credit: Mulberry Mountain Lodging and Events
When it comes to camping options, there are several. General camping is included with a GA festival ticket, but we chose to upgrade to car camping to help with ease the out-of-state travel process. There’s also a shaded camping upgrade and a couple of different RV upgrades and glamping packages, including ones with electric hook-ups and restroom facilities.
Check out other camping info and FAQs here, and general festival info here. Something worth pointing out is that box trucks are not permitted in any festival campgrounds.
Pre-Party
In hopes that our arrival/camp setup process doesn’t take forever, it’ll be time for pre-party festivities! The set list for the night is immaculate and the perfect kick-off to what we’re sure will be an impeccable weekend.
We’ve got a couple of kick-ass B2Bs on deck: Buku B2B G-Rex and Saka B2B Black Carl! A Hundred Drums will also be playing at the pre-party and we are pumped to be able to party with her.
Photo Credit: Soundcloud
The pre-party also brings us Australian powerhouses Hydraulix and Sippy. We can’t forget the other up-and-comers, Komuz and Xotix.
Our bigger artists of the night are set to be Inzo, and of course, the man himself, Liquid Stranger. As we said, it’s an amazing lineup to kick off the fest!
Day 1-3
The main festival dates are Thursday-Saturday and it’s about to be a huge weekend. This lineup is seriously killer. We cannot contain our craving to see Liquid Stranger in his element at his own fest, but we also get Griz before he hits hiatus! Unreal.
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We’re looking forward to so many artists throughout this fest that the wait for the lineup was certainly worth it. Another big one we can’t miss is LSDream B2B Inzo which is sure to be a one-of-a-kind set. Additionally, Dr. Fresch is throwing a DNB set our way, Mersiv has a downtempo set planned, and there’s a Dirtybird takeover in the works.
But wait, there’s more! So many more of our favorites are up: Ravenscoon, TVBOO, Luzcid, Champagne Drip…we could go on but maybe you get the point, this lineup is insane.
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The countdown begins!
The end of September gets closer and closer and our anticipation for Wakaan has us bursting at the seams! We’ve heard nothing but totally amazing things about this festival. Everyone we’ve met from the PNW who has made the journey says they’ll never miss it. If you love Wakaan, you just have to go.
We hope we see you on the mountain. It’s almost time Wakaan Family!
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