Take Me to Your Leader

A huge annual gathering of hippies freaks out the National Forest Service

Sam MacDonald from the February 2001 issue

(Page 2 of 5)

Many older Rainbows refer to people like Buzz and Freedom as "Drainbows"—campers who contribute little to the common cause but act as a drain on the limited supply of food, water, and drugs. Still, the Gathering survives without any centralized authority to spur the free riders to action. Everyone who is hungry gets fed, and everyone in need of heady nuggets finds plenty along the way.

The planning process for the 2000 event began at the 1999 Gathering, in Pennsylvania’s Allegheny National Forest. Hippies hunkered around campfires tossed out ideas for the new venue: Vermont, Arizona, Utah. All 19,000 of them left without a clear sense of where this year’s Gathering would be. So how did they all end up in the same Montana meadow just 12 months later?

The answer to that question lies at the heart of the Rainbow experience. The Forest Service contends that an established group of Rainbows, usually called "focalizers," is the de facto Rainbow organization, deciding where and how the Gatherings should be conducted.

The Forest Service needs the Rainbows to have leaders. Otherwise, there would be no one to cite for refusing to sign the permit, unless it called in the National Guard to cite all 23,000 attendees. The feds have often cited a few people at past events, usually leading to fines of less than $100. But they seem to be losing patience. In Erie, Pennsylvania, last June, U.S. District Judge Maurice B. Cohill Jr. sentenced three Rainbows cited at last year’s gathering to one month in jail; he also tacked on some hefty fines. "While the ‘mouse that roared’ syndrome sometimes has the appeal of tweaking the authorities on the nose," Cohill said in his decision, "we hope that the time to stop has finally arrived."

The feds cited three more campers for failing to sign permits this year. They were scheduled to appear in federal court in Montana in December.

It’s hard to say why the Forest Service chose to cite these particular people, or why it did not choose more. The Rainbow Guide, the "unofficial" Rainbow handbook distributed free at the Gathering, lists the names and addresses of 24 individuals and organizations that call themselves focalizers, and about 400 more who readily admit to being Rainbows. Still, only three people received citations. None were listed as focalizers.

The Rainbows’ legal defense usually comes in two parts. First, they say the permit requirement violates their constitutional right to assemble freely. Second, they say that since the group has no leader, no one is authorized to speak for it or to sign any permits in its name.

The Rainbows claim they have no formal organization and no leaders, that the entire event is nothing more than a "tribal anarchy" run through spontaneous order. According to the Guide, "Our Gatherings are open to all peaceful people. There is no membership, no administration. There are no leaders. No one is turned away. Any non-violent person with a belly button is welcome. You are a Rainbow by simply deciding that you are one, and your voice is equal to that of any other Rainbow, be it your 1st Gathering or your 20th."

There is, indeed, no central Rainbow authority in any traditional sense. The core group consists of clans scattered throughout the world. Rainbows in New York City meet weekly for potluck dinners and drum circles in area parks, and similar gatherings take place in Baltimore, Philadelphia, and other cities. Following the national event in Montana, regional gatherings were planned for Colorado and Alaska. The Rainbow Guide lists addresses in at least 10 foreign countries.

The national gathering unites all these clans for a week. Information about dates and locations spreads through the loose web of "scouts" and focalizers. According to The Rainbow Guide, experienced scouts scour the nation for appropriate sites throughout the year, sharing information with regional focalizers. Then they meet for a Spring Scouting Rendezvous, where their choices are narrowed. Later—usually sometime in June, just weeks before the Gathering—focalizers meet to announce the location and distribute the information through hotlines and, more recently, Web sites.

Becoming a focalizer or a scout is about the easiest thing in the world to do. At the Gathering, all you have to do is attend the Family Council meeting at high noon, where major Rainbow business is conducted through prayer and consensus building. Volunteer for something, and before you know it you’re a focalizer.

Consider Owl, the fellow manning this year’s Info Center—a makeshift lean-to with a map of the site, a message board, and various handouts. He was the focalizer "in charge" of sanitation. How did he get the job?

Owl, who works as a consultant for a home security company, has been attending national and regional gatherings since 1985. One year, concerned about the cleanliness of the hand-dug "shitter" trenches, he brought about $400 worth of sanitation equipment along with him.

"No one told me to," he told us. "I just saw something I thought needed to get done, so I brought it."

Owl’s knowledge of sanitation was useful, and people began consulting with him about the best way to dig the shitters. He referred to himself as the "head of sanitation." Which he probably is. But that is not to say that he is actually in charge of anything. He was never elected or appointed to an official position. He has no authority to tell people where to dig a latrine. He does not dig them all himself. Still, the trenches got dug, people used them, and for the most part they avoided the infirmities one might expect when 23,000 marijuana aficionados eat, sleep, and shit in the same general area for an extended period of time.