First time ever Osheaga go-er here! I got the day pass for August 4th 2017 and I had so much fun despite the heavy on and off rain. The festival blew me away. So many activities, food trucks, contests, and concerts (duh).
This is the list of things I brought:
-Towels (cheap ones so you can throw them out if they get gross)
-hand sanitizer
-baby wipes
-tissues
-sun screen
-empty water bottles
-cash (100$)
-Laminated map and schedule
-baseball cap
-PONCHOS (I can not stress how much these saved my life. thank you to yelp for your ponchos)
-sunglasses
My thoughts are going to be quite jumbled because I really have a lot to say.
-The site is huge! lots of walking so make sure you're wearing the right shoes (on the day we went it rained more than usual and so my sneakers got soaked and never dried which sucked but people in flip flops were even more screwed because of the mud)
-When it rains and the venue has to close some stuff down, don't start lining up for stuff. Each time we lined up for a ride and got to the front of the line, they shut it down due to the rain picking back up. It was insufferable.
-buy the 3 day pass if you can. You won't have time to fully appreciate the festival in one day. Too much food to try, activites to play, and bands to see.
-get there before it opens. We didn't have any trouble entering the site but we figured we could get there later because our bands started at 4pm, but since there is stuff going on all the time, enjoy the full day to its capacity. Also I heard the lineups to get into the festival are quite long because of bag checks. We got there at 1:30 and we breezed in with no troubles at all but that wasn't the case for my friend who got there at 2pm and waited 2 hours to get in.
-DO NOT GET FOOD FROM THE OSHEAGA FOOD VENDERS. It is disgusting.
Stick to the food trucks.
-Bring a sweater in case you get cold. I was wearing a tank top and since it rained all day it would get quite chilly until the next patch of sun. (and then in the evening it was just cold. not cold enough to absolutely need a hoodie but I would have preferred one)
-the water refilling stations lines are long so make a beeline for those first.
-sometimes it's best to be further from the stage. That way you get an ensemble view of everything. Instead of people's arms and heads.
-Also it is all ages but don't bring your kids. It's not the most kid friendliest place.
I think that's about it for tips and thoughts. Would highly recommend.