Free vibes and hoops to jump through

Girdwood’s Forest Fair took a year off in the summer of 2008 because the popularity of the small town festival had outgrown security measures. It’ll be back this year.

One person who wants to make that certain is Tom O’Malley, a Forest Fair volunteer who recently took a lateral promotion. O’Malley is part of the Vibe Tribe, also known as the Forest Fairies, the core group of volunteers who operate the fair. He moved from his job as Director of Earth Maintenance into the Forest Fair bureaucracy, and is now Minister of Paperwork.

“The bad part is that it’s cumbersome and it’s hoop-jumping, but I think that the politics tend to favor the Forest Fair,” O’Malley says. “It’s being demanded by the government, the governmental forces, that we have some professional security.”

He still has paperwork to do if the fair is to be ready to open Friday, July 3. The Vibe Tribe will also need to lobby a bit. They want the Anchorage Assembly to temporarily waive a city ordinance that prohibits camping on city-owned land other than campgrounds.

They also need a permit from the Heritage Land Bank to manage a temporary campground on the riverbed of Glacier Creek, just south of Forest Fair Park. Municipality of Anchorage owns Heritage Land Bank. It’s the bureaucracy that manages unused city-owned property, and controls a large swath of forest along Glacier Creek. Land Bank officials have met with Forest Fair organizers, and told Flashlight this week they are supportive of the fair’s mission.

Free camping has been accommodated on the riverbed for several years. A gravel bar known as “the island” became home to a louder and rowdier brand of camping in recent years. It will be the focus of 24-7 security patrols during this year’s fair and O’Malley told the Girdwood Board of Supervisors in a recent meeting about a plan to engage the campers late into the night with a community fire.

O’Malley says the politicians will come around and waive the anti-camping law. Key to that will be the new investment in professional security staff, he says. “They’ll see that this is a law that doesn’t pertain very well for this particular weekend in Girdwood,” O’Malley says.

The Forest Fair was founded in three mid-1970s with three simple rules: No dogs. No politics. No religious orders. Admission was always free, but rules about what can be sold and where people may camp were adopted along the way. The result is a festival may people say is unique. Vendors have hand-made items only. Food, wooden or paper toys and craft items such as pottery are abundant, but you don’t see children carrying balloons or plastic whirly gigs. And you don’t find the woods around Glacier Creek littered with political fliers, deflated balloons and disposable toys during the fair.

“The founding mothers and fathers created those kinds of bylaws, and we have just followed them even when some sweet offers have come our way,” says Forest Fair Chairwoman LeShine Herfindahl.

Forest Fair has also gained a reputation as a premier local music venue, and the rock ‘n’ roll sometimes lasted late into the night. Pamyua and Photonz both played the fair in 2007, as did Hobo Jim, Sweating Honey and H3.

This year there will be camping fees. Backpacks will be inspected for the walk-in area on Glacier Creek. The music will stop at 8 p.m. and the fair will shut down early.

Herfindahl doesn’t like the early closing. She didn’t like skipping the fair last year, either. “That’s done just remembering that it’s a family fair, and that we can thank all the rowdies who made us make this desperate move,” she says.

Internet chatter, particularly on the Forest Fair’s MySpace page, has been critical of the new plans. “There are some pretty upset people. But those are just the kind of people we want to un-invite,” Herfindahl says.

Last year fair organizers took a more desperate measure and un-invited everyone. The Forest Fairies did their annual park cleanup and held a community barbeque, Herfindahl says. “We just had the Unfair. We cleaned the park and had a big barbeque. We had some libations, and we had a limited edition T-shirt hat we sold,” she says.

Girdwood Forest Fair is a legit nonprofit, even if its roots are in a small, somewhat quirky community fair. The nonprofit spent about $120,000 in 2007, according to its IRS filings. It cost about $99,000 to put the fair on that year. The costs include providing buses around Girdwood for the weekend, insurance, portable toilets and, naturally, fees paid to the “governmental forces” for use of the park.   

The Forest Fairies also perform philanthropy. They awarded about $17,000 in grants—about 14 percent of their total expenses—to other Girdwood nonprofits in 2007.

“The people who run it are like hippies. I mean they give it away for free,” O’Malley says. “If there’s any money made, we give that away… every year in September we get together over beers and award the grants. It’s cleansing.”

scott@anchoragepress.com