Bands performing at this weekends Wakarusa festival come from all over the world all points of the United States, Israel, Scandinavian countries and more. And as a result, they also have a very complicated travel schedule.

To get artists from the various states and foreign countries to the remote festival grounds, a fleet of nine vehicles and 24 drivers are assembled for the task.

Its a 24-hour per day job, said Nina Carter, the festivals assistant artist transportation director.

Trips from local airports are coordinated to the minute to ensure that artists arrive at the mountainside site on time. A trip to Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport is 90 minutes round trip, and shuttles usually 15-passenger vans are in constant motion to get to artists to that airport or those in Fort Smith or Little Rock.

Trips are coordinated in attempt to bring as many musicians in the same shuttle as can be arranged.

We try to plan ahead as best as possible, says Carter, who has worked in the music business for years. Although shes at a festival where some 150 bands will perform about 200 sets of music, shell be lucky if she sees one act onstage.

Like an air traffic controller, constant radio updates help her plan a course of action and spreadsheets indicate which band is to be picked up from where.

Even with careful coordination, problems are common. One driver broke his foot, rendering him unable to drive and leaving the transportation team down a man. And after watching last nights first round of artists, at least one band decided to stay and party instead of catching their appointed departure time. Or, perhaps the same can be said about the volunteer drivers, who are spread out along the festival grounds.

Volunteers can oversleep, Carter said, And we dont always know where they camp.

About 50 of the festivals bands require transportation services, as many arrive in tour buses. Still even some of those travelers take advantage of the transportation services, such as the bus drivers, who often drive to the festival site and then sleep in a hotel in Ozark while their bands perform at the festival.

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Bands travel across US, world for Wakarusa festival