The Origin Story
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Caleb Arias
Creator of The Bonnaroo Yearbook
Coachella 2019 - The Idea is Born.
Coachella was my first major music festival and I was intimidated to meet new people, so I asked fellow festival goers,
“Would you like to write something in my book?”
Someone replied, “Oh sure that’s so cute, it’s like your Yearbook!” That stuck with me.
LOLLAPALOOZA 2021
LOLLAPALOOZA 2021
Lollapalooza 2021
Determined to push myself, I set a goal to fill an entire notebook at my next festival. What started as a way to connect with new people, became an exciting tradition of capturing festival connections.
People loved the idea and wanted me to share the pages online. So I did!
When I got home, I took photos of all of the pages and posted them to a dedicated instagram account.
Social media didn’t feel tangible enough.
I wanted to take the Yearbook idea further.
BONNAROO 2023
BONNAROO 2023
Bonnaroo 2023
For Bonnaroo 2023, I committed to my most ambitious yearbook project yet,
The Bonnaroo Yearbook
Over the course of 6 days, I gathered over 1,000 signatures, photographed anyone willing to participate, and created a final printed yearbook full of scans of the original pages, photos, fun facts, superlatives, and even an impromptu camping neighbor engagement shoot! All of this was my first time going solo to a music festival and my first time car camping. It was a lot more work than I realized, but so rewarding!
BONNAROO 2024
BONNAROO 2024
Bonnaroo 2024
I brought my girlfriend with me to Bonnaroo, her first ever festival! While balancing our personal festival experience with creating the yearbook, we captured even more memories, expanded the project, and refined the process. We gave out special pins to signers, got to feature film photography from @iambonnaroo, and I decided to dedicate myself to going to Bonnaroo every year to bring this project to the community.
The yearbook project has found it’s home, Bonnaroo.
Bonnaroo 2025
With over a decade of photography experience, 6 years of going to festivals, and two printed books under my belt, the Bonnaroo Yearbook continued to grow.
I arrived to the farm at 9am on Tuesday ready to experience everything the farm has to offer, but sadly the weather had other plans…
Despite the cancellation, I was still able to gather almost 700 signatures from Tuesday-Friday before leaving on Saturday to go back home.
The Bonnaroo Yearbook 2025 is currently my best work yet!
As seen on The What Podcast!
“What started as a simple icebreaker at music festivals has blossomed into the Bonnaroo Yearbook, a one-of-a-kind community art project created by photographer Caleb Arias. Caleb’s journey began when he brought a journal to his first festival and invited others to sign it. By the time he attended Bonnaroo, he discovered its unparalleled sense of community and decided to publish the Bonnaroo Yearbook to share and celebrate the memories he'd collected. Get your copy of the Bonnaroo Yearbook at https://bonnarooyearbook.com and use promo code THEWHATPODCAST for 50% off! A big thanks to Caleb for joining the show and offering this exclusive discount.”
- The What Podcast