-
Vortex I
The Rainbow Family was originated from the Vortex I gathering at Milo McIver State Park in Estacada, Oregon, from August 28 -September 3, 1970. The Vortex I: A Biodegradable Festival of Life, a week-long festival in Oregon in 1970. Was a community-based, non-commercial event. The early pioneers of the Rainbow Gatherings worked there making an information booth, helping with security, lost children, supply trucks, etc, and that is where they took the name Rainbow Family. -
Founders of the Rainbow Family
Barry Plunker and Garrick Beck were in their late 20s when they had a prophetic vision. After attending another music festival in Portland(Vortex I) of August 1970, they decided that all the small communes, nomadic groups, and stray hippies could merge together. Their goal was to create, as one later member described it, “the largest best coordinated nonpolitical nondenominational non-organization of like-minded individuals on the planet.” -
The First Gathering
The first Rainbow Gathering was held in Colorado, U.S. in 1972 and was attended by more than 20,000 people. The Rainbow Gathering of the Tribes takes place from July 1 - 7 every year. -
Killing
two women were murdered at a Rainbow Gathering at Monongahela National Forest in West Virginia in 1980 after there had been brewing tension between the Rainbow Family and the locals. -
Expanding to Europe
The first European Rainbow gathering took place in 1983. -
The Mess
The Rainbow family is known to bring their own supplies during the gathering. And they know to clean it up after the gatherings are done. Though the Forest Service has criticized their cleanup efforts as being only "cosmetic" and "not rehabilitation by any stretch of the imagination."
In Montana in 2000, then governor Marc Racicot declared a "state of emergency" because of fears of the coming environmental destruction of the Rainbows on the National Forest -
Drug Use?
Rob Savoye, a “Rainbow” who has been attending the gatherings for over 30 years said, “People are tolerant, accepting of different stuff” and that “A lot of us have had rough family lives, and the Rainbow has sort of filled that void for us.” However stated from Savoye the general vibe of the group has changed over the years, with heavier drug use and incidents of violence. -
Government Vs. Rainbow Family
Although arrests and police run-ins have always been a hallmark of the Gathering, in the past these issues were dominated by an ongoing conflict with the government. For more than three decades, state and federal officials tried to shut down the Rainbow Gatherings, or at least force the "Rainbows" to sign a group-use permit with the National Forest Service, "permit envy" of the Bureau of Land Management, which exacts hefty fees from Burning Man. And in 2008 it was the boiling point for the Gov. -
On Sacred Land
On July 4 of 2015, the Winnemem Wintu issued a cease and desist letter, on behalf of itself and the Pit River and Modoc tribes, ordering the Rainbow Family off of sacred and sensitive lands in Shasta–Trinity National Forest. -
Cultural Exploitation in He Sapa, the Black Hills
"Many of us see the Rainbow gathering as engaging in cultural exploitation, and some of their activities as desecrating our holiest site by appropriating and practicing faux Native ceremonies and beliefs. These actions dehumanize us as an indigenous Nation because they imply our culture and humanity, like our land, is anyone’s for the taking. As outsiders, the Rainbow gathering has caused and will cause more harm than good." -
Ignoring COVID-19 Restrictions
The Rainbow Family of Living Light was holding its annual event in an area roughly 11 miles outside of Riggins, Idaho, despite COVID-19 restrictions. At the time, Idaho only allowed gatherings of only 250 or fewer people as part of Stage 4 in the reopening process. -
Another Killing
In February of 2021, a man assisting at a Rainbow Gathering in the Ocala National Forest in Florida was murdered at gunpoint from approximately two feet away, according to eyewitnesses Larry (Frank) DeWayne Dugger, 41, was taken to a local hospital, where he died.