A Return to Festivals with Kobe
My first taste of festival life came during a Grateful Dead concert in Las Vegas. I was 22. I sat on a blanket in the parking lot while a girl a few years older than me wrapped ribbons in my hair. Her diaper clad toddler hobbled around us. Her man strummed a guitar. The mushroom high was coming on, floating down like a soft cloud. Steve Miller, the opening act, had started. People were calling for tickets (miracles) and selling grilled cheese sandwiches. This was the life I had imagined (romanticized) I would have had with my hippie dad if mom had been willing to hit the road with him.
Instead I blazed my own hippie trail, writing Goddess books and selling them at Celtic and Faerie festivals, Scottish Highland Games and Pagan conferences. I brought my boys along to festivals, family pow wows, bear dances and Renaissance Faires. When I couldn’t take them, I brought them home wooden swords and shields, medicine pouches or ceramic dragons. Eventually they started to resist going and as the eminent divorce loomed closer, these festivals became solo adventures – retreats for my free-spirited self and a reprieve from the pain and sadness.Then last weekend, Kobe came with me to a festival at The Ecology Center’s Earth Day. I had promised it would only be two hours, expecting him to revolt. The time limit seemed to appease him so off we went. At first he slouched behind me, as I explained the science at different learning centers about cob building, grey water systems, living roofs, and bioremediation. He perked up when we visited the chickens. He opened a bit more making a seed ball and choosing the sweet peas to go in our planting pots. By the time we got to aquaculture center, he was fully engaged.
Moonsville Collective played bluegrass music, the perfect homegrown vibe for this homegrown celebration about loving Mama Earth. He got a black bean quesadilla from La Sirena and an energy drink from Samzabon. We left after the appointed two hours with huge smiles on our faces. As soon as we got home, Kobe planted our seedlings and completely inspired by the science he learned, he dissected some flowers to show me their reproduction system and started an impromptu experiment, claiming, “I love science!”I must admit, after he went to bed, I looked up music festivals, art shows - Newport Beach Film Festival, Mountain Man Music in Silverado Canyon, and the Artisan Food and Art Festival at the Great Park are next on the agenda! I know, I shouldn’t be greedy, but I can’t help but yearn for more wanderlust adventures!