Grant County has evolved significantly from the time of my arrival in 1967 as an 18 year old local pastor’s son. Since that time, it has been increasingly impossible to remain isolated in a world where we are all now interconnected with instant worldwide feedback.

While the county obviously remains dominantly conservative in a political sense, socially and economically it has become broadly established here that a toleration of differences is a better way to get along, and also that it makes more money for everyone. We can all observe the positive economic benefit to our communities from the current steady summer-long flow of pedal-powered and motorized two wheeled tourists, as well as RV-based visitors.

And by word of mouth I understand that the piggy-banks of the county are already fat and swollen with the deposits of our future August 21 eclipse visitors. Some of these transient visitors may talk, look, and dress strange, but they are still viewed positively, and that toleration is well and good.

Now the natural beauty of our land has attracted another large influx of temporary visitors, but the reaction to this news, that Grant County shall be hosting The 2017 National Rainbow Gathering, is cautious. Unfortunately, government and media are in part culpable parties in creating this view, for the historical propaganda spin over the years has been one emphasizing the problematic conundrums of dealing with the less responsible elements attracted to this annual event.

However, wisdom has always taught that there is no such thing as a problem without a blessing being contained within it. Therefore, as I have considerable positive personal experience with it, please allow me to share with you how The Rainbow Gathering is such a blessing…both for the attendees, and the hosting communities.

In my own experience and speaking only for myself based upon attending about 10 Gatherings over the years, the Rainbow Gathering is a highly idealistic social experiment. At it’s best it’s a portal to an exalted state of large-group selfless cooperation rarely experienced within even the best institutions of mainstream society. First called into being as a week-long Colorado Rocky Mountain-sited gathering of 30,000 people to pray for world peace in 1972, in this 45th gathering it continues the ethics and traditions that I witnessed created at that first gathering.

The gathering is a truly awesome and joyous celebration. Day and night, there is so much homegrown acoustic music, singing, drumming, so much camaraderie, so much open-heartedness among the thousands of beautiful people everywhere that it is hard to believe you are not in a kind of heaven, especially since the gathering site is always held in a natural and beautiful national forest environment.

And, on the dawn of the Fourth of July, hours of prayerful silence and then thousands upon thousands of souls circling in mass as one people together to pray — each in our own ways — for the Peace of Love to enter this war-torn world, and for the survival of the at-risk future of the human race. So… as a temporary but annually recurring utopian social experiment, the Rainbow Gathering has much to offer to all people, including to the witnessing and economically benefiting communities nearby it, in terms of demonstrating the inherent best possibilities of a fully open-hearted human life. And for the ripe and mature soul desiring to contribute back, The Rainbow Gathering contains within itself a highly concentrated volunteer community service curriculum of personal spiritual development: the opportunity to wake up, grow up, clean up, show up, and walk the talk.

Yet despite the high intentions and motivations, there are also notable failures, and this is where I believe the negative conversations about the Gatherings come from. The Gathering attracts more than it fair share of unconscious and unscrupulous and con-artist type people. Since (just like in any local church) it is free and open to all, there is no filter that prevents this, and scammers are known to be attracted to easy pickings.

Further, much of the negative conversation about the Gathering stems from reactions to the true reports of the widespread drug usage there. There is no denying that consciousness altering (or, in law enforcement language — impairing) substances are widely available, and that many people at the Gathering do use them, some in much more irresponsible and self damaging ways than others.

In summation, as within the world of ocean surfboarding, there are real surfers out in the waves, and there are posers looking good but staying on the beach. It’s the same within the Rainbow Family. Some can walk the love everybody talk, some are very much unhealed and wounded, and can only lip sync it. The deep spiritual beauty of the Gathering is that many who arrive wounded receive great greatly needed love, and therefore healing, and then are able to begin practicing how to walk the talk.

Therefore, let us welcome this Rainbow Gathering, recognizing that as we all love both freedom and its spirit, The Gathering’s true intention reverberates within each of us also. Although the form may be different and unfamiliar to us, and there may be some issues to be addressed, the Gathering has chosen to be here for the same reason we have: love of this beautiful land.

It is not here to destroy, but rather to respect the land and have prayerful communion with it and each other, as brothers and sisters and as children of the one maker.

As any local pastor would certainly do, inviting anyone interested to attend their congregation’s worship services, I also invite you to consider attending or at least visiting this Gathering — to share yourself with others there, perhaps even discovering newly who you are as a result, and then to bring that personal renewedness back with you to share with us. This is the unexpected blessing and benefit fortuitously available you as a member of a nearby community.

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David Seacord is a reverend and painter who lives in Prairie City. This column was edited from its initial submission to our sister paper, the Blue Mountain Eagle in John Day.