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FREE FESTIVAL MANUAL

The concept of a FREE gathering could be traced back probably as far as you feel like
going, but let's concern ourselves with roots of the early 21st century free festival
culture, shall we? In North Amerika, it is known that various tribes of plains Indians
would gather annually and form a temporary settlement for the purposes of singing,
drumming, dancing and smoking the pipe together. There was no "security staff";
everyone was "on their honor" which meant even warriors had to chill out and lay aside
any past or present grievances between tribes in the interest of maintaining a peaceful
gathering. Centuries later, thousands of more recent sons and daughters of the
amerikan continent would reconnect with this tendency toward a peaceful co-existence
embodied in regularly occurring free gatherings. This loosely affiliated non-organization
became known as the Rainbow Family of Living Light, a.k.a. the Rainbow Family.
Rainbow gatherings evolved a traditional system of organizing which is somewhat
based on various native american traditions, as well as some purely European ideals of
individual liberty and freedom. At around the same time that the Rainbow was taking
shape in north amerika, the modern European free-festival culture was also coming into
being. In Britain, the Stonehenge monument became a beacon for spiritualists and
assorted freaks that became reconnected with their ancient Celtic and/or druidic roots.
By the 80's, the Stonehenge free festival was the biggest illegal gathering in Europe.
Tens of thousands occupied the area around the stones for many days, forming a
temporary city with no one in charge. Hundreds of school buses and other vehicles
converted into homes, band stages, and caf's became the standard for British and
European free-festivals for many years thereafter, allowing for an always-moving
festival culture. After harsh police-repression in the 80's and creeping alcohol and
heroin problems that followed in the early 90's, the free festival movement in Britain
seemed bent on destruction....until it received a pounding kick in the ass from the urban
underground squat tekno madness that drew thousands of youngsters out of the cities
and into the countryside to dance and freak on each other for days upon end. By the
mid 90's, this idea had spread into continental Europe and caught on big time in France
and Italy, where currently there is a free tekno festival attended by thousands of people
every weekend during the summer. In north Amerika, things evolved a little differently.
The rainbow gatherings became larger, with the largest one occurring once a year in
June and July. Known as the "annual" gathering, between 10 and 20 thousand people
converge on public land, always in a different place. Police repression is also an issue,
but seemed to always play out more in the courtroom rather than the "Bean field"
(reference to the "Battle of the Bean field") and the Gatherings are continuing to this
day, despite protracted legal battles with the US Forest Cirkus.
WHY FREE??

The term "free festival" implies "no money" but it also communicates an intention....the
creation of a free space where everyone should be "on their honor" to allow a situation
of peaceful co-existence...a free flow of ideas that may not be possible within the
confines of a festival that is based on the framework of the classic american rock

festival, devised in the late 60's as a way to harness and capitalize on the explosion of
youth energy and later continually repackage the "experience" and sell it back to new
generations. The free festival evades this trap. You can't buy it, and you can't sell it...it's
open to anyone who can accept the responsibility of self-government. There is no
"headliner" band, and the festival doesn't require a corporate-controlled "star system" to
attract a crowd. Musicians and artists don't have to whore themselves out to
businesspeople or compromise their creative paths to "get on the bill". A free festival is
also perhaps the unique meeting point between scholarly political philosophy and
transcendental spirituality, textbook "anarchists" get to actually experience feelings of
anarchy that go beyond words into the realm of the metaphysical. And what does one
get in return for this heroic outlay of energy and resources? Why should anyone do
anything for free and not expect something in return? Good fucking question, and I'll get
back to you on that one in a few years.... but for those of us who have experienced the
profound effects of temporarily liberated space on the thought patterns and world view
of those in attendance, I can only say that the world of humans (and the world of quite a
few other species) benefit greatly from these experiments and/or rituals of enhanced
co-existence. So in a way, your participation and energy input to a free gathering could
be seen as a gift, a pure act of selfless giving, and you have the freedom to visualize
any of the infinite possibilities of what we could do together, just for the fun of it...
PROMOTION
Since people seek entertainment/distractions on a disgusting scale already,
misinformation and propaganda becomes the obvious and cheapest option. Much fear
and a feeling of impending boredom will visit most minds upon seeing a b&w flyer with
no apparent mention of headliners or a jumpy castle. Without that 2 foot by 3 foot
colored glossy foldout pre-flyer you just don't know what you're getting. The brilliant
thing is that this kind of conditioning serves as a great filter for shitheads and
ignoramuses. Time is a big issue. 6 months is pushing it for having enough time to let all
the people who you want to see there know where and when you want to see them.
ZINES, local and national are free-cheap, reach a more freethinking crowd and gets
good exposure all over the country and sometimes further. Local zines can be found at
shows and at the better bookstores and more reputable info shops. Create a website
and trade links. **** Organize a date that werks with the currently touring soundsystems
tour schedule. Usually tours are structured around free festivals with paid dates in
between to pay for the cost of movement. Choose a date and place that would be
between other festivals. Two definite ones to consider are Mutant and Berzerkus
(www.mutantfest.org and h ttp://homepage.mac.com/berzerkus). Accomplishing this means that
now all soundsystems involved are promoting the festival and you reach many more
people. LOCAL EVENTS. Flyer for a few months at your local parties that attract the
kind of people you think would benefit the festival. MAIL-OUTS. To all djs, fans, and
freaks. Snail mail, email, telegraph, carrier pigeon, pony express- get mastercopies out
to friends and acquaintances who would throw them around record shops, infoshops,
anyplace the people you want to reach go. FESTIVALS. Go mingle and/or infiltrate
other festivals and flyer them. New ones pop up every year and a few are old standards.

SITE SCOUTING

The most important thing to keep in mind for scouting is to give yourself enough time to
be able to find a good site and not have to settle at the last moment. Keep in mind how
many soundsystems and performers are coming and try to find a location with enough
areas to hook up everyone. A source of water saves a lot of trekking about looking for
washing water, it cools you off in hot weather, makes it possible to bathe, is vital for
fighting fires, and is just damn relaxing to look at. The site needs large, flat, shaded,
soft, beautiful, pristine, kind, gentle, and useable land for camping. But if you have to
settle for three of the above, that's fine... we guess. Be that way. Shade from the sun is
nice to have for areas where people will be hanging out all day, like the kitchen,
werkshops, chillout, latrine etc. Parking is a most vital thing to keep in mind when you
look for a site. Parking needs to be out of the way, cars need to be able to not get
blocked in as this causes people some inconvenience when trying to get their friend to
the hospital 60 miles away. You should have parking for at least 200-300 cars just to be
safe. If possible, make the main path between the areas not accessible to cars. Most
free festivals have found that BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land is the best type
of public land to hold a gathering, but if you don't find that in your area, there are
different types of land to consider: including US Forest Service Land, State Parks, State
Forests and even private land. Each will have different rules and regulations which you
will undoubtedly break.
MAP POINT

Set up a meeting/map point in a nearby town (at the Piggly Wiggly, duh) where people
can get detailed information on how to get to the site. People can use it as a last stop to
get supplies (like, beer) before coming in and also pick up those without vehicles. If you
can designate someone attending the festival to make some regular trips to the meeting
point, this can make it easier for hitchhikers and freight train travelers to get there. Post
any information about the meet point, ridesharing, and essential items (ie: beer) to bring
on the voicemail so people coming won't have to make unnecessary trips to/from the
site.
KITCHEN

First thing is to acquire food. For a free kitchen or donation kafe, the amount of money
you want to pump into it is minimal. Most cities and towns have some sort of free food
distribution (food banks, food pantries, pockets). A visit by 20 people to all available
food banks for two weeks should feed a small stick shaking army. It's best to get
veggies and fruits only days before the festival so they don't go bad.
An alternative, or in addition to food banks, are local markets and corporate markets.
Go in weeks before and explain what you're doing and why. There's no reason why they
can't give it to you besides some unconscious/conscious fear that giving away some
near to rotten food for free will create a mad demand for older food to be distributed
freely to the community, the vegetable section would become an AA meeting and the
back alley a shooting gallery, so in the best interest of the safety of their paying
customers, all food must be destroyed if not sold. Usually their excuse is health codes
and fear of lawsuits. Bring with you a waiver form freeing them from responsibility, and
see if they squirm. Keep on the corporate markets... why should they be let alone to
pump money out of the community and give little or nothing back? Alternatively, try

going in posing as organic farmers and ask if they have any organic produce they are
throwing away for your compost heap. Usually, you'll be asked to come before opening
in the morning and get whatever fruits and veggies slated for the trash.
A third option is always dumpsters, those magic metal boxes of what you need. Many
bigger markets throw away huge amounts of good food to make room for new
shipments. Check bakeries, bagel shops, donut shops.
Now you have fuck-wads of food, you need storage. Walgreen's bins with lids-like
containers seem to hold up good they stack to make tables or igloos and clean easily.
Drill holes in the bottom for vegetable storage. Everything should be in bins- flatware,
bowls/plates, pans, utensils, and blind cave-dwelling fish. It makes set up and tear down
so much easier. Bread bins (2'x2'x 4" high with mesh bottom) you see stacked in trash
areas of markets are good for on-site vegetable and fruit storage, it prolongs their
miserable lives.
For safety reasons, propane stoves and campstoves are best for use in the forests. The
kitchen should be an off limits area to keep the area clean and reduce that stressful
"looking for the fucking can opener again".

Having a bin for the dirty dishes to pile up in makes it that much easier. Dish washing is
suggested to be done in 3 containers (5 gal. Buckets or large plastic bins) 1 is washwhich is soap, tea tree oil, and water. 2 is rinse- that's just water, and finally 3 disinfectwater and tea tree oil. Disposable products like bowls and spoons might seem like a
good time saving idea but in the end you'll have collected more trash to carry out and
washing dishes isn't that hard. Water can most easily be stored in food grade 50 gallon
drums, previously used for food products. For a spout get a hard plastic tube " outside
diameter. Cut the bottom end of the tube at an angle, drill a 23/32" or 11/16" hole in one
of the removable caps, use dish soap to lubricate the tube and shove it in. The tube
should stick up 2 inches over the top of the barrel. Attach a " inside diameter flexible
rubber tube (like aquarium tubes) over the 2 inches of exposed hard tube and put a

small hose clamp on it. Just 6 inches from the business end of the flex tube put a tube
crimper you can get at a homebrew store to werk as an on/off valve-like-thing. draw a
picture of a large pig dancing with a small goat on the outside of the container.
Remove the other screw cap and lay it aside to your right. Take a fuct bike innertube cut
out the air valve and 3 inches of innertube on either side of it. Make a hole just smaller
than the valve in the cap laying to your right and push it into the hole, it should take a bit
of force to make sure it's airtight. Get a bike pump or one of those fancy tire pumps that
plug into your car lighter (I've seen them at goodwill for 9$). Pump it up crimping the flex
tube. When the air pressure is higher inside the drum than outside, a siphon will be
started and will continue until either water runs. To stop the water quickly lift the tube up
as high as you can and shout out the names of all the people you desperately want to
slap.
A good portion of the waste produced in the kitchen will be compostable organic waste.
There are several reasons to compost in the forests and deserts of this land, I will list
none and leave the search for eternal truth to you. Dig a hole as deep as you can make
it (within, what is commonly accepted as, reason). At least 250 feet from the food prep
area to prevent airborne and fly borne bacteria getting into your morning coffee and
killing you before you can make it to the can opener. A thin layer of dirt should be
placed on every new addition to the pile.
Times of meals should be made known to all attending the festival, and to 3 people who
you expect not to exist. Also let people know what the next few meals will be.
Coffee and tea should always be on hand and ready to drink. The Less Acidic and
easiest way is to make 5 gal batches of ice pressed coffee. Put 4 gallons of water in a 5
gallon bucket, add 3.5 lbs. of coarse ground coffee. Let it sit, covered for 24 hrs. Filter
(we use white sheer frilly curtain material to make big reusable filter) and drink. Do this
every 12 hours and you should always have enough drinks around.
Make sure you have good knives, cutting boards, serving and cooking tables, loads of
forks and spoons, big soup pot, big fry pan, spatula, big stirring spoon, cups, lights, and
a tarp for to protect against the sun and rain. A quick stop at a local charity thrift store
could get some or all of these things donated, if you ask nice.
SITE SET UP

KITCHEN should be centrally located, easily seen and well lit. Tons of carpets

are thrown away every week at carpet shops and they gladly give them away
rather than pay for the dump. Big shady areas with carpets are super cool for
eating and hanging out. Think about noise bleed, you may not want so much noise
in the kafe or kiddie land.
KIDDIELAND- Even two markers, a crayon and a foodstamp are enough to
keep kids happy with an older type to keep them amused. Maybe try to find more
markers. Carpet's a great idea to put down for real youngings, and it make a
comfortable sitting spot. Take kids on a nature walk and find pine cones, leaves,
and such to make art with. Puppets, clay, books, and random toys without too
many parts will be fun. If enough kids are around games can be started like tag,
red rover, london bridges: etc... Try to keep a supply of diapers, wipes, and first
aid stuff like: bandaids, hydrogen peroxide, and antibiotic ointment to treat scrapes
and cuts. Also, kids love to learn music and performance- make them a part of

what's going on. Keep in mind what kind of soundsystem will be in the immediate
area of kiddieland. Again, quieter downtempo is better for kids to hang out around.
LATRINES should be well away (500 ft) from any food prep area or water
source. Latrines should be dug thin, long and deep. A 5 gallon bucket of lime is
added for that flush effect. With a little more werk, attach a toilet seat to a box with
appropriate holes. Place box over the hole you dug and put some paper on a
nearby twig. Since latrines are usually into the forest a bit, use signs and safety
tape to show the way. Lights are nice.
BUGS. Wet land=mosquitoes=bad fun
ROAD CREW

This is probably one of the more important damage control jobs. This is where you
introduce everyone in to the autonomous situation and fill them in on what's going on.
For the success of the festival people have to werk together, and people usually do,
they just need the information on what's going on. Two people should be stationed from
8pm- 5am at the entrance to the festival. Every car should be stopped and given a short
scenario of what's going on. Separating long term parking and just overnight parking
helps with the auto headache. People should be asked by road crew how long they're
staying and direct them to the right area. Long term parking: asking first if they've been
there already saves you from going into your mad rant, which is usually something like
where to park, where to camp, fire danger, and with enough forethought you'll be giving
them a map of the area with names of camps, where to park, location of med tent, kafe,
intergalactic petting zoo, camping, etc.
SAFETY/HARM REDUCTION

The medical tent should be clearly marked and have a light for night finding. And what
would be in a minimal semi-ideal med-tent.... Let's seeeee........ first you have to think
about what types ov encounters could possibly occur in the immediate natural
environment, as well as the bumps regular day to day human activities could produce....
Then bring everything you need to deal with it...... I'm not saying you have to go build a
hospital or anything (although it sounds delightfully fun to imagine), just bring something
for everything, and you'd be surprised how things can overlap......
of course you want to have all different sizes of bandaids and other bandages, a couple
ace bandages, gauze, tape, scissors, latex gloves(a big box of these are a good idea,
as you are in the woods or where ever, and hands are very dirty, also it's good for your
own safety as well), alcohol preps, tweezers, a thermometer, and whatever other
goodies you feel you need as you are standing in the local drug store getting the rest of
this stuff........
in a very minimal setup I would include a container of tea tree oil, hydrogen peroxide,
witch hazel, citronella oil, lavender oil, Gatorade (dehydration) grapefruit seed extract,
cascara sagrada tincture, cranberry tincture or uva ursi tincture, hyssop tincture,
Echinacea tincture, calendula tincture, ginger tincture, pill curing (a Chinese
formula),slippery elm lozenges, arnica montana salve, tiger balm, I hate to push
products but Weleda Burn Care(a homeopathic ointment for burns-it works better than
anything I've tried), a bee sting kit, a snake bite kit.......
In a larger setup I would add Spirulina, vitamin A(10,000 IU), vitamin B complex, vitamin
C (1500 mg, time release, with bioflavanoids if possible), vitamin E 400 IU gel caps, a

food based multivitamin, a multimineral blend, a vegetarian digestive aid (such as

bromelain or papain), triphala (an ayurvedic formula to cleanse the digestive system),
evening primrose oil capsules, pennyroyal tincture, blue cohosh tincture, black cohosh
tincture

DETAILS:
For problems that might incur, I have made a list including what would be good to have
for it....... For any treatment first make sure the patient tells you their allergies (i.e. hay
fever could make someone react if you give them bee pollen). For all abrasions, clean
the area and disinfect before applying poultices.
Cuts, scrapes- clean with H20, and hydrogen peroxide first then use tea tree or
lavender oil, cover with bandage....
Spider bites- apply Echinacea tincture, or for sensitive areas, I have used a
calendula tincture topically very successfully....
Bee stings- make sure stinger is out...if allergic, use bee sting kit immediately, if not
allergic, use Echinacea tincture topically.....
Snake bites- if poisonous, use snake bite kit, try to keep snake and bring it and
person bit to a hospital.... If not poisonous, use Echinacea tincture topically......
Mosquitoes- use a mixture of citronella, tea tree, and lavender oil (a fancier blend
would include pennyroyal, cajuput, peppermint, and eucalyptus oils) to prevent
biting, and use witch hazel to help stop irritation of already bit places....
Ticks- if a tick is embedded in the skin, put an alcohol prep over it for an hour....it
will come out pretty easily after that.... If it is a deer tick (the really small ones)
tape it to a piece of paper with date, person it was found on, and location of bite (if
lyme disease turns up, that tick contains the only remedy for it-you need to give it
to the doctor to make).....
Constipation- you'd be surprised how this comes up in a camping situation..... use
the cascara sagrada tincture
Urinary tract infections- use cranberry tincture, hyssop tincture, drink lots of water, if
you have it, use an uva ursi tincture....
Burns- use weleda burn care for smaller burns.... In Prague this summer I came
across someone with second degree burns from making hot tea.... It was blistery,
and I coated her foot with vitamin e that was squeezed out of the capsules, gave
her vitamin A(10,000 IU daily), multimineral complex, evening primrose oil, zinc
(50 mg daily), Vitamin C (1500 mg daily), spirulina, vitamin e (400 IU daily),
vitamin B complex, and put her on a regiment of using tea tree oil in the morning,
letting it air out, using aloe vera in the afternoon, and vitamin e in the evening,
covering it up to sleep at night..... the burn should breathe in a clean environment,
and be covered in dirty times.......
It is a good idea to have a designated vehicle nearby with keys handy in case
anyone needs to be rushed out of the area to go to a hospital.... Directions to and
phone number of the nearest hospital should be inside the car, and the gas tank
should be filled, and if possible there should be a mobile phone for when the car
gets into an area that a call can be made to the hospital, or anyone that might
need to be contacted. Also, there should be walkie talkies of some sort that med
krew on duty can use to communicate with each other, and with the designated

driver in case they are needed....

I think that it's a good idea to pass out condoms at the med tent (maybe it's
because I've seen so many mishaps on the road), they are available at any free
clinic or planned parenthood...if you tell them what you are doing, most ov the time
the people there are more than happy to give you loads.... And if someone comes
to you the day after they needed to, she can take 20 drops each ov the
pennyroyal, blue cohosh and black cohosh every four hours until menstruation
begins (I would only use this as a last resort, it is really hard to follow time at a
festival, and proper dosage is a must... if you take too much, you can poison
someone, and too little won't work, even still it doesn't always work, and then you
have to go to a clinic (quite a messy experience), but worth a try just the same... I
would try the condoms first though..... but since we are on the subject, I try to have
some spare tampons and pads at the med tent, as it seems out of a couple
hundred women, one ov them is bound to start bleeding in the woods with nothing
to catch it......
And we might as well face the fact that some people take drugs while in the woods
at these gatherings.... So I would keep some 5-HTP and niacin at the tent too.....
the 5-HTP is to be taken the day after an ecstasy trip to boost seratonin levels to
normal, and the niacin is used if someone has taken LSD and is having a bad trip,
or just doesn't want to be tripping as much as they are....
Other things to include in a good med tent are lights, fresh drinking water (with
cups), water buckets for potential fire, a map of the area including water
resources, campsites, roads, etc., a lost and found.

LEGALITY

All right don't look at me like that. Free festivals are a threat to mainstream capitalist
society in amerika. Just recently, Reclaim the Streets (RTS), and their impromptu street
parties got them labeled as a terrorist organization by the U.S. Government

(www.fbi.gov/congress/congress01/freeh051001.htm).
Free parties/festivals were targeted by the UK authorities back in 1992 with the Criminal
Justice Bill and more recently, France has passed a similar law banning unsanctioned
free parties and gatherings which- if convicted- carries steep fines and confiscation of
equipment. Here in the USA, The Rainbow Family is at the forefront of the legal battle to
peaceably assemble on Public Land (refer to: w
ww.welcomehome.org under "legal stuff"
and research for yerself).
Anyone questioning the commodification of our public lands and national forests,
anyone who believes in the right to peacefully assemble, or anyone supporting a
worldview where human rights come before property rights will be seen as a threat. So
if you find some cool BLM land, have a posse, and want to throw down a weekend
gathering- cuz you figure: This is public land and we're the public and we're gonna be
totally responsible about it...you are now that "anyone" we're talking about. So,
depending on the size and the character of your crew, you will be dealt with using as
much force as is deemed necessary. But since cracking heads every time someone
shows an inkling of free thought is a bit costly and time consuming, jumping about like
burning ferrets might not be the cops' or rangers' first reaction. If you can negotiate
diplomatically and show how responsible you are, you can hopefully persuade them to
chill out and even provide assistance (like bringing in 100 gallon water buffaloes).
Forest rangers aren't cops and they have the jurisdiction over BLM land so they're worth
talking to if you find yourself on BLM land.
BLM land is land owned and controlled by the national government and is therefore
"covered" under the first amendment which is, "Congress shall make no law respecting
an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the
freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble,
and to petition the government for a redress of grievances." (for more info go to
www.freedomforum.org or w
ww.welcomehome.org under "legality" for specific information on the
right to assemble).
FIRE

5 gallon water buckets should be filled with water at every camp thru out the festival. A
reserve of buckets should be kept at the med tent for larger fires that need bucket
brigades. A 16" wide (deep enough to clear any combustible material like grass away)
trench around vehicles on the festival site will make the BLM happy and easier to deal
with. Designate this job to your favorite superstar DJ, they will love it.

CLEAN-UP

If you've done it right you would have been cleaning throughout the festival. Areas for
recycling should be clearly marked for the duration of the festival. Putting up wire mesh
containers for recycling makes it so much easier. You just need chicken mesh wire,
wooden stakes at least two feet high and a shovel. Make a triangle by sticking the
stakes into the ground about three feet apart from each other. Then take the mesh and
weave/ wrap it around the stakes. Put up separate bins for plastic, glass, and aluminum.
Trash should be driven out when ever someone goes into town. The entire area should
be gone thru to ensure no trash is left behind.