Where the Gathering will be in 2009

Directions:

Directions from Albuquerque: Take I-25 north to U.S. Highway 550. Go north on U.S. Highway 550 approximately 65 miles to State Highway 126 (Cuba, NM). From Cuba, NM take State Road 126 East for 13 + miles to FS Road 103 on left, go 2 miles to FS Road 69 on left then drive 9 miles to where FS Road 69 meets FS Road 70. Welcome Home!!*. A link to the map to Parque Venado is here Another map, with some site details, by Henry the Fiddler is here.

There is a community meeting scheduled in Cuba for 6pm, June 17th, #45, highway 126 (the community center). It would be good to have some gathering attendees make this meeting to help present a more balanced view than the usual Forest Service scare tactics. The number I saw in the newspaper of 30,000-75,000 is hilarious. Based on the last few years, I'd think we're looking at more like 6,000 people max, since the Forest Service harassment has succeeded in driving many people away.

For people looking for the videos of the pepper spraying incident that occured at Kiddie Village on July 3rd, 2008, go here. This is the original footage from the gathering, some of which later was put on YouTube. A Press Release about the incident is here While the Forest Service has attempted to portray this as "a rainbow riot", you can clearly see in all the videos that at no time where the LEOs threatened, and they clearly shoot people in the back that were keeping things peaceful.

For more evidence of Forest Service harassment, it appears the Forest Service has appointed somebody to sign a permit application for this gathering site, which was then granted. This makes this a "legal" gathering in the eyes of the Forest Service, and an "illegal" one in the eyes of gatherers. So we now have an appointed representative in charge of managing the gathering, and none of us involved with the gathering site at this time have any idea who our new boss is...

Considering that a primary belief of the Rainbow Family (most of us anyway), is that we have no leaders! No one can represent the Rainbow Family and the gathering, especially somebody who very likely has little to no connection with the Rainbow Family at all...

Ignore all rumors of cancellation or organization! Live Lightly with the Land and People!

Additional information on the water system used to purify water for this year is here. Clean water helps keep us all healthy! The water crew has a new PayPal account to help cover the costs associated with buying water line every year to replace the parts that can't be reused. The existing PayPal account is used primarily for the water filters and other expensive water filtering related parts that need replacement every year.

The water crew is asking all kitchens that want to be connected to the main water line to bring the following items. These items in total should not cost more than $50-$100. Please help get this word out to all kitchens. If each kitchen brings a little it helps us all.

The Rainbow Guide is also looking for donations to cover the costs of publishing the Guide. If you've ever traveled and looked up people in the Guide, you know what a great resource this is.

Happenings at the Gathering

There are many wonderful things that happen at a gathering, but I'll list a few highlights. Remember the concept of "Rainbow Time", and that any semi-scheduled event will start when it starts, and not necessarily by the clock.

For more information about Rainbow Gatherings, here are some more documents.

Other Sources of Information

Now that it's Spring Time, the Forest Service is cranking up their disinformation propoganda machine. While the USFS tries heavily to freak out the locals about the coming Gathering, usually the result is no where as bad as they try to lead folks to believe. Here's a few general media articles looking back on things from the perspective of a year later.

Ride Shares

Last updated June 24th, 2009