Finding love on the farm

The House of MatROOmony hosted several weddings on the farm this year. (Source: WKRN)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — When most people travel to Manchester for the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival, they expect to hear music, dance until sunrise and experience a different life than the one they lead in “real life.”

They don’t often visit Bonnaroo in search of love.

Bonnaroo may be an unusual place to meet the love of your life or fall in love with an old friend, but at the Farm, that’s exactly what happens every year.

Madison and Bo Cox have been coming to Bonnaroo for over a decade. The Nashville couple said they have been friends for years, but something about the music and overall festival vibe changed their relationship a few years ago.

Madison told News 2 that she and Bo got engaged in 2017 and married the following year. Every summer, the two drive down I-24 to Manchester to attend another Bonnaroo together. This year marked Bo’s 15th and Madison’s 14th participation in the festival.

The performing artists also find great love at Bonnaroo.

49 Winchester bassist Chase Chafin told News 2 that he met his longtime partner Brandi Cox at Bonnaroo in 2016. Chafin was working for the security company that contracted with Bonnaroo at the time. He and Brandi were both working valet that year, and the two bonded over their shared experience.

“We hit it off right away and a month later we just knew it was the right thing,” he told News 2. “We didn’t even really go on a date where we decided we were a couple. It just made sense. It was just: there it was.”

Bonnaroo holds a special place in the hearts of Zach and Kayla Moore, who met through Bonnaroo and decided to make it a part of their wedding. The couple held hands in front of the iconic Bonnaroo fountain in 2017 to pledge their love for each other forever. They then celebrated by playing in the water hand-in-hand.

Love has become so commonplace at Bonnaroo that the festival has its own chapel on the grounds in the barn at Centeroo – The House of MatROOmony. Each day of the festival, couples wishing to marry could attend wedding ceremonies in the barn. Ceremony leaders included drag queens and surprise celebrity guests such as band members from GWAR, who were legally authorized to perform weddings in Tennessee. Each year, Bonnaroo accepts applications for couples wishing to tie the knot at Bonnaroo and selects several to be invited to be pronounced husband and wife on the farm.