The festivals keep coming and the love keeps building and building.
After the magic of Shambhala, I thought I was ready to pull back from the festival scene, which I dove headfirst into this summer. My plan to visit Vancouver Island was delayed by one day. So, marooned in Vancouver one more day, I joined my ex-housemates at a drum circle that night on 3rd beach in Stanley Park.
I wore my Shambhala headband like a proud flag, and I was befriended by a few people about it. One pair invited me to a small festival they were organizing called Soo River Faire. I loved their energy, and my own energy was drawn to them and their event.
I ended up cutting my Vancouver Island stint short, to just 10 days, so I could make it back to the mainland for the fair. About 20 minutes north of Whistler, we turned onto the Soo River Forest Service Rd. We drove down this rough road for another 20 minutes or so, before arriving to the trailhead, where my car got a flat tire. As tough as the adventure was to get there, the location was perfect. A floodplain in the spring, the waters recede in the summer, giving way to a gravelly beach along the snaking Soo River, guarded by green and white mountains.
The festival was really intimate - around 50 people - and the music was really good, considering its size. The artists were humble and easy to talk to; some of them live in the same collective home in Vancouver with the organizer. One of the DJs was my ex-housemate, and it was a pleasure dancing to his set. Psychedelics were involved as usual, but on a more toned down level than Shambhala, and I got some good dancing in.
I furthered friendships as well as met some truly special people here. In particular, I made one very profound connection, and we became very close, very quickly. We drove back to Vancouver together, further connecting on just about every topic, sharing stories and listening to music that moved our souls. For this, I want to thank this person immensely for the bond and understanding at every level of our respective journeys in this sacred universe.
By the end of the festival, the organizer conducted an emotional closing ceremony. During the first part, we huddled around a campfire and gave praise to nature by reciting odes of gratitude to each direction of the compass rose, while facing them. For the second part, the organizer put together some wood arranged to form a small tree, and attached written notes of peoples' fears and confessions. Gathered in a circle around it, attendees each read the notes one by one. Then the tree and all of the notes were burned, setting our fears free and, thus, concluding the ceremony.
The organizer must have set his own fears free because, at that moment he kneeled to the ground in prayer pose and wept his heart out. In silent understanding, and with all of the emotions I already built up the past few days, myself and a few others knelt beside him, consoling him, and crying with him.
I've recently had a feeling that my summer was building up to something special - some cosmic gathering of the energies I have been nurturing. It all came together at Soo River Faire. I left the event feeling so full of love, it felt like my heart was bursting. For the next several days, I
The event has been going on for 4 years, but for me, it felt like the start of something special. I hope to become a part of this event and its people in the future.
After the magic of Shambhala, I thought I was ready to pull back from the festival scene, which I dove headfirst into this summer. My plan to visit Vancouver Island was delayed by one day. So, marooned in Vancouver one more day, I joined my ex-housemates at a drum circle that night on 3rd beach in Stanley Park.
I wore my Shambhala headband like a proud flag, and I was befriended by a few people about it. One pair invited me to a small festival they were organizing called Soo River Faire. I loved their energy, and my own energy was drawn to them and their event.
I ended up cutting my Vancouver Island stint short, to just 10 days, so I could make it back to the mainland for the fair. About 20 minutes north of Whistler, we turned onto the Soo River Forest Service Rd. We drove down this rough road for another 20 minutes or so, before arriving to the trailhead, where my car got a flat tire. As tough as the adventure was to get there, the location was perfect. A floodplain in the spring, the waters recede in the summer, giving way to a gravelly beach along the snaking Soo River, guarded by green and white mountains.
The festival was really intimate - around 50 people - and the music was really good, considering its size. The artists were humble and easy to talk to; some of them live in the same collective home in Vancouver with the organizer. One of the DJs was my ex-housemate, and it was a pleasure dancing to his set. Psychedelics were involved as usual, but on a more toned down level than Shambhala, and I got some good dancing in.
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| Main stage during the day; and at night (below) |
By the end of the festival, the organizer conducted an emotional closing ceremony. During the first part, we huddled around a campfire and gave praise to nature by reciting odes of gratitude to each direction of the compass rose, while facing them. For the second part, the organizer put together some wood arranged to form a small tree, and attached written notes of peoples' fears and confessions. Gathered in a circle around it, attendees each read the notes one by one. Then the tree and all of the notes were burned, setting our fears free and, thus, concluding the ceremony.
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| Taylor conducting the closing ceremony |
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| Cachou reading a note from the tree of fears and confessions |
The organizer must have set his own fears free because, at that moment he kneeled to the ground in prayer pose and wept his heart out. In silent understanding, and with all of the emotions I already built up the past few days, myself and a few others knelt beside him, consoling him, and crying with him.
I've recently had a feeling that my summer was building up to something special - some cosmic gathering of the energies I have been nurturing. It all came together at Soo River Faire. I left the event feeling so full of love, it felt like my heart was bursting. For the next several days, I
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| I made a fun time lapse video at the festival, click here! |
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