How to Prepare for a 3-Day Festival

How to Prepare for a 3-Day Festival

For the last five years we've been helping people of all outdoor experience levels prepare for attending festivals like the 3rd Annual Freedom Fest in Fence Lake, New Mexico! Between the coordinators we had two very different types of experience with the outdoors, camping, and travel. One of us has always been a nature lover, the other one is used to spending all day at a computer in a climate controlled space. 

One great thing about the coordinators is that they know the land, the energy, and the animals intimately. They've roughed it living out of a tent on the land and created every walkway, trail, driveway, and improvement that you'll experience when you visit Mujeres Valley Fairgrounds. From that experience we bring to you How to Prepare for a 3-Day Festival! Let's get into it!

Where You Going to Sleep?

Your sleeping situation completely depends on you and don't let anyone tell you otherwise, there's no one way is the best way and it might take you a couple festivals to figure out what you prefer.

  1. Find out what the festival you're attending offers:
    Every festival offers different accommodations based on many factors. It's always best to check the festivals official website for details. If you have questions, check the menus for a contact email or forms.
  2. Camping 
    Camping can be an extremely freeing experience even if you don't have any experience! And how you experience camping is uniquely up to you because there are so many ways to camp. You can camp on the forest ground floor or you can camp out of the back of your car. Check our list of recommendations here.  

    If you're interested in camping at the Freedom Festival but don't have a tent, reach out to us in the Contact Form to find out how to secure a tent to be waiting for you here when you arrive. One less thing to worry about! 
  3. In your car
    If you're anything like the coordinators of the event, if you love long roads trips and traveling with your ride or die, camping out in your car is always an option. For the Freedom Fest this would be the least expensive option and this comes with less concern about extreme colds at night because we've moved the date of the festival from April to May.


    What's that mean for you sleeping in the car? That means that the nights in May will be 10-15 degrees warmer than they are in April! So if you're not a fan of the cold, camping in your car this year just got 10-15 degrees easier! Check our list here for some products that can help keep you warm while sleeping in your car.
A local hotel or motel
This option is one that spreads your money out to other parts of the community so it's always encouraged. However, you want to make sure you have a good idea about the hotel or motel you choose and the best way to do that would be to reach out to the event coordinators and see what recommendations they provide. 

For the Freedom Fest, we like to remind people of a couple of points when they're looking for hotels over camping:
  • Hotels are 30 minutes to 1 hour away from the venue
  • Doors close at 8pm everyday and music will likely end around 1 am - 2 am so you'll be driving in the dark to get back to your room
  • Driving in the dark out here means DARK. This venue is 1 hour away from any public street lights and is considered one of the darkest areas of the United States. Please drive while well rested and do not exceed the speed limit. 
  • Driving in the dark out here means you need to watch out for all types of animals on the road which means going the speed limit or slower which will increase your travel time from 30 min - 1 hr to 1 hr - 2 hrs to get to your room.
  • If your BIPOC we recommend reaching out to us directly so we can steer you clear of hotels that are not welcoming to BIPOC or plant medicine.

    How are You Going to Stay Hydrated?

    1. Find out what the festival you're attending offers:
      Most festivals won't offer you any kind of options to stay hydrated other than bringing your own drinks (if they allow outside drinks and food) or purchasing them from vendors. Again, always check the event website and the Frequency Asked Questions to see if there is any information about what they offer. And if you don't see anything then reach out to the event coordinators and ask!

      The Freedom Festival is unique in this way for a couple of reasons. (1) We provide water for drinking and showering (2) We provide this service in a community-focused sustainable way that may require a little more work than just turning on a faucet but we're bringing back "water cooler convos" by creating a community water area for everyone! (3) The water we provide is some of the cleanest mountain water anyone has ever seen! There's no funny smell, no dingy color, and no opportunities for contaminants to get into the water because we are pulling directly from an aquifer that isn't accessible to anyone but locals. This water sparkles blue straight out the ground!
    2. Plan to bring your own water
      Never leave home for any type of trip or event without your own source of water. We recommend having a closed tumbler that can keep your drinks hot and cold, something easy to hold, easy to access and comfortable for you. If you're planning on being actively in nature for an extended period of time we recommend you look into the water backpacks we recommend in our Outdoor & Traveling Essentials list here.  
    3. Bring drinks with electrolytes
      When you get to high altitude venues like Mujeres Valley Fairgrounds you need to expect to that water alone won't be enough to keep you hydrated because most times it's not. Check our list here for some drink infusions and drinks with electrolytes. 

    What's the Food Scene Like?

    1. What does the festival offer?
      Always check the festival website for information about vendors that will be on site.
    2. Is outside food allowed by the venue?
      This is something you can typically find on the event website under the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), registration information or a page dedicated to vendors. 
    3. Plan snacks for the trip to the venue
      Aside from making sure you've got hydrating drinks that you're taking in constantly on the way to a high altitude venue like Mujeres Valley Fairgrounds, packing nutritious snacks like trail mixes, fruits, or veggies with some hummus will make sure you're giving your body nutrition and energy for the festival weekend ahead! Check our Outdoor & Travel Essentials list here for some recommendations.
    4. Put some funds in your budget to support food and drink vendors
      We always encourage setting some money aside to support the food and drink vendors that are there at the event you're attending. Typically these vendors spend upward of $500 just to be at the event you're at and if you're interested in supporting community-based events then you should be supporting as many vendors as you can. 


    What's the Shower Situation?

    1. What does the festival offer?
      By now you should know, always default to checking the event website first. If you know anyone that does website design you know that lots of tedious hours go into creating a great online customer experience.

      One thing I'm excited to share about the 3rd Annual Freedom Fest is that we will now be offering a custom built shower area with solar hot water heaters for the most ideal way to wash the dust and sweat off from the day & settle in for a night full of live music, hot drinks, great community and restful sleep under the stars! Thanks to Diamond Donor, The Hippie Dayz Brew, we are now able to bring you a customized shower area for your enjoyment.
    2. Can you shower off grid?
      Definitely! Again, if the event you're attending allows it. 


      What we can say about the Freedom Festival is that you can always bring your own outdoor privacy tent with with solar heated & gravity powered heaters. Make sure you check our link for the ones we recommend! 

    Have suggestions we can add to improve the blog?! Email us at info@mujeresvalley.com

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