Do’s and Dont’s of Festival Season – The Torontonian’s Guide To Surviving the Weekend
May 31st, 2016 | Natalie Pereira
After a never-ending morph from winter to spring, the May 2/4 weekend has arrived. Not only does that mean the start of cottage, barbecue, and boating season, but also my favourite of them all – festival season! For those who live under a rock, Toronto is booming with music festivals this summer; ranging in everything from dance music to country. Don’t miss out on Digital Dreams, with headliners like Above & Beyond and Armin Van Buuren, it will definitely be the hottest party of the long weekend. As a festival goer of four years, here are my Do’s and Dont’s of festival season, including some helpful tips.
DO: Check the weather the night before the event. While everyone assumes that festival weekends are full of sunny days and warm nights, Mother Nature likes to keep us on our toes (last year, Digital Dreams and VELD got rained out for a large majority of the weekend). Make sure you keep an eye out on the weather and dress accordingly! VELD has a stacked lineup this year, including headliners Deadmau5 and Kygo, making it bound to be bigger and better than ever.
Pro Tip: If a lil drizzle is expected for the weekend, festivals will be prepared and sell plastic poncho covers for about $10. Don’t be the sucker that drops a bill on a poncho – stop by the dollar store on your way to the event and grab one for under $3.
DON’T: Wait until the last minute to book a hotel! Festivals like Electric Elements, Digital Dreams and VELD fall on long weekends, and hotels know they can boost their prices up. When booking hotels, find a group of friends that you’re willing to spend all weekend with (trust me, you might have to think about this), and look for a location that suits you! Check out AirBnb if you’re looking for an alternative to a hotel.
Pro Tip: Compare hotel prices before you book! Hotels in the heart of Toronto are going for over $300 on busy long weekends, so make sure you do your research! Sometimes, hotel chains like the Sheraton or Hilton offer reward programs (totally free to sign up) that give you cheaper rates than anything else! To make your life easier, I recommend downloading Trivago on your smartphone – it’s an app that compares hotels and prices on the dates you put in.
DO: Plan out what performers you wanna see, so you don’t miss anyone! For anyone that has attended a festival before, we all know how hard it is when two of your favourite artists are playing at the same time, on different stages.
Pro Tip: Festival lineups usually come out within the week before the event, so it gives you time to plan your weekend out. Whenever I attend a festival, I save a picture of the lineup and use it as my phone background, so I can quickly check who’s coming up next.
DON’T: Spend $5 on a water bottle. Booze are ridiculously overpriced at any major music event, so spending over $3 on a bottle of water hurts my heart. There will be food trucks that sell bottles of water, BUT what you didn’t know is that there are water refill stations around the festival grounds! Bring a plastic, reusable water bottle and fell ‘er up!
Pro Tip: Whether you’re going solo, or with a group of friends; someones gonna have to hold a backpack. To keep things light, I recommend grabbing a CamelBak or a collapsible water bottle!
DO: Check the list of things you are and aren’t allowed to have at 
the festival. Over the last two years, festivals have gotten a lot more strict on what they allow people to bring into the events (obviously for people’s safety and enjoyment), so make sure to check the website before you bring a selfie stick and have it confiscated.
Pro Tip: From what I have seen in previous years, balloons on a string are allowed into festivals. People tie the string to their backpack so if they lose their group of friends, it’s easy to find them in the crowd! If you’re the type of person to wander off, bringing a balloon isn’t a bad idea.
DON’T: Suffer from the bank-breaking Uber surges before or after the festival. Uber is awesome, but at their peak times of the day, they increase the price by the demand of people looking for Uber as well. If you wanna avoid the extra cost (along with the hustle and bustle of leaving the venue), leave about 15 minutes before the last set is over!
Pro Tip: Uber sometimes releases codes for all users to redeem for credit off their ride, so keep an eye out online or in your email for them. If you haven’t used Uber before, use my code: ubernaat, to receive a free $25 credit on your first ride.
