WEDNESDAY, JUNE 14, 2006
FEATURE
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN 9
LOOK INSIDE
Keep eyes,minds open
BY JAMES FOLEY
editor@kansan.com
KANSAN WRITER
Thursday at sundown we arrived at camp. Near the tline off the intersection of Crazy Lane and Fourth streets at Campground One were two familiar cars and several tents. Earlier in the day, our friends waited in a queue of cars for seven hours to stake our claim on the vast field of withered grass and dirt. Cars from as far as New Jersey formed a grid of makeshift roadways. Anyone from a solo festivalgoer in a pup tent next to a Subaru Outback, to a flock of hippies complete with Volkswagon busses huddled under crudely constructed sunshades, composed the thousands of campsites at the Wakarusa Music Festival.
Music coming from surrounding campsites was slightly drowned out by the distant sounds from stages that were blocks away. As some people slept in preparation for a long next day, others roamed the campground selling a vast array of drugs to plenty of eager and experienced buyers. Occasionally fireworks or a wild scream pierced air and brought the masses to attention. This happened all weekend long.
It's a way of life for some people. An entire subculture dedicated to traveling from festival to festival for as much of the year as they can. Aged hippies from generations past mingle with a new breed of youth who embrace the lifestyle with every penny of their disposable incomes.
Everyone is there for one reason; to have fun.
There is no better excuse to go camping with your friends. The atmosphere bursts with energy
and beams of love. Thousands and thousands of people, many of them drinking excessively or experimenting with mind-blowing cocktails of drugs living a relatively safe and orderly environment. It's amazing chaos doesn't break loose on the hour.
But with so many people trying to live outside for four days without all the accommodations of modern society, it gets messy. One of the worst things about festivals are the piles of trash we leave behind. When a show ends everyone gets up and leaves, not always taking with them what they brought, expecting someone else to clean up their mess. The number of cigarette butts littering the ground rivals the number of stars in the sky. Why are we OK with this?
Something with such magnificent drawing power as a music festival should take it upon itself to spread a message of environmental awareness. If we keep mindlessly trashing our planet, we won't be having music festivals for much longer.
I can't say I'm innocent of absentmindedly littering, but I try hard not to. I pocket my cigarette butts.
Music festivals are growing bigger and bigger every year. And as they grow it would be wise to do more to encourage environmental stewardship, and conditioning festivalgoers to be more aware of the impact we all have on our environment. If everybody were to make a point just to clean up their own mess, wed be on the right path.
We can keep having these wonderful, crazy events for years to come if we keep one thing in mind: leave only your footprints.
Foley is a Little Rock, Ark., graduate
WAKARUSA
FAMILY FUN FOR EVERYONE
BY TOM SLAUGHTER
tslaughter@kansan.com
KANSAN STAFF WRITER
They called it "Shakedown Street." A block-long Wakarusa Music Festival homage to the Grateful Dead, where vendors were peddling "bacco" pipes and purses; some were selling "products" of another variety. At first glance, it wouldn't seem like the most family-friendly venue.
Yet tucked away in the farthest parking lot west, somewhere between Stage 3 and Topeka, were families using skewers and playing Frisbee, enduring four days of Kansas heat while trying to spend some quality time with the family.
Marsha and Tony Nicholson arrived early Friday morning from Chicago, with their 2-year old daughter Tia. This was their first time attending the festival. They sold iced coffee out of their tent, and went into Lawrence to soak up the atmosphere. They said that the festival designated an area specifically for families.
"God has provided us with a pleasant experience so far," Tony said.
Jason and Allison Meredith, of Des Moines, Iowa, traveled for almost four hours with their children.
Jason said that he had attended various music festivals, and Wakarusa did a good job of accommodating for families.
The family camping area had its own bathroom and water area. Buses from the venue gates to the campground ran around the clock. While
the families were secluded from the venue, it was still possible to hear noise from the stages. Ed Pulver, who was there with his wife Diana to see the show with their grandchildren, said the overall operation could have done a better job of keeping families and the rest of the fans separated. They said that families in the camping area were interacting with one another, and that their grandchildren had become friendly with children of other families.
Despite the carnival nature of the festival and the drug culture that surrounds it, families didn't express major worries about their children being tainted by the atmosphere.
"Sometimes I worry about people that are mean or bigoted," Mary McNamara said. She said that most fans weren't overt about their drug use, and her children were young enough that they weren't completely aware of the drugs.
Anna Faltermeier/KANSAN
Hunter and Abby Meredith, 5 and 3, of Johnston, Iowa, talk with their dad while watching a band at Wakarusa on Sunday afternoon. Their mom Ailison, center, and Aunt Kara Gates sat nearby.