Arts Wells

Last weekend was the long awaited Arts Wells Festival. This festival is a celebration of all things art. Music, dance, crafts, painting, drawing, weaving, instruments etc. You name it and it was probably there (including a workshop on how to play the bass - not the guitar, not the cello-like instrument, but the washtub-broomstick-string combination).

Last year I didn’t attend the festival, but this year I purchased a weekend pass and had a surprisingly good time at the festival. I was impressed with the quality and quantity of bands that performed and although I had to work and couldn’t attend any of the workshops, I did wish I could have gone to a few.

The Arts Wells Festival draws in people (mostly hippies) from around Canada and the states. For 4 days around 10 000 hippies descend on the town of Wells (population 250). Tents are pitched anywhere and everywhere and despite large amounts of drinking and smoking there is very little, if any, crime. Everyone is polite and curteous and friendly.

On the first night of the festival I knew that I was in for something different. An impromptu band popped up in the middle of the street and started playing music. A crowd formed and the crowd started to dance. In the middle of the street. The entire weekend was like that.

Although I am not a hippie - far from it- I decided to use the weekend as an opportunity to observe a culture different from my own. While participating on an exchange with Canada World Youth I learned that no culture is “weird’, they are just “different.” So I bring you my list of observations and I do not state them because they are ‘weird’ I state them because they are ‘different.’

1. 10,000 campers + 3 public showers in town = smelly weekend.
2. Dreads are really cool. Double cool if you play the cello or violin.
3. Pee wherever you want. On my front lawn, no problem.
4. Camp wherever you want. The baseball field, the ditch, my back yard, the side of the road, whatever works for you.
5. Dance. All the time.
6. Men can wear flowery silk skirts.
7. Barefeet make you 100% more hippie than the guy beside you wearing sandals.
8. Clowns are the new fad. Forget vampires, it’s all about clowns now.
9. Make music whenever, wherever with whatever you can find.
10. You are never too old to be a hippie. (85 yr old)
11. You are never too young to be a hippie. (1 month old)

I actually really enjoyed myself on the weekend. Caught up with some old friends, danced a bit, watched many, many bands and just chilled. Good Times.