BOISE, Idaho — It's finally here: The ever-growing cultural phenomenon that is the Treefort Music Fest - now in its eighth year in Boise.
But while it's time to fill your ears with the sweet sounds of Low, Liz Phair and the rest of this year's amazing Treefort lineup, it's already time to think about what you can do now to make sure you can enjoy what festival organizers have to offer next year and beyond.
A lot of you will be rocking out starting Wednesday at the festival, but because permanent hearing damage can happen in seconds you'll also want to make sure you're protecting your ears as you enjoy it.
KTVB headed downtown to check out what St. Luke's is doing to help. On opening day, they were handing out disposable earplugs for people to use.
If you've ever been to a show and had temporary changes in your hearing - things sounding muted or dull, or you hear temporary buzzing or ringing - that means there has been temporary damage done to your ear.
We spoke with a St. Luke's audiologist Wednesday about the importance of wearing earplugs at Treefort - and the proper way to wear them.
"You just want to roll it up nice and tight so it's really skinny," Sarah Mooseau with St. Luke's said. "I like to pull back my ear to help widen the ear canal and then push it in as far as it will go. it should kind of disappear in there. If it's hanging out then, it's not doing its job."
With some folks planning on taking their kids to Treefort - and with the addition of Kidfort this year - experts really want to remind people to make sure your little ones' ears, as well as your own, are protected.