By Shannon Lukens. (Courtesy photo)
UPDATE on July 22 — Here is the link to Inside the Largest Hippie Commune in the World.
Rainbow Family members, along with visitors and journalists have been making their way up to northwest Routt County for the 50th anniversary gathering.
One journalist is Chase Baker, who traveled to Colorado from Texas to cover the event for a new YouTube channel called Disposed TV. Baker and his cameraman, Charlie, had some interesting observations about the gathering and the participants. He describes what he saw at the gathering on Saturday.
This picture was the only picture they took. Chase ran into a Rainbow Family member wearing the same T-shirt so they took the picture together.
“So the only photo we have of any of us up there is when this lady ended up having the exact same T-shirt that I have on, with the same tie-dye color that says Stay Chill. She had the exact same one on so we had to take a photo together and that was the only one.”
Chase and Charlie flew into Denver and drove up to Steamboat and then the gathering on Friday. Chase had just returned from the Ukraine where they were shooting the first documentary of the conflict there, soon to be airing on Disposed TV. While there was concern about filming at the gathering, he said it would probably be less stressful than the checkpoints he went through in the Ukraine.
“I was an independent journalist and I recently got hired by a company and we’re starting a new channel on YouTube called DisposedTV. We will be releasing our first documentary soon. It’s about the war in Ukraine from some of our own footage that we have from when we were out there. We learned about the gathering in the Steamboat area and we decided to come and check it out and it’s been a heck of an experience.”
The YouTube website for Disposed TV describes itself as “Real Stories. No Agenda. Disposed.”
Chase also said he saw a film crew from Vice TV at the gathering. Their YouTube page says, “VICE TV. The TV channel from VICE. Built around a mission to tell courageous stories you won’t see anywhere else, told by the people you won’t hear from anywhere else. VICE TV showcases the best in informative and entertaining original series, documentaries and movies, and is the destination for content that challenges popular opinion.”
The official Rainbow Gathering is July 1-7. The U.S. Forest Services estimates over 6,000 people there as of Saturday.
US Forest Service Website for the Rainbow Gathering