The Ultimate Festival Checklist

I can certainly see the cons of Yetis: they are heavy, way overpriced, and potentially have some name dropping value for gear snobs.

That said, I have one, because my wife and I use coolers every weekend from May to October. The thing i like most about it is that it is repairable.  We have a bunch of old coolers in the attic with broken handles, hinges, and latches that aren't all that useable, especially the ones with broken latches.

i bought the yeti at REI one day when they were having a 20% off sale.  I went in to buy a 60 qt, but it was so heavy and big that it required two people to carry it empty.  Got the 45 at instead.  It works fine but there are now plenty of good alternatives.

Definitely won't be leaving it outside at Lockn.

Good point. Although it may be too heavy to sprout legs and walk away.

I just bought one that was real cheap but I think it may be a knockoff--it says "ITEY" on the side...

I use a series of coolers at things like Lockn. How a cooler lasts is driven by how often it's opened (assuming all are equally chilled before filling and all contents chilled, too). Lots of smaller coolers means better staging and more important, less air space--the primary enemy.

Drinks in one; groceries in another. If I'm doing a lot of cooking I'll split the groceries into two coolers, sorted by the day I will use the contents, so one stays sealed until needed.

I put a layer of newspaper under the top, and use frozen plastic bottles as well as freeze packs.

One cooler--a tall 5 gallon--is filled with ice bottles/packs and topped with dry ice, for ice blocks for the later days.

One cooler with mixers (incl. V-8) and limes that don't have to be cold but make better drinks, and conserve ice, if they are.

It's an unsettled debate whether to drain the cold water from a drink cooler (assuming limited ice supply).

If I'm adding more (warm) beer to the cooler, I'll drain the water first, because the warm beer will suck the life out of the remaining ice.  So I add warm beer and more ice at the same time.  But if I'm not adding more beer, I'll leave the water.  Cold water keeps cold drinks cold plenty long.

I can find plenty of ice there & I don't worry about the cost, it isn't that bad. I like to keep 2 pitcher's full of water in the sun for cleaning up or other things. Have a Coleman 5 day that worked fine thru many a festival. Ain't broke yet so I guess it will make it back to Lockn'.

How much is a bag of ice at the festival?  They are 10lb bags I assume?

They're not $50. I honestly don't remember. they were large, probably 5 bucks, i think 20 lbs.

Sounds like you spent time in the tropics on a primitive island somewhere sometime!

20 pounds for $10 is what I remember.

That's not too bad at all.  I paid $3 for a 10lb bag at the convenience store the other day.  

Is a camp stove a necessity? Or is eating at the site more viable...cause i heard there are many food vendors that have amazing grub!
SO excited! first fest ever! Great vibes on this forum btw