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 361 days a year it looks like nothing more than rolling Coffee County pastureland.
But once a year, this quiet property becomes the permanent 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 continuously since 2002. Here’s exactly where it is, how big it actually is, and what’s there when the crowds go home.
Quick Answer
Great Stage Park is a farm of roughly 700 acres (Bonnaroo’s own figure; older references, including Wikipedia, 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 year-round site of the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival every June since 2002.
Where Is Great Stage Park? (Bonnaroo’s Location)
Great Stage Park sits in Coffee County, Tennessee, roughly 65 miles southeast of downtown Nashville and just outside the small city of Manchester. It’s easy to reach from I-24: during festival week, Exit 111 becomes the main entrance, with Exits 105, 117, and 127 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 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, which is why the size of the property matters so much: it has to hold not just stages, but an entire temporary city of tents, RVs, and infrastructure.
History & Founding
Bonnaroo was founded in 2002 by Ashley Capps, Superfly, 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 has remained the festival’s permanent home for over two decades.
Attendance has fluctuated over the years, from a peak near 100,000 in 2012 to smaller crowds more recently, but Great Stage Park itself hasn’t changed hosts — every edition of Bonnaroo since 2002 has taken place on this same farm.
The Festival Experience
For four days every June, 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, 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.
Great Stage Park 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.
How many acres is Bonnaroo?
Bonnaroo’s own site lists Great Stage Park at 700 acres. Some older sources, including Wikipedia, cite 650 acres; the exact figure has varied slightly as the property’s use has expanded over the years.
What is Great Stage Park known for?
Great Stage Park is best known as the permanent home of the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival, held every June since 2002 in Manchester, Tennessee.
Is Great Stage Park open to visit year-round?
No. Outside of Bonnaroo and occasional other events like the 2019 Exit 111 festival, the property is working farmland with no public visiting hours, and only a few permanent structures remain on site.
What’s the GPS address for Bonnaroo’s farm?
The official street address is 1560 New Bushy Branch Rd, Manchester, TN 37355. During the festival, following posted signage and staff directions near the venue is more reliable than GPS, since roads are temporarily rerouted.
How do you get to Great Stage Park by car?
Most visitors take Interstate 24 to Exit 111, which serves as Bonnaroo’s main festival entrance; Exits 105, 117, and 127 are used as overflow routes when traffic is heavy.
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