Rainbow Family brings back 1960s

Herald and News, Klamath Falls, Oregon

Friday, June 18, 2004 3:12 PM PDT


Harry Huggs, left, and passengers in his modified school bus flash the peace sign in Likely, Calif., earlier this week before continuing to the Rainbow Family Tribe gathering in the South Warner Mountains. More than 500 people are already at the gathering site.



Published June 18, 2004

BY ANTHONY LARSON

LIKELY - Colorfully painted vans and buses, backpacking hitchhikers.

No, it's not a 1960s flashback. It's the 2004 gathering of the Rainbow Family Tribe.

As of Thursday afternoon, Modoc National Forest officials said more than 500 people had gathered at this summer's site, Bearcamp Flat in the South Warner Mountains on the Modoc.

Anywhere from 8,000 to 20,000 people are expected. An estimated 22,000 attended a 1984 gathering, which was held on the Modoc only a few miles from this year's location.



The impact is already being seen, especially in Likely, a small Modoc County community where most of the travelers are passing through.

"It's a gathering full of hippies Š a bunch of dirty hippies," mocks Cierra, the only name she would give, obviously pleased at the chance to tease a reporter. With half her head "butched" and the other half "spiked," Cierra is a passenger on what looks to be an old school bus with a Volkswagen bus body on it top and the words, "Peace to You," scrawled graffiti-style on the side.

From now until the main celebration on the Fourth of July, individuals and groups will be immigrating from all directions in all manner of conveyances.

"The national is a huge one, the Fourth of July and everything," says Cierra.

Paul John of East Texas, another bus passenger, says the Rainbow Family is "just a lot of good people" looking for "a lot of good vibes. You know what I'm saying? Just here to learn a lot, you know."

A passenger who gave his name as Smokey was asked what would happen at the gathering. "Magic, man!" he said as his face lighted up, which brought giggles and chuckles from his traveling companions.

Kristopher Kenney, who gave his origin as, "U.S. of A. born and raised," seemed inseparable from a shy, slightly chubby girl with blonde and reddish hair who wanted to be called Bonnie.

"I don't like my name in the paper," shrieked Bonnie. "Bad things happen when my name's in the paper."

"They call me Harry Huggs," said the bus driver, the eclectic group's unacknowledged leader. "There's a lot of people in the world right now with a lot of problems and stressed, you know, a lot of people on the street who are thrown away like these kids you just talked to a minute ago."

The invitation the Rainbow literature offer reads, "We, calling ourselves The Rainbow Family of Living Light, with great joy and humility, invite you and your relations to join us on the land in the celebration of life! Share our heartfelt desire for true World Peace and Harmony among all sentient beings. Please join us in visions and heartsongs, chants and prayers, meditation and jubilation, smiles and tears, and follow your bliss at this sacred gathering of the tribes."

"When I was a young boy, the Navajos and the Hopis used to come to our house and they would trade," says Huggs. "They would always tell me, 'Yes, we know you are rainbow. We love you.' And they would tell me stories of the rainbow. And so now I come to Rainbow. I live it. I like it."

"We are not an organization and have no leaders," insists the Rainbow Guide, an unofficial group publication. "We live a vision of cooperation and coexistence."

"When the people of the earth are tired of all the killing, death and destruction, there will come a tribe upon the earth known as the Rainbow," says Huggs, attributing this belief to a Hopi tradition or prophecy he learned as a boy. "And this tribe will be for the healing and the betterment of humankind."

Forest Service, local law enforcement and fire officials are keeping a close eye on the event since they provide various services to the Rainbow gathering. The Forest Service has a team designated to work with the group to facilitate the gathering.

Likely residents are a little anxious about such a large assembly near their town, but they also seem accommodating. They experienced the phenomenon once in 1984 when the Rainbows gathered at Camp One, also in the South Warners.

Madeline residents have been frustrated by Rainbow members who have knocked on doors all hours of the day and night asking directions to the gathering. After trying to follow instructions posted on the Internet, many have become exasperated and returned to Madeline to ask directions.

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