Every summer, the Ilosaarirock festival grounds offer plenty of services, activities, things to see and do to create that unforgettable festival experience! There are several bar areas, restaurants serving a wide variety of delicious food as well as vendors selling hard-to-resist treats. It’s pretty safe to say that there is something for everyone, when it comes to food and drink at Ilosaarirock!
The festival grounds and camping site both have a lot of free water taps and refill stations where you can fill your own water bottle. There are also plenty of toilets and urinals around the festival site for when you have to answer an urgent call of nature
Festival Site
The festival site Laulurinne park has large lawns and grassy areas as well as a nice beach. Walking from place to place within the festival grounds is mainly done on sandy pathways. Access to the festival grounds will be from the Main Gate. The cloakroom / property lock-ups (“narikka”) are located in between the Main Gate and the security check point.
Throughout the weekend, festival goers are treated to amazing bands on four different stages, additional entertainment, visual experiences as well as tasty food and drink.
Information Point and Lost & Found
The Ilosaarirock information point is located right next to the Main Gate. The information point will solve all the festival goers’ problems from a missing ticket to a lost backpack. The info point also sells festival tickets, unless they are sold out in advance.
During the festival weekend, the information point is also the Ilosaarirock Lost & Found. After the festival, on Monday at 2 pm, all the lost property will be forwarded to a local lost property service called “Pohjois-Karjalan löytötavarapalvelu”. Their contact info can be found at: www.pklp.fi.
Security Check
Everyone entering the festival grounds will also go through a security check. The purpose of the checks carried out by the security guards is to prevent any forbidden items or substances being brought into the festival grounds and to ensure the safety of all festival goers.
Payment Methods
The accepted methods of payment at Ilosaarirock are the most common debit cards, credit cards (excluding American Express) as well as contactless payment and contactless mobile payment methods. All Ilosaarirock traders and vendors accept card payments.
Card payments are easy, quick and hygienic. You won’t be needing cash at all – and it won’t be accepted as a method of payment at Ilosaarirock.
Seating Areas
Seating areas and places to rest can be found all around the Ilosaarirock festival site. The largest seating area is located next to the Food Court (“Ruokakeidas”). There are also plenty of grassy areas on the Ilosaarirock festival grounds where you can sit down, relax and enjoy the best weekend of the summer.
Toilets and Hand Washing Stations
Ilosaarirock has plenty of toilets and urinals located both inside and outside the festival site to bring relief from full bladders. Don’t be a jackass – pee in the toilets, not in bushes or especially not on walls or in people’s gardens.
There are six large toilet blocks in the Ilosaarirock festival site. They can be found next to the Rento Stage (“Rentolava”), in the Soundi Stage (“Soundilava”) and Tent Stage (“Tähtiteltta”) zones, as well as next to the cloakroom / property lock-up. There are toilets also inside the Main Stage bar and the “Tähtibaari”. Each zone has wheelchair accessible disabled toilets, which can also be found in the immediate vicinity of each viewing platform.
There are always signs on the doors of the accessible toilets, stating that customers in wheelchairs, other festival goers who need to use an accessible toilet or holders of a Toilet Card / Can’t Wait Card (“Vessapassi” in Finnish) are entitled to use the accessible toilet and have the right to jump any possible queues.
The toilets at Ilosaarirock are gender-neutral unisex toilets. We only make the distinction of having separate areas for those peeing standing up or sitting down. For those peeing standing up, the toilet areas have urinals.
All the large toilet blocks have hand washing facilities with running water and eco-friendly soap. The hand washing stations are not meant for filling up your water bottle. There are plenty of water points all over the festival site, where you can refill your reusable water bottle. Stay hydrated – remember to drink enough water!
Recycling
100% of the Ilosaarirock waste is being recycled or used for energy production. There are recycling bins for biodegradable waste, metal, glass, cardboard, plastic packaging, cans and bottles as well as hazardous waste. Additionally, there are over a hundred bins for combustible waste, and separate bins for cigarette butts.
Volunteers at the numerous recycling stations around the festival site instruct you in sorting your waste into the correct recycling bins!
The plates and cutlery used in Ilosaarirock are made of plastic-free cardboard or biodegradable material. They are sorted into energy waste. We stopped using biodegradable dishes, since the local biowaste processing sites are not able to process waste in the quantities produced by the festival. So, large quantities of food waste are sorted into biowaste and the plates and cutlery are sorted into energy waste.
Ilosaari Shop and Band Merchandise
The official Ilosaarirock clothing, accessories and other products as well as band merch of the artists performing at the festival are sold in the Ilosaari Shop, located in the Main Stage zone.
The official Ilosaarirock merchandise can be bought in advance here.
Mobile App
The best festival experience of the summer starts with Ilosaarirock’s official, year-round mobile app! Stay up-to-date on the latest news, the most important info, the program and schedules as well as the set times of your favourite artists at your fingertips with the real-time application.
Photographing
DSLR cameras are allowed in the festival site and taking photos for private personal use is permitted. However, please leave the large amounts of extra photographic gear, equipment and flashlights at home. Some of our artists may have more strict rules about photographing and filming, so please follow the instructions of the festival staff and also please respect the privacy of your fellow festival goers.
No professional filming, photographing or recording of the gigs is allowed without the artist’s prior consent.
Official Ilosaarirock photographers and videographers will roam the festival site and the surrounding areas. Their images are used in the Ilosaarirock marketing activities as well as on the event’s social media channels and the website www.ilosaarirock.fi. Media will also be present at the festival, filming and photographing for news purposes.
If you post pics you have taken on your own social media channels, for example, be sure to tag llosaarirock and use the official hashtags #ilosaarirock and #kesänparasviikonloppu.
Bringing Your Own Food and Drink
You are allowed to bring unopened and transparent max. 1.5-litre plastic bottles, as well as empty, transparent max. 1.5-litre plastic bottles to the Ilosaarirock festival site – no alcohol bottles though. Empty re-usable water bottles are also allowed. There are plenty of water taps around the festival site where you can fill your bottle with fresh water. The tap water in the Joensuu region is tested and proven to be of excellent quality! Small juice boxes / cartons (with straws) are also allowed. Bringing glass bottles or any kind of alcohol to the festival grounds is not allowed.
Regular-sized packed lunches, such as sandwiches, fruit, candy, snacks etc. are allowed.
Accessibility
Ilosaarirock is committed to ensuring that everyone is welcome and can attend our festival.
The Ilosaarirock festival site is located in a parkland area, where moving from place to place is mainly done on sandy pathways. The area is more or less flat, apart from the uphill leading up to the Tent Stage (“Tähtiteltta”) zone. There is plenty of signage to help you navigate around the festival site.
There is a car park near the festival site with a limited number of free-of-charge disabled parking spaces. Parking in these spaces requires a valid parking card for people with reduced mobility. The accessible taxi (“invataksi”) drop off point is located near the main gate.
Viewing platforms with accessible ramps for customers with reduced mobility are located at the Main Stage (“Päälava”), Tent Stage (“Tähtiteltta”) and Rento Stage (“Rentolava”). Personal Assistants can join the person they are assisting on the viewing platform if there is space. Every platform always has a steward, who can also assist customers with reduced mobility to get onto and off the viewing platform, if needed.
Wheelchair accessible toilets are located in the immediate vicinity of the viewing platforms as well as in the toilet blocks. Toilets right next to the viewing platforms are reserved only for people with reduced mobility and the holders of a Toilet Card / Can’t Wait Card (“Vessapassi” in Finnish).
A disabled person, who has a right for a Personal Assistant (PA), can bring their PA to the festival free of charge. The PA’s free wristband can be collected from the information point upon arrival to Ilosaarirock, and it does not need to be booked in advance. We recommend you bring a certificate or a form of supporting documentation of your need for a PA, for example an EU Disability Card.