Elements Music & Arts Festival shakes the Poconos

Editor’s note: The Weekender’s Gabrielle Lang attended Elements Music & Arts Festival last weekend, and here she recounts her personal experiences and shares her views of the colorful event that happens every year right here in Northeast Pennsylvania. Visit www.theweekender.com to see more of her photos from the festival!

LONG POND — Not even a hurricane could stop the vibes at Elements Music & Arts Festival , held Thursday, Aug. 8, through Sunday, Aug. 11, at Pocono Raceway. After this weekend in the Poconos, I can assure you that festie culture is alive, well and thriving!

Music festivals are the modern way for adults to take a vacation from answering emails, running errands and, well, being an adult. Dance like no one’s watching, wear whatever makes you happy and be yourself to the fullest extent — Elements is the ultimate version of all of that!

This was the ultimate playground for the grown-ups to get to play for a weekend. Everybody’s just there to have fun! It’s all about spreading the love. This festival exceeded my expectations and stretched my imagination. I’ve never seen anything like these unique art installations before! Everywhere you looked and walked, there was something to admire.

Each element-themed stage was a perfect match to its name! The big one, The Fire Stage, features a gigantic sun goddess with her outstretched hands and a DJ atop a pyramid booth. And over at the The Earth Stage, I experienced a set under the trees with all wooden structures, including treehouses to get the best view of the crowd.

It’s not just the stages that were impressive — everywhere I wandered, I found a hidden gem! There were creative small stages in the Vibe Village and spectacular moving art pieces (a cat, a jellyfish, and a turtle were the ones that I spotted!) that you could climb aboard and ride for however long as you liked!

I did plenty of oohing and aahing, pointing and wowing. All the decorations and lighting were spectacular, colorful and unique. I swear, you could have an amazing time exploring this gigantic festival and never even watch a single set.

But when it came to the music itself, I sure did a lot of WOOING! No concert is complete without the wooers. It’s not an easy job, but someone’s gotta do it. Also, everything is danceable in some way, shape or form! The first set I experienced was The Floozies at the Earth Stage setting the vibe on Saturday Night as the sun went down, which was a groovy, fun way to kick off my concert!

Excision went on at 1:15 a.m. on Saturday and I could FEEL the bass through the ground all the way back at my campsite.

After losing a day to the rain on Friday, many more people stayed for the final night than may have previously been planning to, eager to make the most of the money they spent on the gigantic festival. Subtronics’ Sunset Set was so popular that they had to turn people away from The Water Stage (my personal favorite spot), and then Elements added a set for the artist again later on at The Earth Stage. The Disco Biscuits were another one of the big last headliners at the Earth Stage on Sunday.

Many of the other DJs I witnessed, I’d never heard of before so it was a wonderful way to become acquainted with new music and up-coming artists. Barclay Crenshaw had a funky drum and bass set at The Water Stage on Sunday afternoon that I just adored. But, I think the best time I had was during NHII’s set at the Air Stage on Sunday. This is when I climbed onto the moving cat to join their dance party where everybody was living life to the fullest.

And if you get bored of one artist, all you have to do it walk on to find the next stage! Each person I asked seem to have a different favorite spot — which seems to align perfectly with what Elements Music & Arts Festival was going for.

I’m a thirty-something who’s freshman year of college aligned with the release of Avicii’s “Levels,” so it goes without saying that I’ve seen me some festivals; emo ones, hip-hop ones, jamband ones, but EDM ones tend to be by favorite, and Elements at Long Pond was biggest one I’ve ever attended. Pocono Raceway was expecting more than 18,000 attendees.

As a self-proclaimed festie expert, I feel the need to tip you off that camping is the only way to receive the full experience in my opinion. If camping overnight at a music festival is not checked off your bucket list, scribble it down . Forgetting parts of the tent, doing makeup in the car window, and sharing snacks with neighbors, is all a part of the journey.

At Elements Music & Arts Festival, it was beautiful to camp beside total strangers that quickly became our good friends. The camping areas are their own little communities, and kindness is the only language they know. We’re all out here on our own, off the grid, living together just to forget our troubles and have a good time. We forgot to bring an air pump, so our neighbors lent us ours, and then, later on, someone needed sunscreen and we had extra for them! Those just walking by sat down on our blankets to tell us about their three months in Thailand or getting drunk on the beach in Cancun.

For the most part, people are good, and Elements reminded me of that. By sunset on Sunday, every security guard checking bags at the gate was adorned in colorful charms, bracelets, pins and other little trinkets all gifted to them by friendly attendees. Who knew thousands of crazy festie-heads would restore my faith in humanity, huh?

The music is great, but festival fashion is like no other. This is your chance to wear WHATEVER you want. I saw people in practically zero clothing and people in full gilly suits. All genders are encouraged to cover themselves in glitter, sequins, bracelets, clips, makeup and anything else cool, glow-in the dark, or LED that tickles your fancy. Have an outfit in your closet that’s just too crazy for the everyday…well, you’ve got to find you a festival.

Although I had a ton of fun at Elements, I’d be remiss not to mention that improvements could be made next year, especially to the entrance process and contingencies for weather.

Friday at Elements was rained out from the hurricane which led to a madhouse on Saturday. Although some of the shows went on for those stuck there from Thursday, no one was allowed to camp, enter or pick up wristbands at the box office. The closing of the gates Friday created an influx of attendees all arriving at the same time on Saturday that the event seemed unprepared for.

The wristband pick-up was off-site from the concert venue, so visitors needed to first pick up their physical wristbands at a hotel near Lake Harmony where the line wrapped all the way around the parking lot. Once retrieving the wristbands, then it took us another hour to get over to Pocono Raceway due to the wild traffic. Once finally entering Pocono Raceway, my car waited three hours to get to the campsite. We got to the box office at 2 p.m. but didn’t get into the actual campsite until 6:30 p.m., and we still needed to set up. So sadly, myself and many attendees wasted most of their first day waiting in line. It’s clear workers were doing everything they could to keep everything running smoothly, but the venue was overwhelmed by the aftermath of the unpredictable weather.

My walk from the general campsite to the main venue was also about an hour long, which created a deterrent from going back and forth. I can definitely see why VIP is so enticing. My feet are killin’ me — and I consider myself to be mildly in shape!

Elements is always all about going green — which is a wonderful idea — but in practice, I believe it’s a little more complicated. Vendors didn’t take any cash or cards because everything was tied to the chip on the wristband. Although this made purchases easy and we didn’t need to carry cash, I had to go all the way back to the campsite to have enough service to download the app due to thousands of people being in the same place on their phones. Also, no paper maps/schedules and no service is not a great combination.

Although there were plenty of water-filling stations, visitors were expected to bring a Camelbak, carry around a big Stanley cup all day, or buy cans of Monster water ( horrifying, I know ) from select bar vendors. Going green is wonderful, but it’s also hot out, the walks are long, and hydration should be priority. Remember to bring your tumblers. I came woefully unprepared.

But enough complaining — would I do Elements Music & Arts Festival again? Oh yes, absolutely, without a doubt. I’d get back in the car and wait in the same line again tomorrow if I could get one more day at Elements 2024. (And, I will double-check that the pop-up tent is actually in the car this time!)

This was without-a-doubt my favorite little vacation this summer, and I didn’t even have to make it out of NEPA to experience something you just can’t get anywhere else. I made so many great connections with so many beautiful people from all across the country (and beyond). I danced in a treehouse, I rode on a cat, I had my tarot cards read, I found new music and I wore whatever the heck I felt like… and that was all in one day !

Elements is truly a festival that you have to see to believe, and it happens right here in our backyard every summer.