This week’s installment of our Back to Bonnaroo series, which we’re running in conjunction with the tenth year of the festival, takes us back to April of 2002. At that point, two months before the very first Bonnaroo, Superfly Productions partner Rick Farman answered some reader questions about the forthcoming fest.

‘First off, what about the name itself, how did you come up with that?’- Stephanie L.

We wanted to pick something that was tied into music in some way. We also were looking for a name that was not in the lexicon. We really wanted a name that was distinct, one where people would hear it years from now and know exactly what it was about. We thought we could introduce that word into the language, sort of like Lollapalooza, a word that no one knew before and now everybody identifies with that event.

So we wanted something with a musical tie-in and being from New Orleans, we also thought it would be cool to have something from our roots. So we were online, thinking about music and New Orleans and up popped the Dr. John album Desitively Bonnaroo. It was my partner Jonathan [Mayer] who really made that connection. Bonnaroo sounded like a cool name and its a great album too, the Meters backing Dr. John with Allen Toussaint producing. Its really a killer album.

The term itself is a slang term in Creole. It means really, really good stuff.

So is Dr. John going to come out and play?

Were talking to him, it’s possible.

As far as I know you’ve never hosted an event like this before. Are you ready for all these people and what they will bring to bear?- David P.

Well the first thing that I think is important to let everybody know is that we have an extremely experienced and professional crew behind this event. I know many people know Superfly from the events we’ve done at Jazz Fest and other things. And I know people know AC for the events he’s done. But what I really wish to emphasize is that we have hired the best people in the camping festival business to help us put on this event. We have a lot of experience between AC and us in putting on concerts and concert promotion but we certainly understand that our experience is limited in putting on an event of this size.

Our basic plan has been to make the learning curve zero. Most of the people that we’ve hired were also key players in putting on the big Phish events- everything from our project manager, site coordinator, vending consultant, production manager, parking company, business manager, the head of security and the different security companies that were hiring. Were going to have Clean Vibes out there, which I think people know through many events, including the big Phish events. So in terms of the quality of the people putting on the event and the quality of the facilities, its really going to be top notch.

What if it rains, will you be forced to shut down the music? Dawn H.

It’s a rain or shine event. Just like all rain or shine events if there’s a complete downpour I’m sure there will be times when certain bands can’t go on but its just the same as any rain or shine festival, no different.

When will the music start and how late will it go? David G.

Still being determined. The music will probably start in the late morning and go until midnight and the late night tents will start after that.

Will the late night tent costs extra? Michael P.

No. We wanted the ticket price to be an all-inclusive thing,. There are no fees for parking either, just come and enjoy everything.

How do you plan on handling all that traffic. I know that some people are fearful about sitting in traffic for twelve, thirteen hours outside the venue. Jay G.

Right now a plan is being worked on in conjunction with local authorities to maximize the existing roadways that we have coming into the venue. When there are particular traffic surges there may be back ups. However, because the property is very close to the highway, we feel that were going to be able to create a pretty constant flow of vehicles into the venue.

Were also putting a lot of resources into processing people effectively. Well have the maximum amount of toll booth stations that the property will allow which is a pretty healthy amount. Were also putting a lot of resources into having really experienced and well-staffed parking crews. The fortunate thing is that the local officials have been very cooperative so far. They really want to make this run as smoothly as possible which is a big plus. We certainly are aware of people’s concerns and we share those concerns because we want people to get into the venue and start having a good time as soon as possible. We encourage people to get there early though. There’s no doubt about it, there’s a lot of people going to one place and we hope people get there early so they can go in and get situated.

Will there be any special design aspects to the event like there were at say Big Cyprus? Meg H.

We are going to be working with a gentleman named Russ Bennett. He was the visual design coordinator for a lot of the big Phish events as well as a lot of Ben & Jerry stuff. He is absolutely going to be putting together a great look and feel for the festival. The interesting thing about Russ is that while he is an artist who comes at it from the fan perspective, he’s also very in tune with the production guys and the security guys and understands what it is they have to do. We’re definitely looking for Bonnaroo to have a complete vibe to it.

How is the town reacting to Bonnaroo? Joe F.

By all indications the town has been extremely cooperative and excited about having the event there. In fact, many of our consultants feel the town has been more accepting of this event than any one they’ve worked on before. All the political officials and law enforcement officials have really embraced the concept of having an event there.