Friday marks the start of the inaugural Bellwether Music Festival in Waynesville, Ohio, located 45 minutes northeast of downtown Cincinnati.
Though this is the event’s first year, the founder’s track record suggests there will be more to come. Cincinnati’s Bill Donabedian is a local music fest legend — he founded the massive Bunbury Music Festival on the riverfront and co-founded the long-running MidPoint Music Festival — so local fest-goers have even more good reason to be excited about this weekend and opportunities for it to continue and grow in the future.
Here are the Bellwether details for those headed out for its first big weekend.
• Waynesville is in Warren County, Ohio. It’s evenly centrally located for Cincy and Dayton fans — even the two area codes used by residents are 513 and 937. It’s a small town — according to the 2010 census, 2,834 people call Waynesville home. The village is also home to an annual sauerkraut festival and the Ohio Renaissance Festival. Bellwether takes place in and around Renaissance Park.
• Waynesville is about 45 miles from Cincinnati, right up I-71 North. Click here for directions. It would take you 15 hours to walk there from CityBeat’s offices (thanks Google Maps), but it’s only a 45-minute drive/ride-sharing trip.
• Though Bellwether’s music begins with Cincinnati indie rockers Carriers on Friday at 2 p.m., the grounds open today (Thursday) at noon for campers (see below). The box office opens today at 4 p.m. Box office hours:
- Thursday, August 9: 4pm-6pm
- Friday, August 10: 11am-10pm
- Saturday, August 11: 11am - 10pm
• Gates to the actual fest grounds open at noon Friday and Saturday.
• Here's the full music lineup and schedule:
FRIDAY, AUG. 10
2:00 PM Carriers Sunrise Stage
3:00 PM Dawg Yawp Sunset Stage
4:00 PM Alex Lahey Sunrise Stage
5:00 PM Bob Schneider Sunset Stage
6:00 PM Whitney Sunrise Stage
7:00 PM Dr. Dog Sunset Stage
8:15 PM Local Natives Sunrise Stage
9:30 PM MGMT Sunset Stage
SATURDAY, AUG. 11
2:00 PM The Cordial Sins Sunrise Stage
3:00 PM Speaking Suns Sunset Stage
4:00 PM Erika Wennerstrom Sunrise Stage
5:00 PM Allah-Las Sunset Stage
6:00 PM Japanese Breakfast Sunrise Stage
7:00 PM The Psychedelic Furs Sunset Stage
8:15 PM Echo & The Bunnymen Sunrise Stage
9:30 PM The Flaming Lips Sunset Stage
• As you can see above, music will run continuously on two stages — the Sunrise Stage and the Sunset Stage, which sit at opposite ends of a field. There’s a 15-minute break between performances — no overlap, so you won’t miss anything. And no bleed-through between the stages. Check out a map of the grounds from bellwetherfest.com below.
• Here is a link to buy all Bellwether tickets. Two-day tickets are currently $112.50 (sales end Friday); single-day passes are $65. There are VIP passes and various camping packages. Speaking of…
• Bellwether is different from Bunbury and MPMF in several ways, most notably in its rural Ohio, not-Cincinnati locale. The location gives Bellwether campability. And “glampability.”
Here are the camping guidelines from bellwetherfest.com:
Campers can start loading-in on Thursday, August 9 at noon. You have until Sunday, August 12 at 11am to load-out.
Basic Camping (up to 6): $140 10'x30' space for up to six (6) people from Thursday through Sunday. There is room for your tent and one (1) car or SUV.
XL Camping (up to 8): $185 20'x30' space for up to eight (8) people from Thursday through Sunday. There is room for your tent and one (1) car or SUV.
Glamping (up to 4): $600 - SOLD OUT 20'x40' space for up to four (4) people from Thursday through Sunday. We provide the tent with four (4) cots and there is room for one (1) car or SUV. It also includes Freshen Up Passes for each of you.
RV Camping (up to 8): $230 ($350 with electric) 25'x40' space for up to eight (8) people from Thursday through Sunday. There is room for one (1) RV. And yes, pop up campers are allowed.
Freshen Up Pass: $50 Access to "Freshen Up Lounge" for one (1) person. Includes showers, restrooms, and complimentary towel.
Overnight Parking Pass (Thursday through Saturday night): $15 Only one (1) vehicle is allowed to park at your campsite. If you have others joining you, they can park in the Overnight Lot for the duration of the festival. Please be sure to have cash on hand. Buy your Overnight Parking Pass ahead of time and save $5.
• Here are the camping amenities:
Bellwether has a general store that sells basic items, various beverages and ice. Hours are Thursday: 12n-1a; Friday: 10a-1a; Saturday: 10a-1a; Sunday: Closed.
The Campers' Village has breakfast, lunch and dinner options. See the mobile app for hours.
Bellwether provides portalets and hand washing stations, but there are no water, sewer, or electric hook ups.
Purchase a Freshen Up Pass to access the "Freshen Up Lounge" for one (1) person. It includes showers, restrooms, and complimentary towel. Hours are Thursday: 12n-12m; Friday: 7a-1p, 6p-12m; Saturday: 7a-1p, 6p-12m; Sunday: 7a-10a.
Bellwether also provides charging stations for mobile phones and devices as well as a WiFi zone in the Camper’s Village.
For RV’s, an onsite servicing vendor will be available for a nominal fee. More information will be provided at check-in.
Find more camping deets here.
• There are several area vendors participating, from the 1572 Road House Bar-B-Q (a Warren County fave) and Eli’s BBQ to Cincy Shirts and Wander & Co., a “social cause retail shop.” Click here for the full vendor rundown.
• There are some cool activities happening at Bellwether outside of the main stage. Tonight campers can watch the great movie Get Out, drive-in style. There are after-parties with live music — Cherry Lee & the Hot Rod Hounds play for campers at 10:30 p.m. tonight; AJ & the Woods and This Pine Box play at 11:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, respectively. Are you a morning-time yoga person? Trisha Durham will lead an hour of it Friday and Saturday morning at 8 a.m. for campers.
• Can I bring fireworks? How about water? Coolers? My cat? My kids? Can I come and go as I please? What if my phone runs out of power? If you have any of these questions, get the answers to them (and many others) here.
• Just going for the camping and yoga and have never heard of any of the bands? You’re weird. Check out music from the Bellwether performers on the fest’s Spotify playlist ahead of time if you don’t want to be surprised.
• You can still sign up to volunteer and be there without buying a ticket.
• There will be t-shirts! Check 'em out here.
• Want all the Bellwether info on your phone without opening a web browser or cut-and-pasting this article into your notes app or screenshotting everying on Bellwether's site. Yes, there's an app for that. On iTunes and Google Play.
• Reminder: This is one of the greatest songs of the 20th century — all genres, eras, decades. If you go to Bellwether, you'll get to hear it performed by the composers, live and in the flesh. You're lucky to be living at a time when that is possible.
• CityBeat is pretty psyched for Bellwether. Read Gregory Gaston's interview with The Flaming Lips' Wayne Coyne here, enthusiastic musings on The Lips and Echo & the Bunnymen here and watch former Ohio musician Erika Wennerstrom's recent music video here. Read this whole thing again here (or, you know, scroll back up.)
