Great Stage Park is the farm in Manchester, Tennessee, that turns into one of Bonnaroo’s biggest draws every June: a self-contained festival city built from scratch on empty farmland. Locals and festival regulars just call it “The Farm,” and for most of the year it looks like nothing more than rolling Coffee County pastureland.
But once a year, this quiet property becomes the home of the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival, drawing tens of thousands of campers, artists, and fans onto a single piece of land that has hosted the festival almost continuously since 2002. Here’s exactly where it is, how big it actually is, and what’s happening with the farm right now.
Quick Answer
Great Stage Park is a farm of roughly 700 acres (Bonnaroo’s own current figure; older references, including Wikipedia, still cite 650 acres) located at 1560 New Bushy Branch Rd, Manchester, Tennessee, in Coffee County — about 65 miles southeast of Nashville, just off Interstate 24 at Exit 111. It has been the home of the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival every June since 2002, though the festival is taking 2027 off to let the property rest and recover from repeated storm damage.
Where Is Bonnaroo Located? (Great Stage Park’s Address)
Great Stage Park sits in Coffee County, Tennessee, roughly 65 miles southeast of downtown Nashville and just outside the small city of Manchester — about a 75-90 minute drive from Nashville International Airport (BNA) depending on traffic. It’s easy to reach from I-24: during festival week, Exit 111 becomes the main entrance, with nearby exits used as overflow routes when traffic backs up. The rest of the year it’s a standard rural exit with little to distinguish it from the farmland around it.
For GPS purposes, the site’s street address is 1560 New Bushy Branch Rd, Manchester, TN 37355, and its coordinates are approximately 35°28′40″N, 86°03′02″W. Bonnaroo’s own event guides note that during the festival itself, following police and staff signage near the site is more reliable than trusting turn-by-turn GPS, since temporary road closures reroute traffic around the venue.
How Many Acres Is Great Stage Park? (Bonnaroo’s Farm Size)
Bonnaroo’s own website describes the property as a 700-acre farm, and that’s the figure most current festival marketing and press use. Older references, including the Wikipedia entry for the venue, list it as 650 acres — the discrepancy likely comes from additional acreage acquired or leased for parking and overflow camping since the festival’s early years. Either way, it’s one of the largest privately held festival grounds in the country.
Only a small fraction of that acreage is developed. The permanent footprint includes the What Stage amphitheater structure, a large fountain, bathhouses, and a barn. Everything else — the Which Stage, That Tent, This Tent, The Other Stage, vendor rows, and the sprawling campgrounds where most attendees sleep for four nights — is built temporarily each spring and torn down after the festival. Ahead of the 2026 edition, organizers invested heavily in the land itself, laying roughly 135 acres of new grass and 4.5 miles of new roadways and improving drainage across the campgrounds and Centeroo — a scale of work only possible on a property this large.
History & Founding
Bonnaroo was founded in 2002 by Ashley Capps, Superfly (including co-founder Jonathan Mayers), Coran Capshaw, and Chip Hooper, who chose this stretch of Coffee County farmland to host a genre-spanning music festival built around camping and community rather than a single-day concert format. Rolling Stone later cited Bonnaroo’s launch among the moments that reshaped the modern rock festival, and the site remained the festival’s permanent home every summer for over two decades.
That run hit turbulence recently. Jonathan Mayers died in June 2025 at age 51, just days before that year’s festival was cut short after only one night due to severe storms. The 2026 festival went ahead as planned on June 11-14 despite the storm-resilience upgrades being put to the test by more heavy rain, and in August 2026 Bonnaroo announced it would not return in 2027 — giving Great Stage Park a full year to rest and undergo land restoration after back-to-back storm-damaged seasons.
The Festival Experience
During festival years, the park’s “Centeroo” area comes alive with the What Stage, Which Stage, That Tent, This Tent, and The Other Stage, hosting everything from indie rock and jazz to bluegrass, country, gospel, reggae, and electronic music. The What Stage alone has drawn crowds as large as 80,000, and campground stages like “Where in the Woods” have added late-night electronic sets since 2018.
Outside festival week, Great Stage Park reverts to open farmland, with only its handful of permanent structures — bathrooms, the barn, the fountain, and the What Stage shell — remaining on site. That contrast between empty pastureland most of the year and a packed festival city each June is central to what makes Bonnaroo a campout experience rather than a typical day-trip concert.
Visiting Great Stage Park & Getting Bonnaroo Tickets
Great Stage Park isn’t open to the public outside of scheduled events — there are no regular visiting hours, since the site functions as working farmland most of the year. Access is tied entirely to festival dates, and Bonnaroo tickets typically go on sale months in advance in tiers (general admission, GA+, VIP, and camping add-ons) that sell out as the date approaches.
For confirmed dates, current ticket tiers, camping options, and any weather or entry updates — including news on when the festival will return after its 2027 hiatus — check the official Bonnaroo site directly rather than relying on GPS or third-party resellers, since gate policies and road access around the farm change from year to year.
Other Events at Great Stage Park
Bonnaroo isn’t the only thing the property has hosted. In October 2019, Great Stage Park held the Exit 111 rock festival, proving that its infrastructure — power, water, roads, and camping capacity — can support large-scale music events beyond Bonnaroo itself. Even so, Bonnaroo remains the site’s defining event and the reason most people have heard of the farm at all.
bonnaroo farm location and acreage FAQs
Where is Bonnaroo located?
Bonnaroo takes place at Great Stage Park, 1560 New Bushy Branch Rd, Manchester, Tennessee, in Coffee County — about 65 miles southeast of Nashville, just off I-24 at Exit 111.
Where exactly is Great Stage Park?
Great Stage Park is the official name of the farm that hosts Bonnaroo, located just outside Manchester, TN in Coffee County, roughly a 75-90 minute drive southeast of Nashville.
How many acres is Bonnaroo?
Bonnaroo’s own site lists Great Stage Park at 700 acres. Older sources, including Wikipedia, cite 650 acres — the gap likely reflects additional land added for parking and overflow camping over the years.
How far is Great Stage Park from Nashville?
About 65 miles southeast of downtown Nashville, roughly a 75-90 minute drive via I-24, depending on traffic and festival-week congestion.
Is Bonnaroo happening in 2027?
No. Bonnaroo announced in August 2026 that it will not hold a festival in 2027, giving Great Stage Park a year off to rest and recover from repeated storm damage in recent seasons.
Can you visit Great Stage Park when Bonnaroo isn’t happening?
No — it’s a working farm with no public visiting hours. The only time the public can access the property is during scheduled events like Bonnaroo.
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