It's been quite a while since I shared with you some of our adventures...
Every year for the last 3 years, we have gone up to Oshkosh, Wisconsin for Lifest! What is Lifest? It is the largest Christian music festival in the country! It is 4 days, 3 nights of non-stop music and it is a trip we look up to every year! This year was definitely a year to remember.
Prepping for Lifest
This year was a little nuts! We went on a 2 week trip out to Oregon and back (check out the different legs of our trip here) and stopped at home for a day to check on the cats and repack before heading to Lifest. We also had just picked up our brand new van (blog here for details) and this was our inaugural trip with it.
So, we stopped at home, unloaded, repacked, checked on our cats, and hit the road. Packing for essentially a weekend away for 3 is pretty simple with our van. We stock up on food and snacks and grab some clothes. We make sure all of our toiletries are filled up and ready to go. Otherwise everything else in already in the van and we don't have to pack anything new.
Oshkosh is only 2 hours away from where we live so it is quite convenient and makes for a quick trip. However, Oshkosh got a lot of rain leading up to Lifest and unfortunately our site was flooded out. BUMMER!! But the staff were great and got us a new site quickly. The only downside was the walking distance from our site into the venue. I think we logged it at just under a half mile walk to the main stage.
Once at Lifest
This was easily the hardest part when you are camping with kids and it's hot and no one wants to walk far. We had to be much more strategic with our meal times and how often we went inside.
You see, music is not the only thing going on at Lifest. There is a vendor village and multiple speaker stages that are going all day long plus artists meet and greets and so on.
My plan each year is to print the schedule and look through the talks and decide which ones I want to attend and which artists I need to see. It makes it a little less confusing when we are there because I can download the app and set reminders for everything but I've already gotten myself familiar with everything beforehand.
If you haven't caught on yet... YES! I am a big planner! I do not like to show up and not know what is going on but anyway...
This year was much different because of the distance we had to walk to get in. It really put a damper on going in and out and I sacrificed a lot of talks I would have loved to go to simply because I didn't want to walk back and forth 10 times a day.
Who Played?
My favorite thing about Lifest is how many artists play there. Events start at 9am with yoga classes, talks, music, prayer walks, 5ks, and so much more. And the event will go until after midnight.
Some key musicians at Lifest included:
We the Kingdom
Newsboys
Social Club Misfits
Katy Nichole
Ryan Stevenson
Riley Clemmons
Ben Fuller
Zach Williams
Ignescent
Disciple
Cochren & Co.
Matt Maher
For King & Country
Flame
The Adventure of the Weekend
While Lifest itself was awesome as always, this year was made even more memorable than all the other years.
Saturday night was going great. We had listened to Cochren & Co, who we absolutely love and have seen a few times and Matt Maher was on stage. We had seen some small-looking storms on the radar coming in but didn't think much of it. Even while he was playing, you could see the lightning in the distance and hear a bit of thunder rumbling but the place remained packed. Did I mention this is an outdoor event?!?
There was a point while Matt Maher was playing and a loud boom of thunder went off overhead but everyone kept going. Then the lightning hit VERY CLOSE and cut the sound off. The coolest thing was the crowd was not going to leave. We were singing along without any music and sending up our worship... it was amazing.
But then the rain came and man! did it come down! My family went under their awning and myself, Rob, Maddie, and a few friends who were with us went under the stands. The radar looked like we were in for 10-15 minutes of a downpour so we planned to wait it out along with hundreds of other Lifest goers. But the rain wasn't letting up.
Rob and Van 2.0 to the Rescue
The lawn was starting to flood and one of the kids in our group was very scared. So, Rob made the choice to run back to our van (remember about a 1/2 mile away) so we could get the kids into a bit of a safer-feeling place.
Let me tell you about this van... Rob told me that when he got to the van, the ground was flooded a few inches and this bada$$ guy just rolled right out of there like nothing. He rolled up and we ran in.
I was able to throw the beds up and out of the way within a minute while Rob drove. We had lights and towels and blankets to calm the kids. We picked up some lost and stranded strangers who were trying to find their vehicle but the rain was coming down so hard they were completely turned around.
Meanwhile, my family was still riding out the storm in their awning in the lawn where we had parked it. And guess what?!? We rolled up and picked up my grandparents, dad, sister, niece, nephew, along with ourselves. Just another reason this van is absolutely awesome and we will never forget Lifest 2024.
The Night Doesn't End There
We got everyone back to our campers and dried off and found ponchos and waited for the rain to stop. We parked the van where we probably shouldn't have (actually we know we shouldn't have but we looked like we belonged!) but I won't tell you where because I can't have Lifest find out ;)
And we waited...
Maddie took a power nap but found her energy around 11pm when For King & Country started to play!
It was memorable!
Maddie and I made a solo trip to Lifest in 2022 and For King & Country had played then too but Maddie couldn't stay up late enough back then and fell alseep on the lawn next to me. This year she got the full experience and her little face of excitement was amazing.
We look forward to Lifest all year long because of the amount of fun we have. I can't properly capture how incredible it really is, you just have to see it for yourself.
My Lifest Tips
Camp at Lifest... it's the only way to properly do it
Pack healthy food: there are food trucks but 4 days of fast food will take a toll on you
Show up prepared and know what you want to go to: I print the schedule the week of and look at the talks and details to know what you want to see
Spend the first day/afternoon walking around and finding everything: there is so much to see and do and you need to know the layout beforehand
Buy your tickets now! The price goes up all year. We bought our tickets during Lifest at the cheapest price they will be all year
Pack a lot of snacks: it really is quite hot and you will need more food than you think
Pack hats, sunglasses, shorts, camp chairs, fans
Be ready to shop in vendor village at Christian-based organizations
Invite your friends and family
Much love & blessings,
Rachael
Comments