I knew this year I wanted to make it to a festival in Colorado, and ended up deciding on Arise. I chose Arise as it seemed more community focused and there are many workshops, yoga classes, and other events to get involved with. I arrived in Colorado Friday morning and made it to the festival grounds outside Loveland in the afternoon. The line to get checked in wasn’t horrible, ended up taking around an hour to get through and parked. I did the walk in camping as I don’t see the benefit of paying an extra hundred dollars to camp with your car. I was able to get most my gear in in just a couple trips with a wagon I brought from home. I set up camp in the grass between a walking path and the outside back fence of the venue, then walked around a little bit to get acquainted with my home for the next few days.
Friday night blew my mind as Tipper melted and swirled our consciousness together like only he can. After the music ended I had to go lay down to get my wits about me but after a while I was ready for an adventure. You never know what you will find at 4 AM wandering the grounds of a festival. To my delight there was a bubble wizard poised at a perfect place on the trail blowing ginormous bubbles, you know the kind that can swallow you whole. He was encouraging others to join and he had a whole set up so that anyone so inclined could make their own huge reality distorting bubbles,… only rule was keep the stick out of the dirt! There was another nice gentleman playing some acoustic tunes and I just sat and watched as many others came and enjoyed the magic of bubbles like we were children again.
When Saturday came I could tell I was already a little drained, and needed a refresher. I participated in one of the yoga classes being offered that morning to loosen up, and of course was not dissapointed, there were so many great instructors over the weekend. Luckily the shower oasis they had set up was just what I needed after the good morning stretch. The company uses green practices to be sure water and resources are not wasted, I loved the idea. After cleaning up and feeling better I began to browse the shops and stopped by a couple of the workshops. Mid day they had a wonderful parade with all of the children around the venue. This was by far the most family oriented fest I have ever been to and would love to return one day with my young ones. You could see the wonder and delight in the children’s eyes as they paraded around as if in a fairy tale.
I spent some time Saturday going around and looking at the live art and getting a feel for the different vendor shops, which there were plenty of shops and art installations to choose from. Arise did a pretty good job making sure there was always some sort of activity you could be at or get involved in.
Saturday night Tipper was def a different vibe but wonderful as always. He blew our minds with the set just melding minds with our bodies through the vibrations of the earth and crowd. Clozee came on after and threw down which the whole crowd seemed to love, I have seen her like 6 times now and she never fails to kill it. The rest of the night was just spent wandering around making short visits to different stages, but ultimately ended up in bed before too late.
Sunday was much more of a chill day relaxing. Many jam bands and not alot of extracurricular activities besides getting closer looks at the art and enjoying the beautiful surroundings. Aaron Kamm and the one drops killed it Sunday evening and I realized then there were a lot more people there from STL area than I realized. We all agreed on one thing, cant believe Aaron Kamm hasn’t blown up with his great performances and killer energy he puts into all his shows. After Aaron Kamm rocked the place we were blessed with some of the grimey dirty wubs I love O so dearly with Goopsteppa. He came in and dropped some bombs and even though that tent stage was a sauna he had everyone moving and grooving
By Monday morning I was ready to head home. Everyone I talked to was extremely welcoming but I hadn’t connected with as many people as I hoped, mainly due to my introverted self always over thinking things, but I am working on it 🙂 . I was ready to come home to my beautiful wife and children. Festivals are a great way to reset but its always nice to get back to the # 1, those who love you unconditionally and depend on you. Much love and until the next glimpse of paradise