In an economy like today's, people will do almost anything for extra business.
Cuba, N.M., is going to get a boost from the thousands of people who are traveling across the country for Rainbow Gathering in the Santa Fe National Forest, about 30 miles from Cuba.
So far, the gathering has brought 3,000 people from all over the state and the country to celebrate life, love, world peace and happiness.
According to the Rainbow Gathering's Web site, the Rainbow Family began gathering in 1972. The first gathering was in Colorado, and since then it has been held every year in a different national forest around the country.
The Rainbow Gathering will host a peace celebration on July 4. There will be prayer and drumming circles along with live music and free, fresh food.
If you plan to go to the gathering, you should come prepared with food and goods to trade with other Rainbow gatherers.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
Noah Kessler lives in Albuquerque and said he is going to attend the Rainbow Gathering.
"I have been to a couple of the gatherings," Kessler said. "I went to one in Utah up in the mountains and I went to one in Nevada. My parents are total hippies so they were into the whole spiritual, loving and sharing aspect of life, and I guess Rainbow Gathering really shares those characteristics."
The Rainbow Gathering is a unique festival in that there is no spokesperson, no organizer, no organized musical shows and no money involved. According to the Web site and testimonials from many Rainbow Tribe members, the gathering is a huge effort by attendees to set up and prepare for the gathering.
Garrick Beck, a member of the Rainbow Family, wrote a piece in 1998 about why people make the effort to attend the gatherings.
"Why should anyone trudge through the woods, shovel in hand, digging compost pits, or stand long hours in dark miserable weather, flashlight in hand, directing cars toward parking places, or lug food in boxes and heavy sacks over mountainous terrain, or scrub large pots?" Beck wrote. "I mean why would anyone want to do this? And for no monetary profit?"
"Because it is our great pleasure to live - even briefly - together in a state of expanded freedom," he wrote. "Because only when we take personal responsibility for the needs of each other - water, food, security, fuel, healing, child care and recycling - do we take mature responsibility for our lives."
Denise Ottaviano, Santa Fe National Forest public affairs officer, said the Rainbow Family and the National Forest have been planning and organizing the event since last fall.
"We started meeting with them about potential locations many months ago," Ottaviano said. "The reason we do that is we want to make sure the location they choose is one that's not going to damage an archaeological site, or is an area that has any endangered species or wild habitats."
The Rainbow Tribe decided at the end of last year's gathering that the 2009 event would be held in New Mexico, Ottaviano said.
"And in the spring they sent out scouts to look at different places and different national forests," she said. "They look for a place that is going to have a water source, and a big open meadow. They tend to want to be remote because they don't want to be near a town that they might bother."
Ron Sorrow, owner of Del Prado restaurant in Cuba, said he hasn't noticed a significant influx of people coming through the town. Sorrow said law enforcement officers warned business owners there might be a large increase in customers.
"My cousin owns the Safeway and he is having booming business because he is the only grocery store in town," he said. "And for the most part he said it is mostly food stamp purchases. And I think that is why we're not seeing them in the restaurants, because the type of individual who is coming out, they don't have any money so they are purchasing things like camping supplies with food stamps."
Sorrow said there have not been any big problems in Cuba because of the increased traffic.
"I think we are looking at it just like everything else," he said. "You have your good and your bad. There is an element of them that have caused problems in town. I haven't seen any problems, but panhandling and that type of stuff, but we already have that element in town anyway."
Sorrow said since most of the visitors go straight up to the camping grounds in the mountains, he doesn't see most of them.
"I haven't seen an invasion the way (the law enforcement) kept explaining it," he said. "We haven't had any issues with it, and the people that we have gotten are like any other customer and that is how we treat them. The ones in their 30s and above, you can't tell them (apart) from anyone (else). The younger generation you can tend to tell more because a lot of them have dreadlocks."
Kessler said people at Rainbow Gathering can join in drumming circles, prayer circles, dances and other community activities.
"I haven't been to the gathering for four or five years, but I expect it to be up in the woods and there will probably be some smoking and drugs," he said. "There are some drugs, but it's also a lot of people trying to come to their center and discover themselves and their spirituality. There's an aspect of drugs, but it's not at all a central theme."
Kessler said while there is some drug use at the gathering, many drugs are frowned upon, such as alcohol and hard drugs like cocaine.
Beck also said in his story that getting to Rainbow Gathering is not the only trouble the Rainbow Tribe faces.
"(We) face the disapproval of relatives and peers, who see us pouring whatever economic gain we make during the rest of the year down some rainbow-colored drain, traveling long distances, dealing with vehicle problems, supporting a donation cause that feeds and cares for a multitude; and to what end?" he wrote. "To what purpose for a great big party in the woods? So some people can go naked and skinny dip?"
Rainbow Gathering
Santa Fe National Forest
outside Cuba
July 1 - 7
Free
For more info visit
welcomehome.org/
