Forest Jam 2008 is Over. Long Live Forest Jam 2009

A scene from Forest Jam 2008. (Lois Hurley)

FX: Footsteps, distant music

MUSIC: Pay the Piper

The sounds of Pay the Piper, a local band out of Plymouth rose from behind a thick line of old trees at Branch Brook Campgrounds in Campton.

On Friday I walked down a shaded hill and stopped to look out over the scene, a wide grassy pasture extending away toward the distrant Pemmigiwassat (?) river.

There weren’t a lot of people here yet besides the vendors and sponsors.

And Ryan and Tara Harty, Forest Jam’s organizers, seemed a little worried.

Sean: How you guys holding up?
Tara: Pretty good...
Ryan: We’re holding it together.
Tara: Pretty tired.

They have a lot riding on this and not just money.

They want to be able to bring the Forest Jam back next year.

But at least they got a break with the weather.
It’s a beautiful sunny afternoon.

A caravan of white tents runs along the forest edge.

Tie-dyed shirts blow in the breeze, and hand-made earrings and chunky silver pendants lay under long clouds of incense smoke.

In his tent with his wife and children by his side, David Ginease was selling ”Brazilian Springs” water using a profit-sharing model that seems very much of the times.

David Ginease: Every bottle purchased preserves 90 square feet of the Amazon Rain Forest. Would you like to try one? I just iced em...
Sean: But if I take it for free then I’m not preserving anything, am I?
David: (laughs)

MUSIC: Roots of Creation/Applause.

Roots Lead Singer: You guys still feeling good out there? We just walked up here. We’re called Roots of Creation. We’re having a hellova good time at Forest Jam. How bout you guys?

I was feeling pretty good.

The music was great – people were dancing, kids were playing.

And there was even some learning going on.

The Plymouth Area Renewable Energy Initiative had a solar water heater on display and Annette Morrison was sharing her passion for composting:

Annette: These are the composter bins. This is a homeschooling bunch of kids that have put together these boxes. We designed them ourselves. You fill it with a little dirt, you put your worms in, put your scraps in...

And the rich black soil result is apparently pure gold to the gardener.

Malik Haig, who runs Sustain Ability, an eco-friendly store out of Laconia, was spreading the word about a different kind of composting:

Malik: Well I actually get a lot of requests about Composting Toilets, which is one of the things I carry.

MC: Hey guys, we have to kick it over to the second stage! Funknut will be starting shortly.

MUSIC: Funknut.

Funknut plays the kind of music that takes you gently by the neck and forces you to dance.

There’s just no choice.

And once you fall into the groove, it’s impossible to get out.

And the audience wasn’t alone falling into this groove.

The performers themselves seemed to be having an extra good time as well, jamming around the fire pits into the wee early hours and really falling under the spell of this jam in the woods:

Lauren: My name is Lauren Reilert. I played on Saturday at 12:15. And it was awesome. This audience rocks. Everyone is so nice. I wish I could stay here and not have to leave and just live in the forest and listen to music every day.

Using two stages, meant there was hardly a lull in the music over the weekend.

Michael Glenn: I go to a lot of festivals and there’s often a lot of down time. Here everything is happening so intimately and yesterday was like the music started at 3 and ended at like 1:30 in the morning or something. It was great.

Michael Glenn is with the Inspired Fire Troupe.

He wore a kind of crumpled top hat and something that looked like a kilt made from an army jacket.

Whenever I saw him, he was juggling something.

On both Friday and Saturday night, his troupe performed a fire show.

Basically, everything I’d seen him juggling earlier in the day was now set on fire.

Even Michael Glenn was a little bit on fire here and there:

Michael (yelling to all): ….We are from right over the Kancamangus Highway and what makes a really good festival are the people who come to the festival and this festival is rocking. It’s rocking! You guys are beautiful! It’s been so much fun to be here. We’ve had perfect weather. We’ve had perfectly kind vibes and I just want to say I’m looking forward to coming back to Forest Jam 2009. Who’s gonna come back and bring a friend?
Crowd: Woooo!
Michael: Who’s gonna come back and bring 2 friends?
Crowd: WOOO!
Michael: We’ll eventually get the whole damn state here!

Forest Jam organizers Ryan and Tara Harty aren’t sure they want the whole state to come next year.

But by Saturday night they were already making plans for the 2009 show.

With approximately 325 tickets sold, the Harty’s thought they were close to breaking even – which was their goal from the outset.
Sean: Meeting expectations?
Tara: Exceeding. Definitely.
Ryan. I think so. Definitely exceeding.
Tara: A lot of people have said that they’re having a great time. They feel its family friendly and it’s just been a really kind atmosphere. Success!

For NHPR News, I’m Sean Hurley