Let's hear it for Free Tarpin'!

[Kaptain Karlos]

.. Speaking of 'free tarpin' ', and tarpage in general, IS there a size limit for the tarps this year?  I recall a few 20 x 20 and even possibly larger tarps last year.  Granted, they were usually occupied by plenty of folks, but, as far as claiming real-estate at the tarp runs, I think I'd find it a bit unfair/inconsiderate if some folks have a tarp twice the size of the 'norm'.  Just my 1/50th of a dollars worth.

Kevin

I think The Planet allows each festival-goer to bring in a 6x6 or 8x8 tarp.  This policy is not enforced.  What most groups do is figure-out how many people can fit on the official tarp size and then bring in a tarp proportional in size to the number of people they need to accomodate... that's what we do... and we've got a big tarp!  I've seen monsterous tarps rolled-out during the TBF tarp-run.  There's a video of the TBF tarp-run somewhere on The Planet's website.  You should check it out.  Remember... at PB festivals, goers can sit anywhere there is an open spot or chair and then give back the spot or chair to it's rightful owner.  In most cases, the folks who lay down the big tarps are willing to share any extra space with others... unless they stink or are vocally obnoxious.  Tarp size is still a grey area that we festival goers have to deal with on our own.  That's part of the Planet Bluegrass festival experience... and it encourages us to be flexible, accomodating, and considerate people... at least while we're at the festival.  That's my 2 cents worth... hope it helps.

Kaptain Karlos 

[Hooch]

Free tarpers are always welcome in the republic if Utarpia (now 9 tarps in size and growing).  We are located at approximately 37 degrees 56' 00.17" N by 107 degrees 48' 25.18" W at an elevation of 8797 feet above sea level (according to Google Earth). 

Holy S Hooch !!!!!!!!!!
good thing I have Gps on my Blackberry ......
wait i know were your Tent Is

Ron, if you come to my tent you'd better be carrying bacon!  Or home brew.  Or any type of drink really.  I may be easy but I'm not cheap!  Or maybe the reverse. 

[JoeDunlap]

Free tarpers are always welcome in the republic if Utarpia (now 9 tarps in size and growing).  We are located at approximately 37 degrees 56' 00.17" N by 107 degrees 48' 25.18" W at an elevation of 8797 feet above sea level (according to Google Earth). 

Holy S Hooch !!!!!!!!!!
good thing I have Gps on my Blackberry ......
wait i know were your Tent Is

Ron, if you come to my tent you'd better be carrying bacon!  Or home brew.  Or any type of drink really.  I may be easy but I'm not cheap!  Or maybe the reverse. 

Sounds like there's gonna be some late night smokey-bacon action here at Town Park.
How did this tarpin' topic turn so dirty?

[bluegrass bill]

as long as I have enough room for me and my crew [7] I don't really care how many festivarians we can pack on my 50`x50` tarp

[Cindy Lou]

Keep in mind that as the sun goes down, the crowd packs in, and if you're not at your tarp, you just may not make it back to it.  It's best to get anything you don't want to lose outta there while the sun's still shinin', unless you have to keep it with you cuz you're camped somewhere else or just there for the day and had to carry all your stuff in.  We usually get our chairs and packs and coolers either out of there or at least piled up so we can find them after the show.  Not a lot of room for sitting in front of the sound booth once the sun goes down.

[colokathy]

My only objection to free tarper's is that my self and others have been sleeping out all night and running like hell to set up a spot-then several people sit IN FRONT of you on your tarp doing their FREE TARPIN'thing they do so well.  There need to be some manners that go along with the free tarpin people.  Otherwise, I'm cool with it.

[bouzouki]

that is a variation of how to ask your neighbor to behave.  When the night falls, people do pack in close and stand, there is a lot of movement.  i think it is different during the day when, as a free tarper, I have moved on when people come back to their spot.

[dude]

My only objection to free tarper's is that my self and others have been sleeping out all night and running like hell to set up a spot-then several people sit IN FRONT of you on your tarp doing their FREE TARPIN'thing they do so well.  There need to be some manners that go along with the free tarpin people.  Otherwise, I'm cool with it.

A lack of courtesy certainly could muck up the works and is not very festy. Me, if I were frowned at or just not smiled at, I'd move along. So many tarps with space, so many smiley peoples.....

[ilovethelorax]

My only objection to free tarper's is that my self and others have been sleeping out all night and running like hell to set up a spot-then several people sit IN FRONT of you on your tarp doing their FREE TARPIN'thing they do so well.  There need to be some manners that go along with the free tarpin people.  Otherwise, I'm cool with it.

A lack of courtesy certainly could muck up the works and is not very festy. Me, if I were frowned at or just not smiled at, I'd move along. So many tarps with space, so many smiley peoples.....

and thus the dude abides...

[RockyMtnGuy]

Colokathy, for the record, we (two of us) ALWAYS sit at the very back of tarpage real-estate.  We know that we're a 'guest' of the tarpage, and leave the 'prime real-estate' to the owners.  We're just grateful to have been accepted.  I'd never be so rude as to hog the 'sweet spot'.

/r

  Kevin

[colokathy]

You guys are great.  Wish all free tarper's were as good as you, that's for sure!  Hopefully, through this site and patience from the tarper's, we can help them see the light!  I agree too, once the sun goes down, all is fair game. We pick up all of our stuff including the tarp to give others a fair shot at a great view.  Plus, the bonus of lots of warm bodies helping each other out.  It's a blast.

[dude]

Thinking about it more now, Free Tarpers are part of the natural ecosystem and totally necessary once you open up the field to the whole idea that semi-private tarps can hold your place for an entire day.

Every available inch is covered in tarps, and the "rightful" owners very often do not fully occupy that space by themselves, sometimes not occupying it all for hours and hours.  Without Free Tarpin' rules, every party would be compelled to  place a tarp and there wouldn't be enough space on the field for everyone who wants to be there. PB might need to do away with tarps altogether, or strictly enforce square footage rules, maybe sell a fewer tickets up front or have a much less happy group of campers on the backside since so many would not be able to enjoy the show at all. Some things would be different and not necessarily better.

Free Tarpers: taking up only the space that we need at any given time, enabling the loose tarp policy enjoyed by all, and spreading good cheer. A feature, not a bug. If you pick up a good Free Tarper, let 'em know the love!

[sweetmusic]

This will be our first Telluride Bluegrass festival and we are definitely going to try out free tarping.  I hope we meet nice welcoming folks  and not territorial nasty people  !  Maybe having our teenage and tweenage sons with us will buy us some goodwill.

 Listening to: Live Dead stream on Sirius

[JoeDunlap]

This will be our first Telluride Bluegrass festival and we are definitely going to try out free tarping.  I hope we meet nice welcoming folks  and not territorial nasty people  !  Maybe having our teenage and tweenage sons with us will buy us some goodwill.

Depending on the size of your group, I would recommend possibly bringing a tarp. If your group is bigger that 5 or so, it's kinda hard to free tarp the whole festival without constant moving. My group of close friends were free tarpers for our first couple years and have ended up bringing our own tarp for the past 4 or 5 years. When you have a somewhat larger group to keep together it can get a little frustrating having to squeeze into the corner of someone elses tarp or having to play musical camping-chairs for hours on end.
But I guess it also depends on how much of a people person you are as well. If someone can warm up to you and your bunch pretty quick, you should be fine, for the most part.

[sweetmusic]

We are two adults and older kids (10 &14).  The two grown ups in our group need R and R badly, we burn the candle at both ends all year long and we have had no vacation at all since last summer.  If we have to stay up all night to stay in line every night of the festival in order to enjoy the show, we may as well do something else for our vacation.  So, I am hoping for tolerance all around amongst festival goers. We will be respectful, not sit in front of people or on their laps, and look for those giant tarps with lots of space and friendly appearing folks.