Hire Electric Forest Event Staff at Double JJ Resort
Activation hosts, brand ambassadors, production assistants and camp lounge hosts for the brands at Electric Forest in Rothbury, Michigan, with crews housed near the site and briefed for four days in the woods.
Electric Forest Staffing for a Four-Day Camping Festival
Eleven8 provides event staff at Electric Forest for the brands and agencies that have a space at the festival. Since 2011 it has taken place at the Double JJ Resort in Rothbury, Michigan, over one long weekend in late June, with stages in open fields, a lit-up stretch of woods called the Sherwood Forest and campgrounds where nearly everyone stays. The 2026 edition ran from Thursday, June 25 to Sunday, June 28 and sold out; about 50,000 people were estimated to attend in 2024. Festival sites list June 24-27 for 2027, though the festival itself had not confirmed them at the time of writing. We supply experiential staff and every other role a brand space needs, for all four days.
The biggest difference from a city festival is that the crew lives on site too. Nobody goes home at night. Before we price a job we work out where your staff will sleep, eat and shower, whether in a crew campground or in rooms booked months ahead in nearby towns, and how they reach your space each morning. Four days in the open is tiring, so we schedule real time off, protect sleep and make sure everyone arrives with rain gear, boots, a headlamp and insect repellent.
Rothbury is a small place in rural west Michigan, a long way from the big cities. Our crews come from Grand Rapids, Muskegon, Kalamazoo, Lansing, Detroit and Chicago, and they travel in before the Thursday rush, when traffic on the two-lane roads around the site can back up for hours. That is built into the call sheet and the quote.
The Sherwood Forest is the part people remember, and any brand near it is judged closely. At night it is dark between the light installations, the ground is full of roots, and nothing may be fixed to a tree without the festival's say-so. Staff working there are briefed on low-light safety, on leaving no trace and on how to talk with visitors without breaking the mood. Brands whose staff run product sampling in the woods keep it simple and quiet.
To get a price, tell us on the quote form which days you need, where your space is and whether your crew will need lodging. Brands that also go to Bonnaroo in June often plan both camping festivals with us at once.
Electric Forest Crew Housing and Shift Plan
Our 11-step process starts earlier at Electric Forest than at most festivals, because the crew has to live there. We confirm lodging or crew camping, meals and transport for every person before anything else, then plan travel so the team reaches Rothbury the day before the gates open and avoids the arrival traffic. Each festival day is split into a day shift and a night shift, because the music runs late and activations in the Sherwood Forest are busiest after dark. The same people return each day, and nobody works both shifts, so the energy and the patience on Sunday night match what your visitors saw on Thursday.
Your account manager takes the booking from the first call to the final report, with our operations office supporting them at no extra cost. In the weeks before the festival they arrange the crew's passes through your brand, settle lodging and travel, agree build times with your agency and open two chats, one for your team and one for the crew, so that nothing gets lost when phone signal in the woods is weak.
Every morning and evening the shift checks in by geo-location, walks the space with the lead, including the paths to it through the trees, and checks lighting, stock and weather before opening. Leads carry radios as well as phones, because signal can drop when the site is full, and they keep in touch with your own team until the night shift has closed up for the day.
Electric Forest Daily Crew Routine on Site
Thursday to Sunday at the Double JJ ResortElectric Forest Crew Positions for Brand Spaces
Our Forest Activation Hosts run the brand spaces at Electric Forest, including the ones in and near the Sherwood Forest. They welcome visitors, explain the installation or the experience in a few friendly words, keep any line short and look after the space so it stays beautiful from the first morning to the small hours. In the woods they work in low light and on uneven ground, keep visitors safe around cables and lights and leave the trees untouched. They know the difference between a crowd at noon and a crowd at two in the morning, and adjust to each.
Brands We've Supported at Electric Forest
The brands that hire us at Electric Forest are mostly ones a camping crowd actually uses: outdoor and camping gear, water and energy drinks, snacks, sunscreen and personal care, apparel and music services. Several build installations or rest areas rather than simple booths, and they need staff who treat the space as part of the festival rather than an advert inside it. The agencies behind those spaces come back because our crews arrive housed, fed, briefed and ready, and stay that way for four days. For brands that want people who can talk naturally with a returning crowd, our brand ambassadors are chosen from those who know this kind of festival.
Eleven8 is an independent staffing agency. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Electric Forest, Madison House Presents, Insomniac or the Double JJ Resort. "Electric Forest" is a trademark of its owners. We provide event staff to the brands and agencies activating at the festival. All marks belong to their owners and are used for identification only.
How to Book Electric Forest Event Staff
Electric Forest Camp Lounge and Guest Hosting Staff
A lot of what brands do at Electric Forest happens away from the stages. They run lounges and rest areas in the camping zones, host creators and artists' friends for the weekend, and give their own teams somewhere to work and recover. These spaces need calm, practical hosts rather than promoters. Our hostesses welcome guests, keep the space tidy, stocked and comfortable through heat and rain, and know where to send someone who needs medical help, water or a charger.
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Midwest Festival Crews for Electric Forest Activations
People Who Know This Kind of Festival
Only about 3.5% of applicants join Eleven8, and for Electric Forest we look for people from the Midwest festival and arts scene, many of whom have camped at this festival or others like it. They understand a returning crowd that treats the weekend as its own, and they know that the quickest way to lose that crowd is to behave like a salesperson. They arrive as respectful guests who have a job to do, and the community responds to that with warmth.
A Crew That Is Housed and Rested
Most problems with festival staff on day three come from bad sleep and poor planning, not bad people. We plan where every person sleeps, eats and showers before the festival, keep day and night crews separate so nobody works around the clock and give each shift proper time off. Staff bring the right kit for four days outside. The result is a team that is as patient and alert on Sunday as it was on Thursday, which is when it matters most for your brand.
Careful Work in the Sherwood Forest
The Sherwood Forest is the heart of Electric Forest, and the community notices anything that harms it. Staff working in or near the woods are briefed on low-light safety, on protecting the trees and the art, on keeping noise and light from your space respectful and on leaving no rubbish behind. They talk with visitors gently and let the setting do most of the work. Your space should feel as though it belongs among the trees, and our staff are trained to keep it that way.
Insured and Ready for June Storms
Every person we send is insured, and if the producers, the resort or your agency need a certificate in their name, we supply one. Late June in west Michigan can bring heat, humidity and sudden thunderstorms, and the festival may pause activity for lightning. Our leads know the plan: secure the space, move the crew to shelter, look after any visitors and reopen safely, then tell you what happened and when.
Spaces Spread Across Fields and Woods
Electric Forest is spread across open fields, campgrounds and woods, and a brand may have more than one space with a long walk between them. We give each space its own lead, plus runners who carry stock and swap staff along the paths. Leads carry radios because phone signal can drop when the site is full. You get one plan, one account manager and one daily report covering every space you run, however far apart they are.
Support From Load-In to Sunday Night
A four-day camping festival needs someone available the whole time, not only during opening hours. Our account manager and leads are reachable from the first build day until your space is struck on Sunday night, including the late-night shift. If a storm closes your space, a crew member falls ill or a product runs out, they change the plan within the hour, bring in a standby from the crew camp and confirm the change to you in writing.
At Electric Forest your staff are part of the community for four days, living, working and resting alongside the people they are talking to. We send Midwest crews who are housed, fed and briefed, who treat the woods and the art with care and who are still friendly at two in the morning on the last night. Brands planning a city festival in the Midwest later in the summer can read about staffing at Lollapalooza. To start planning your weekend in Rothbury, send us your Electric Forest plans.
Elevate Client Feedback
Robert N.
Top Notch Service
They were professional. Polite. Hard working. Friendly. And got the job done. Will definitely use them again.
EK C.
It was a great pleasure that I can work with you. All Elevate members successfully led KCON. I hope everything goes as well in future events as it did this time! If i ever go to LA for events, I will definitely reach out to you :)
Eugene R.
We were really happy with the team everyone was incredibly helpful and nice to work with. Thank you for selecting such professional people for our event!
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