Kicking off festival season; festival goers arrive at Empire Polo Grounds for Coachella Weekend 1

Music festival season is underway with campers arriving for Coachella Weekend 1.

They started checking in at 9 a.m. Thursday at the Empire Polo Club in Indio.

Our crews have seen a steady flow as car and tent campers check in, but that may change come Friday.

The festival grounds at the Empire Polo Club are coming back to life, thanks to the return of the world renowned Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.

Like years past, hundreds of thousands of festival goers are traveling to Indio to watch their favorite artists. 

Eric Nguyen, who's returning to the festival after attending last year says he's looking forward to, "Le Sserafim, Tyler the Creator, and Deftones."

The traffic, unpacking and set up all beginning on Thursday, also known as "Day Zero" by some festival goers. 

"We car camp every year and I think it's the only way to do it," said Chris Heffernan, who's visiting from San Diego.

Both car and tent campers lined up throughout the morning and afternoon to complete their security screening and check in. 

"We drive from San Diego, so we go through the mountains. So it's usually not that bad, especially at this time of the day. But tomorrow it'll be really bad," added Heffernan.

The festival grounds are slowly transforming into a city of their own, inhabited by music lovers alike from far and wide. 

"I just got a lot more friends coming. This time we got like 18 cars, so it's going to be a blast when we are all hanging out at the campsite." said Juan Carlos Comahig, who's visiting from Las Vegas.

Multiple road closures have been made in preparation for festival season, you can CLICK HERE for a map and a full list of impacted roads.

The first two acts kick off Friday at 1 p.m. at the Sonora and and Yuma stages. 

Until then you can expect to see even more festival goers making their way through the valley to get to the Empire Polo Grounds.