I completely agree...this was my first WF as well and it was absolutely amazing and I can't wait until the fall when I can come back.

I also had a blast. A few comments since I had to leave before the future of wildfire panel:

1) If it wasn't brought up, spinoff buckets would be really nice (apparently there were ones at previous Wildfires?) both from a fuel conservation and from an environmental point of view.

2) Due to outside circumstances I was away from Wildfire on Sunday day and had lunch out at a very fancy restaurant instead of in the mess hall. I have to say, the food at Wildfire was far superior to that at the restaurant, so major kudos to the the kitchen crews (especially the people running them).

3) Possibly people volunteering for drumming in the evening (or at least those wanting to organize it) could sign up in a way similar to those who signed up to teach classes. That way those people could lead practice during the day and get down a really tight routine. To be clear, this isn't as a reaction to how night drumming worked this time, but a recap of conversation that a few of us had on Friday afternoon on the way to Wildfire.

It really was wonderful. Thank you to everyone who made it possible.

Many BIG phat mahalos to everyone who made it happen and everyone who attended! I was a virgin this WF and it totally lived up to what an amazing experience I was told it would be. I seriously wanted to cry when I had to leave early on sunday night. I met so many beautiful souls and didn't get to say good-bye to many of them...thank you to you all for all your teachings, laughter and love. YOU ALL FUCKIN' ROCK! Can't wait for the fall!

hugs n' kisses~
Liana

Me three. :) This was my first Wildfire, and... it took a while to sink in how *friendly* everyone was, because I started off intimidated by how skilled they all also were. :) But it was awesome. I felt like a lot of the best parts were just having everyone in one big room for meals and watching people bounce crazy ideas off each other. :)

guess that makes me the fourth?!


I first WF was just amazing!!! I really wanted to thank everyone for being so supportive on my first burn
"weve got a virgin over here""wooohoooooo"

:D

It was fun.

I too had to leave early, as I had responsibilities today, and in addition I've been sick for a whole week. I will say that I felt significantly less sick as soon as I got there and stayed that way until Sunday afternoon, thanks to all the wonderful people I got to see and bond with, thank you all.

Gripes:

I liked the new spot, but I did feel it was a bit too large. At the old location everything was highly focused in one area, and large clusters of people who weren't taking classes regularly formed. I highly enjoyed these impromptu gatherings, and there were some of them at this wildfire, but I felt they were less prevalent because there was just so many classes and so many places you could be. I also get the feeling that setting up and breaking down was probably really, really hard, which may have been exacerbated by ending on Monday instead of Sunday since some folks most likely had to leave on Sunday. So overall the location was overwhelming which was good and bad.

The best of the food tended to run out, so there was this feeling you had to hang around early if you wanted to get the good stuff... annoying but somewhat understandable. I'm wondering if people still went home with trays and trays of food like at past wildfires.

That's all I can really think of to complain about, other than that it was great! I learned a lot of stuff at some great classes and I saw some really agile leadership deal with problems that arose quickly, so overall I would say things were great.

Ok Ok i know this is a post to say how frikkin awesome the weekend was so im going to have to pipe in also. This was my first wildfire experience and it lived up to my expectations. I pass on many blessings to all who put this together and also to all who attended. This was totally a group effort the whole way around.
Also thank you thank you thank you so much for the effort you put into the safety aspect of the weekend. Sonya and her crew did an amazing job to allow us to burn and come out of it alive. Many blessings to the safety crew.

I learned so much. It's amazing how quickly I learn when you're watching & taking tips from such awesome talent!

Going with good friends... Meeting so many awesome people... Watching Foxy's first burn and the face of amazement she had after it (welcome to the addiction is right!)... hearing the good morning song... dancing in the sun and dancing in the rain...

Everything!

Thanks Wildfire and thank you everybody who came to make it what it was and will be!

Ditto...ditto...ditto and ditto! What an amazing time..& incredibly talented & dedicated people.
...One complaint - not enough hours in the day to do everything I wanted to do!

Saying thank-you just isn't enough...

it's been said, but i'll say it again... this was my first wildfire and it was awesome!

the food was great too! as a vegetarian with a restcted diet, i'm used to being disappointed and hungry when im away from home, not this past weekend tho! :)

met so many great people! figured out the tricks that had been stumping me... such a good weekend!

big thank you to the volunteers! next time i promise to volunteer! thank you to those who did!

thank you everyone!!! it was an awesome weekend!!

love the new site, but think that some additional toilets would help immensely - those staying on the field had long lines at the bathroom at the main building, i started using the one by the greeters. but when everyone is on the field or in the building, that was a heavy demand. i wonder if some portopotties could be brought in?

otherwise, no complaints, everything rocked!!!

yay!

another great wildfire filled with friends and learning :D

Thank you everybody, voulonteers, people sitting arround the fire till 6 am and especially you! YES YOU!!!! You sexy thang!!!

I cannot even express how absolutely transformed I am..!

This was my first WIldfire and to say I was not dissapointed is so weak.. how about this:

Gorgeous wonderful spinner: "You look overwhemled"
Me: "I am, but I have to take it all the way to permanenet shock!"

:-)

You were all absolutely wonderful, giving, kind, amazing and more than I could have ever expected. I mean, where the hell else can you get into an impromptu conversation about biochemistry, and then turn around and watch someone breath fire? Now, now I can say WE are the most amazing and wonderful people, and it feels so amazingly good!

I breathed for my first burn! WOO! Breathers, you know what I mean when I say.. it hit me in my soul, and I'm never coming back! I had a GREAT plume, and a lot of good puffs... WOO! When I was done all the new breathers, cheered me, and hugged and jumped on me, giving me happy! Thank you to all the breathing instructors!!

Then I saw the fire eating performance, and even though I had said 3 days earlier I wouldn't ever do that, something plucked a string in my heart, so I took those classes.. oh. my. god. to all of you, the wondefful imstructors,, breathing put fire into my soul, and eating put it in my heart. You are wonderful, and lovely, as were all the eaters who took their first tentative steps into their new, lovers relationship with fire.

WE are Wildfire, and Thank You doesn't even cover it. But still.. Thank You to everyone, especially the organizers, the cooks (was that food awesome or what?), the cleanup crew, and everyone else who sacrificed their time from classes and activities to make it better for everyone.

I'm a Fire Baby now and I'm NEVER going back!!!

There was a SIREN?!?

Just goes to show you can't experience everything at WF.

Y'all already heard how I feel about you. And by "you", I mean WF and all of you. And by "feel", I mean love and accept exactly as you are and as you choose to be and in the ways you choose to be in the next moment.

Which, I think, is the short version of that rambling speech I gave the first night - and the long version of what I'm saying when I hugged you.

YES yes yes! It was also my first, and it inspired me more than anything had in a long time. Thank you, to everyone! For making me confused, after only three days, when I saw the word "isolation" in a commuter's magazine on NJ Transit, and got all excited because I thought they were reading about spinning.

I want to thank Kirsten and Baz for joining me in the booth.
I want to thank Mike Ferrel for lending his gear yet again.

Thanks everyone else I ran into, for giving me a chance to walk on stilts, safetying fire on stilts, teaching me new moves, playing frizbee (that was awesome, haven't done that in over a decade), and everyone for being awesome.

Last WF I had a mind blowing time meeting 100+ new people and experiencing it for the first time. My brain was filled with new spinning concepts that my body could not begin to process and implement.
This time, I knew a little more what to expect, and was still blown away by the experience. And now my hands have started to catch up to my brain, and I’ve seen the most remarkable improvement in my spinning…it’s so heartening to see real proof that practice and effort pay off…Thanks WF for helping to make me a better spinner, a better performer, a better volunteer…Thank you!

Right on. This was my first wildfire as well. I learned so much on so many different levels. I never thought I would end up half naked on fire in front of large audience. Thank you wildfire for making that happen.

i had know idea that an aura could be embroidered. i loved every last one of you fiends who shaped my weekend.