The Chaco Z The World Tour is a summer-long trip with stops at some of the country’s biggest and best outdoor music festivals and events. At each stop a guest blogger will be taking pictures and sharing stories. This week’s guest blogger is Tamia Stinson of thestylesample.com. Follow the tour on Snapchat for live updates and keep scrolling for Berne’s rundown of Bunbury.

I’m probably a little biased as a native Cincinnatian, but Bunbury is one of the best music festivals around. Set on the banks of the Ohio River, the venue–Sawyer Point and Yeatman’s Cove–is actually a park. Not just any park, though. It’s a mile-long panorama boasting several grassy lawns, open-air spaces, award-winning landscaping, historical monuments, and a pavilion. Most of the festival action takes place surrounded by lush greenery, shady trees, and the twisting steps of the Serpentine Wall, which snakes along the river (hence the name) and provides a spot to sit and sun yourself while watching the lucky boaters cruising on the water. The backdrop to all of this beauty is one of the best skylines in the United States. The skyline is so awesome there’s a restaurant named after it!

The way Bunbury is set up, even the way you enter is theatrical: After making your way through ticketing and security (they went cashless this year, so your wristband is uber important), you walk through a grandiose archway adorned with flying pigs, the semi-official mascot of the city that was once known as Porkopolis. As you walk through the arch, the park opens up before you, stimulating your senses: the sounds of live music, the smell of food cooking, and streams of lively people ready to have a good time. The Sawyer Point stage is slightly to the left, next to the Pavilion, surrounded by a sea of green grass filled with folks lounging on blankets or hanging out near the stage watching a live performance. To the right are multiple food stands, and the amount and variety of good eats–from Cincinnati classics like Montgomery Inn Barbecue and Gold Star Chili, to small local eateries like Mazunte Taqueria and Streetpops popsicles–can make it difficult to say no to anything. There’s pizza, there are burgers, there’s stir fry, and it’s all delicious. Trust me, I know. I ate as much as I could.

Wandering further west, the giant statue of Cincinnatus (get where the city got its name?) sits in the center of Craft Beer Village, a hops-lover’s wonderland of booths selling IPAs, pale ales, and all manner of frothy adult beverages to help you beat the heat. Walking along, there are vendors set up along the stone path that winds its way between the fields and the water. There are food trucks, a booth selling official tour merchandise, vendors selling goods and sampling products, and people heading from one stage to the next. The festival incorporates local vendors, too, and I recognized several Cincinnati-based makers selling jewelry, t-shirts, and other local memorabilia.

Speaking of stages, the CVG Riverfront Stage, true to its name, is perched on the bottom ledge of the Serpentine Wall, situated so the bands perform with their backs to the river. The audience hangs out on the steps enjoying the show on stage and the view of the river at the same time. This is where boats tend to congregate–there are motorboats and speedboats and even a small yacht or two–to enjoy the sounds of live music coming from the stage. Continuing to head west, you pass more vendor booths, including Chaco’s tour truck (stocked with shoes, including the exclusive style only available on tour) and awesome virtual reality experience, where you can “travel” to your choice of four different locations to experience an Hawaiian adventure. Just past the truck, the largest stage is set up at the far end of the park. The expanse of grassy field in front of it seems to go on forever, and once the day’s headliner hits the stage, it’s filled with people excited to see their favorite act.

One of the best things about Bunbury Festival is the air of freedom and camaraderie, of living in the moment and really enjoying it. People are relaxed and happy and keen to make friends. When it rains (Cincinnati’s change-on-a-dime weather means it’s bound to rain at least once during the festival), the crowds congregate under the arches of the Purple People Bridge and laugh their way through the downpour.

The festival does a great job of booking a variety of performers, a mix of rock and hip hop, mellow pop and indie bands. Performers come from all over: there are Cincinnati-based acts as well as groups from the midwest, south, and the east and west coasts. Need some cool-girl style inspiration with your indie pop? Haim is here to help you out. Want to reminisce about the N.W.A. tapes you kept hidden from your parents? Check out Ice Cube on the Sawyer Point stage. In the mood for some body positive, life-positive encouragement? Flint Eastwood is serving it up in spades. Want to rock out to screaming guitar riffs? Hit the CVG River Stage to see Holy White Hounds. Feeling like you need to let it all out to some EDM? Deadmau5 and his light-up mouse head have your back. There’s really something for everyone!

Look, being an adult can take a lot out of you. Work gets repetitive, obligations get in the way, life starts to feel less like living and more like merely existing. But at Bunbury it’s okay to dance crazily, laugh loudly, eat greedily, and sing off key. The festival offers a respite from the usual 9-to-5 and a chance to enjoy time with friends. You know that feeling you get when your favorite song comes on the radio? Bunbury is like that times 100, because now you’re surrounded by thousands of people singing the same song, feeling the same energy, and hearing it directly from the performers, who are singing live like the performance is just for you. It’s magical! And the beauty of the park and surrounding city only serve to enhance every single aspect of the festival itself.

If you haven’t been to Bunbury, I invite you–no, I dare you–to come. I guarantee you’ll enjoy it just as much as I did.