Rainbow Gathering includes eclectic souls

BIG RED PARK - In case you're wondering, here at the 35th Annual National Rainbow Gathering in the Routt/Medicine Bow National Forest, the Rainbow Family of Living Light keeps its members well-fed, safe and conscious of how they approach the thousands of acres of U.S. National Forest they are temporarily inhabiting.

The members - anyone not a cop or a Forest Service official - spent the last week setting up a spur-of-the-moment community, complete with group kitchens and a main circle where many gather each night at 6 p.m. to share meals, and discourse about ... well, being well-fed, safe and conscious. The dishwashing areas, compost heaps and toilets are works in progress that involve a little science, muscle and some shovels.

Everyone holds hands and chants "Om" in a collective wish for peace before the food gets delivered by the kitchens.

The masses

There are a county's worth of people out here in the woods, hiking, on average, from 2-6 miles between the designated parking areas and their chosen campsites.

The Routt County Sheriff Department's Rainbow Gathering Public Information Officer and the Forest Service were unavailable for comment as of Monday afternoon, so the latest attendance update printed by the Associated Press was 6,000. This estimate was released on Friday night, and considering the constant stream of people who have arrived since, it's safe to say that there's at least 10,000 people here - if not 15,000 or 20,000.

There is also quite a sizeable authority presence, including local Forest Service employees, people from local sheriff's departments and members of the national response team that the Forest Service founded in 1998 to be on staff to regulate Rainbow Gatherings.

The Rainbow Family spans the spectrum from musicians, artists, gypsies and naturalists to religious fanatics, local-business owners, doctors, lawyers, your average normal-looking, two-child, two-parent American family ... and there are tons of hippies.

The Rainbow Family attempts to define its presence on the current website (www.welcomehome.org) in many ways, including:

• the largest non-organization of non-members in the world. We have no leaders, and no organization.

• a group into intentional community building, nonviolence, and alternative lifestyles.

• a group that believes peace and love are a great thing, and there isn't enough of that in this world.

Despite the peace and love talk, it hasn't been without conflicts. About 250 citations have been issued to Rainbow Family members since officers began citing the members for not having a special-use permit, according to the Associated Press, which also reported that officers used pepper spray and clubs Monday to clear a large group of Rainbow Family members who surrounded them.

The U.S. Forest Service demands that the Rainbow Family sign a permit because more than 74 people are in the forest, and the family says they have no leaders, so there is no one who can take full responsibility for the actions of the entire group by having a few sign a petition for so many.

Dozens of officers and agents patrol the grounds throughout the event, which is scheduled to last through Friday, though some of the campers will be sticking around for much longer to clean up the site and repair the trampled land and any affected waterways.

The individuals

Stone is one of the "kids" (kids is a term describing a large portion of the younger, more transient population who have adopted names given to them during their less-than casual initiation into the Rainbow Family). He's the lucky recipient of a brand-new, secondhand acoustic Fender guitar and he's one of the most dust-laden kids at the festival.

His gravelly singing and steadfast strumming were a welcome break from Trade Circle's hustle and spectacle. He was singing with a group of contemporaries on the outskirts of the barter-oriented market (people are encouraged not to use money during their transactions) a song about revolution. He agreed to play for a nearby video camera, but "not with all the kids around because some of them don't like to be video-taped."

Stone has been on the scene at the Gathering for years, and he played witness to some of the early clashes between the authorities and the Family.

And one of the songs he played for me was written about the relationship the Family has with U.S. law enforcement.

"Well you sat me down the other night

You picked me up by my hair and said 'Man, I'm lookin' for a fight!'

Then you threw me on the car

You shoved the cuffs onto my wrists

And you shoved me into the car

Yeah, I was pissed

Because you're cops, you're cops, you're cops

This insanity has got to stop

Five family members in jail in a week

And you don't know the words to speak

They're cops, they're cops, they're cops

They arrest us and use our dreadies for mops

Just because you have a badge doesn't mean you have a name

Give me a number, hell I'll do the same

Well you take the can full of mace and you spray it in my face

I look at you and I say with disgrace

'You know I still love you,

You're a brother too.'"

Stone, apparently, has seen it all before, and sees it as intolerance in the land of tolerance. This vibe emanates from the Krishnas, the Christian Vegetarian Association, the Buddhists and the New Jerusalem believers to the parents, the young adults and the children who play on the swings and teeter-totters that the early campers set up in Kiddie Village.



Andrew Harley can be contacted at (970) 668-4625, or at aharley@summitdaily.com