5) The People
After a full day of flying, driving, border and timezone crossings, I showed up to this festival alone, and couldn’t have felt more at home. The sense of family, Shambhafamily, that pervades the entire event is unprecedented. Everyone looks out for one another.
Every interaction breathed a sense of family. Since it was my first time attending, the lovely folks at will-call excitedly explained everything to me, and I was then directed to another volunteer at check in who offered to put my bags in her car, even helping me find a place to camp. I walked over to grab a meal from the delectable Curry Corner, and as I made it to the cafeteria style overhang, a group called me over to sit with them. We ended up frolicking about for the rest of the evening and they coached me through my first Shamwave.
On Thursday I stumbled into American expats coming from Australia, and later on found a group of Canadians that adopted me into their Shambhafamily for the entire weekend. Encounters like this happened on and on, each one different, yet all of them sincere and genuine.
While I’m sure there may have been a bit of theft at the festival, I didn’t see nor encounter any. Once, I accidentally left a scarf and several meaningful belongings on the rocks by the river, and came back hours later to find them neatly stacked right where I’d left them. On another occasion, my adopted Shambhafam wanted to mob into the center of the crowd at Excision’s Village set. Before plunging in, they hung their extra jackets, packs, and totems on the fence just outside the stage. Needless to say, I was shocked at the trust and sense of safety in leaving their things. We went in, had the time of our lives, and came out to find their belongings just as they’d left them… That alone says a lot.
Of everything I learned, perhaps the most important was this: Be as wild as you are, bare it all, dress as you want, all that matters is that you are you. Anything and everything adds to the experience, and kindness is more effective than currency. The Farm is for more than just music, and that really is the magic of this place…
I’ll see you there next year.
Published: Aug 16, 2015 05:19 pm