This was my third time to Electric Forest and it did not disappoint. Forest continues to be one of my favorite music festivals and it's unlike any other. The vibes at Forest are what makes the difference -- everyone loves to give you a "happy forest!" as a greeting, but it's not just that. The organizers (dubbed "HQ") set out to make sure everyone has a good time. There is countless staff in the forest encouraging the PLUR culture and this year, they had random giveaways where a few select people would get a wooden key. If your number was called, you got a special invite to do something extra such as a pizza party, access to a secret stage, or tickets for next year -- but almost all of them involved finding a stranger who you didn't know to share the prize with them. Folks already go out of their way to make you feel welcome. I saw some folks on the forums who were disappointed that they didn't get any gifts this year, but I came to a realization this year that it's not about what you're getting...it's about what you're giving. I made it a goal to make newcomers and strangers alike feel extra welcome and to give them gifts. I did get a few cool things as well, but it wasn't a transactional thing where I gave someone something and expected something in return. I think that made all the difference.

This year, it was Harris (as always) and my friend Andrew Richardson, who had done some smaller festivals but never something as big as Forest. We picked up our RV from Cruise America in Grand Rapids on Wednesday, stopped at Meijer for supplies and Culver's for lunch, then headed to Rothbury. As we were waiting in line to pull into our spot on the grass, a person came up to our RV and introduced himself as our future neighbor. They had a few tents in addition to their RV and wanted to know if we could share our space. They wound up being awesome neighbors and we played some card games and drinking games with them throughout the weekend.

We got a good bit of rain on Wednesday -- ok, it was a downpour -- but we braved it to attend the traditional Great Bingo Revival at the Brainery on Wednesday night. Before that, I also attended a special preview guided tour of the art installations in the forest with one of the original crew who had been there since the very first Rothbury Art and Music Festivals. He walked us around the forest and gave us the story about each art piece, more about the artist, and the history of the piece. It was super cool! We also got a nice high-ves vest that we got to keep!

On Thursday, I wore my new flower shirt from iHeartRaves and got a ton of compliments on it. It was perfect for the forest vibes! Started the weekend with Dixon's Violin at The Observatory stage. I went to the Dream Emporium alone while Harris and Andrew did wine tasting and it was really cool checking it out solo. Afterwards, we all went to the Carousel Club to check out a band we had never heard of, but had done an AMA on Reddit a couple days before called Evening Elephants. They turned out to be super awesome and one of my favorite sets of the weekend. The lead singer kept being surprised at the crowd and attributing it to the fact that it was pouring rain and that was one of the only covered stages, but we all had a great time.

Other highlights included Vintage Culture, Justice, and Sara Landry. Also heard a great duo by just wondering by the Grand Artique called Haute and Freddy.