By: Ellie Salrin

Yep boys and girls, it’s festival season! Ready for warm weather, camping, epic music, debauchery, and dancing until the sun comes up? Indeed festie time has arrived...but I’m not here to talk about just any festival. I’m here to get you ready for one that should be at the top of your list. Waka, baby.

Wakarusa Music Festival is gearing up for its 11th installment and with the lineup out in the open and circulating in our community of music lovers, it’s clear the fest is only going up from here.

This June 5-8, Mulberry Mountain in Ozark, Arkansas will be invaded by the likes of String Cheese Incident, Bassnectar, The Flaming Lips, STS9, Umphrey’s McGee, Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Infected Mushroom, Adventure Club, EOTO, Papadosio, Cherub, Boombox, Minnesota, The Floozies, Rusko, Random Rab, Wick-It The Instigator, Govinda, Ott ...and that’s just to name a few.

Tickets

In order to get into the festival, you must have an Event Pass per person and a Camping Pass per vehicle. Event Passes include all concerts (late night as well) and scheduled activities. You can scoop two, three, or four day passes (ranging from $109-$204). Camping Passes include camping at your car in specified campgrounds and there are three available options. Riverside Camping is $39, is three miles from the venue and includes free shuttles back and forth. Unfortunately, all the other camping passes are sold out.

VIP it up...With the VIP tickets, you do not need a camping pass, as VIP camping is included in the ticket cost. Passes are currently $705 and include full event pass, meals, beverages, premier viewing areas, and more. RV passses are sold out in VIP and the Main Venue camping areas but are available in Riverside camping and are $199. Wakarusa’s website has a travel page that is integrated so you can arrange your tickets, flights, car, rentals, etc. so utilize this to help you plan.

You have until May 7th to enter to win a pair of event passes from The Untz!

Experience

You’ll meander through the brightly colored displays in the treetops, through live painters, and eye-opening visual and interactive art installations. To help guide your musical experience, The Untz is proud to bring you Interstellar Meltdown - a festival within a festival featuring the best in electronic music at Wakarusa. Check it out for artist, musician, and stage info.

Who's on TheUntz.com's Satellite Stage? Only a few of our favorite artists in the world, including Ott, Jay Fay, Buku, Wick-it The Instigator, ill-esha, Freddy Todd, Thriftworks, Phutureprimitive, HeRobust, Manic Focus, Alvin Risk, The Floozies, The Untz Challenge winner Filibusta and so many more.

Plan your festival wisely, because there are so many great acts for you to see. Head on over to the schedule to make sure you're in the know.

And above all, experience the good vibes. The positive experience of this festival was enough for many to overcome the “swamparusa” of last year caused by major storms which left its attendees knee-deep in muck. Despite the nasty conditions, good times and fun were had by all who went according to my comrades.

Waka is known for its diverse lineup of cutting edge artists and this year is no exception. From rock, bluegrass, funk, reggae, to countless spectrums of bass, electro, and jamtronica, it’s safe to say any music lover will be covered. I doubt there’s one person who knows every artist on the roster, giving each attendee the opportunity to find someone new to listen to when they leave the mountain.

This is and will always be a festival created by music lovers. As they say on their site, “‘Wakarusa’ is a word derived from Native American culture that means ‘ass-deep’. Of course, back then this described the depth of a river. Now, in its 11th year, we have come to know Wakarusa as a way to define the depth of an experience.” So let’s dive ass-deep into our own musical adventure this June. Waka Waka!