Jammin’ in the Outback by Janel Harlan of the Lake County Examiner

Beginning Friday, May 2, One Family Gathering took place just West of Christmas Valley. In attendance for the 3 day event were over 700 people from Oregon, Washington, California and even farther.

Bud Weather was one of the main personnel working the event, he brought the event together. He carried a walkie talkie that was always spouting out the goings-on around the grounds, and seemed to be everywhere at once. Weather has the type of personality that reaches out to you the minute you meet him, magnetic and energetic.

One thing he was very clear on was rules. A list of rules that everyone had to abide by, including number seven, section F, “In all OneFamilyGathering.org activities, all participants share in the responsibility for their own safety and the safety of the group.”

The festival took place on private property and One Family Gathering came equipped with law enforcement in the event something happened. “Law enforcement is taken care of in-house. If there is a big problem we will give it over to (local) law enforcement. Otherwise, it is all taken care of as a family, because we are all one family,” stated Weather. Over the course of the weekend, 7 arrests, and 1 seizure took place, according to the police report.

The DJ tent, set up by The Oregon Crew, who set up shows for The Grateful Dead, held a 24-hour surge of loud music by over 14 different DJ’s throughout the 3-day event.

“The locals are really happy to have us here,” Weather said. “We really haven’t had any complaints from the people we’ve talked to so far.”

‘Bringing Harmony to Music’, is the motto. Harmony Event Medicine is a Non-Profit Organization 501(c)(3) based in Eugene. Providing basic life support medical aid, naturopathic remedies, and crisis assistance services to patrons of large gatherings, events, and concerts. They aim to provide a personalized and comfortable environment for large gatherings of any kind. For more information on Harmony Event Medicine, go to www.harmonyeventmedicine.org. With a 35 member medical team on staff consisting of doctors, nurses and an onsite ambulance, the festival was prepared for anything.

“This is actually our sixth summer doing this,” Jeff Sutton said. “This is our vacation. So, getting out and getting to enjoy the music and meeting lots of different people, some you only get to see two or three times a year, is a really good thing all in all.” Sutton is the executive director of HEM.

Among the everyday patrons of the event were some pretty famous people. Normal Bean has his own TV show, The Normal Bean Show, and has his own band. He toured with CCR, Collective Soul and more, including Ken Petersen on an eight city tour for peace. He travels on a bus called Further and says, “We could have another festival here in Oregon besides the Country Fair. We could put a whole bunch of money into this county here and (if) everyone get(s) along, we’ll come back again.”

Ken Petersen, who is a musician, composer and more, happened to play with John Lennon’s Plastic Ono Band. Petersen, who stars in the Ken Petersen Band, came all the way from Florida to join in the music festival.

“It’s very enjoyable,” Petersen said. “I think it’s just amazing what they (One Family Gathering) pulled off.” Petersen plays with Normal Bean on a regular basis.

On the East side of the camp was a hydraulic powered, fire resistant tent. Inside, the live bands were jammin’! Playing the event were such bands as Normal Bean (with his Prankster Surprise), Bazil Rathbone, Ken Peterson, Wehrwolve, Bens Jazz Kit and many more.

Vendors selling homemade goods such as jewelry and clothing were all around the camp. The Oregon Crew and some of the bands made camp in the VIP section. The Oregon Crew had a canvas tent in which they painted faces of different race, age and color. A wonderful piece of artwork that truly represents what this music festival stands for.

Jammin’ in the Oregon Outback is what the weekend was all about. For more information on One Family Gathering, logon to www.onefamilygatheirng.org or email Bud Weather at weather@onefamilygathering.org.