Living The Good Life: Inside Electric Forest’s Premier Campground

Dank port-a-potties, cold showers, sweltering tents, annoying AF loud partiers at 4 a.m. — these are some of the common perils of festival camping. At festivals that feature music until sunrise — both inside the venue or at renegade parties scattered throughout the site — fans can lay awake at all hours. Enter Electric Forest’s Good Life campgrounds, where attendees can escape the misery of festival camping. Here they are distanced from the later stages that go into the early hours of the morning, and can even enjoy electricity and air conditioning. The festival — which took place June 20-23 in Rothbury, Michigan, at Double JJ Resort with a lineup featuring Pretty Lights, Subtronics, John Summit and more — presents them with a concierge service available at various tents within their campgrounds who can offer bug spray, sunscreen, waters and more, as well as provide information about the festival itself. The campgrounds present the good life, indeed.

Camping for Good Life starts at $975 for tent-only options, while A/C Landing pre-set tents run at $2,990 plus fees for two people. The most expensive option for the Good Life Back 40 Log Home runs at $13,950 for 10 people and includes five vehicle passes.

Brad Nagle has been running the Good Life campground for the last few years with AC Landing, a section of the grounds that in- cludes tents fitted with queen and twin beds, as well as electricity and air conditioning, which made its debut at the festival
in 2022. He works alongside Anna Wismer, who oversees the Good Life village and amenities in that section of the campground (which also includes a brunch place and sev- eral food vendors, official merchandise and

vendors selling clothing and festival fashion). “Good Life was set up a few years ago,” Nagle says. “The reason it makes sense for it to be [on the other side of the festival grounds] has a lot to do with maintaining the exclusive experience. We have six pods of comfort stations and showers and that sort of thing. There’s very low worry about people who haven’t paid for those amenities to be able to sneak in. Really, my favorite thing about being on the other side of the camp- ground is maintaining exclusivity but it gives easier access. We have a private toll booth, they have their own driving directions, their own road to come up once they get off the highway. One of the biggest things in my years of running VIP programs, one of the biggest selling points for folks is that there’s less people they have to deal with. The lines are shorter.”

The campground itself features eight sec- tions with 11 lodging options, including car camping, powered RVs so that fans can bring in their own RVs and get hooked up to power as well as waste removal; tent camping, AC landing, bungalows that feature four cots, and the Enchanted campground that Nagle calls “our super VIP glamping campground.” Those come with air conditioners and op- tions between a queen or two twin beds, and include private golf carts, private brunch and access to the artist village. Fans can also rent out cabins with two to three bedroom suites, and more.

“We wouldn’t have those lodging options if we weren’t located on the Double J Resort,” Wismer says. “Which is just so amazing to be able to have access to something like staying at a cabin at a music festival. It’s kind of rare and definitely something that city festivals have never experienced. We’re giving them lots of different options, but that’s also because of where we’re located, which is so special and unique.”

Putting together the campground areas takes several weeks, with the restrooms being brought in and hooked up and the 900 or so tents taking several weeks to pop up and build out. The team will go in and get the beds made, sweep each tent out and prepare for arrival the day before fans are allowed through the festival gates, and they’ll put locks on each one of them so attendees don’t need to worry about their items getting stolen while they enjoy all the festival has to offer. The marketplace takes between two to three weeks to set up, Wismer coordinating with different vendors.

“We are listening to what [fans] have to say throughout the year, and really trying to create an immersive experience before they ever even dip a toe into the venue,” Wismer says. “That’s always our goal, that they’re still impressed with their experience right as they walk outside of their campsite before they even get into the venue.”

Though this year’s festival was struck with heavy rainstorms and lightning, the tents pro- vided by Good Life continued to hold up.

“Safety is our number one priority,” Nagle says. “We use quality vendors. The folks that set up the marketplace and the eatery tents, they have a quality product. Their tents are engineered to be able to withstand [bad] weather. They’re set up
by professionals. And the same goes to our glamping tents. It’s a top-notch team of individuals who come in and build the tents. They are specifically designed to be able to withstand rain and wind. It’s one of my favorite things about Electric Forest — we’re encouraged by the festival to use quality vendors to make sure we’re not cutting corners on that sort of thing.”