Information on the annual gathering, July 1-7th, is, on this page. You might want to go there rather than read this long rant about why I nuked this calendar of events recently. That page as all the information I have on events relating to the annual gathering of the tribes.
Thanksgiving council information can also be found on this page, but is reproduced here.
This council will focus on the 2005 annual Rainbow Gathering of the Tribes, which will be held in the Mid-Atlantic bio region as consensed upon by Vision Council at the 2004 California Rainbow Gathering.
Thanksgiving Council is being hosted at a rainbow-style intentional community in the Piedmont region of Virginia, about an hour from Richmond, VA. If you are flying, the closest airport is Richmond. You could also consider Washington DC airports which are less than 2 hours away.
Council will be held in a large tent. If you have access to any tepees or large tarps, please bring these as well as other temporary structures to protect folks against inclimate/cold weather. There will be parking for buses and vans.
Bring tents, warm bedding, warm clothes, cup bowl & spoon, toilet paper, and other personal necessities. Please bring lots of food to share, drums, good vibes and a desire to listen and respect the feather. Leave all egos and bad trips down the road.
Please do not get to the council site before Wednesday evening, Nov. 24th, as the Katuah Family Kitchen will not be ready to serve until then. Departure time is by Sunday evening because the host community is a working farm.
Our hosts, the land stewards, have asked that specific directions not be available on lightlines until Monday, November 22.
The lightlines are:
MARO - 202 797-3625
Katuah/Atlanta Lightline - 770-662-6112
NERF - 845-774-4100
Worse than that, many people wanted this calendar of events to be the official arbitrator of what is a "Rainbow" event or not. Years ago when I started the calendar, this wasn't a problem. But the permit issue has forced this to a head. Regardless of the fact that I believe strongly in our right to peaceable assembly without the need for permits, it's obvious that other people, supposedly acting as individuals disagree with this. Instead, they believe full compliance with the permit regulation is the only way, and ignoring the majority of Rainbow opinion, they have taken to signing permits and making deals with the Forest Service.
While these Paper Chiefs have taken to claiming they are only signing as individuals, the Forest Service obviously considers their permit application to be for the entire "group". The signers then, are naturally the representative of us all, and the rest of us have nothing to say about it. And of course this new leadership group is supported by Forest Service Law Enforcement rangers.
So somehow in this whole mess, various egos wanted their permitted events, or private parties in the woods, or whatever, to be considered Rainbow Gatherings, and maybe they were, but somehow folks decided it was up to me to decide. And that of course led to all the big egos posturing for position, and when I wouldn't necessarily agree, verbal and cyberspace abuse. So I've decided I don't want to be elevated into the position of being the secret leader of Rainbow. I'm just the self-appointed maintainer of this web site. I'm probably sadder dropping this calendar after 8 years, than ya'll are about it being gone. :-(
There will likely be other calendar of events on other web sites in the near future. Something I have noticed is that there seem to be more rumored Rainbow gatherings than real ones. Some people define a regional as anytime Rainbows get together in the woods, I see a regional as an event focalized by local family. Many of these rumors are annual ones, that have little basis in reality. You might be suprised how many people travel great distances to a "regional" to only find it's not even happening, and never was. I always attempted to sort out the rumors from the real regionals, but I'm not going to do it anymore. So please check your source, try to verify what's happening on your own. And if you ever wind up at one of these rumored regionals where there are other people that heard the same rumor, *please* clean up like you would any gathering.
I'm sorry this labour of love has become a labour of burden...
Please don't email me asking about regionals or directions.