festival extraordinaire

Evolve.

It was an amazing time, full of the following (in no particular order, sequence does not denote concentration): music, dancing, workshops, yoga, walking around looking at people, food, coffee, full moon rising golden and setting golden too, swimming, (frigid waterhole about a 30-min walk away), hugs and kisses, music, little kids, old ladies, tents, garbage, Kind Kitchen (worked chopping veggies for an hour or so), awareness and discussion, oh and did I mention music?

So what it is, is this: a big festival that happens every year in Antigonish, for 5 years now. You get all kinds of folks there, and in the interest of concision and not political correctness (how I hate that concept, I much prefer mindful respect of differences) I shall name them here: hippies, activists, ravers, frat boys looking to get drunk and laid, native aboriginals, high school students looking to experiment, biker gangs looking to deal some drugs. There were between 3000-6000 folks there, I haven't heard an official number yet, but that's where I'd put it. And 5 stages of music, an 'awareness village' with workshops such as "Yoga: Body, Breath and Sound", "BioDiesel: Greener Fuel", "Building Sustainable + Healthy Food Communities" and "Flamenco Dance", and a large area of food and art vendors. The Climate Change Bus even made an appearance!!

The only part that was hard, or that made it a little more difficult to be there than for, say, your average Joe, (or Raven or Willow, as the case may be) was that I did no drugs or drinking whatsoever. I drank my fair share of coffee, but other than that I was there under my own steam, fresh veggies, good food, and of course the lovely Caffeine. Considering that Friday I stayed up to 4 am, then woke at 7:30 am, had a full day of yoga, swimming, workshops, dancing and then stayed up all night Saturday, dancing til the sun rose, then slept 3 hours, and hung out all Sunday, more yoga, workshops and dancing, finally packing up the tent and gear around 4 and driving home with Mum, I think it's remarkable. Maybe not incredibly so, but somewhat.

Plus, I had a great time. Came home feeling relaxed, inspired, tired, happy, worked-out. Blissed-out, as some say. I think the beauty of Evolve is the diversity of folks there and how we all seem to respect one another. I'm not saying there aren't the odd "show us your tits!" or the odd judgement of someone's choice of dress/lifestyle/music, but overall people share the festival space and time pretty well, pretty respectfully and pretty aware.

So, next year, look for me there, dancing like a crazy person, or doing the Cobra pose, or munching on some Mumblie-Jumblie (courtesy of Cafe 4:20), or ranting about climate change, or just plain being.

*****

In other news, my job with Deanie has ended, I am home at Mum's for 4 days to pack the little Golf full of assorted things, and then Sunday we drive to Fredericton. I'll keep you posted.