Whole Earth draws huge crowds for annual celebration of art and culture
By Tarin McMorrow,
BlueDevilHUB.com Staff–
The Whole Earth Festival has been a celebration of love, peace, health and art since 1969 and continues to thrive today. The festival occurs on the UC Davis campus quad for three–this year from Friday, May 6 to Sunday, May 8.
According to UCD’s website, Whole Earth was originally called “Art Happening,” and was hosted by a UCD art class as a project. The students set up booths in the quad to promote wellness, activism and environmental sustainability and would speak about it to anyone who walked by.
After Earth Day became an event celebrated worldwide in 1970, Davis’ “Art Happening” festival officially became recognized as “Whole Earth.” Since then, Whole Earth has only grown and developed with each year and now draws a crowd of approximately 30,000 annually–nearly half of Davis’ citywide non-student population.
At Whole Earth, one can find entertainment of all sorts, including music, hula-hooping, performances, crafts, massages, shopping and dancing; there is enough activity to keep someone busy all day.
Davis native Lexi Kornblum, a junior at Natomas Charter School in Sacramento, spends close to 30 hours at the festival each year.
“It’s a family tradition,” she explained. “We come out and set up our home base and wander around with friends as they come in and out throughout the weekend. The people and the culture behind it are enthralling.”
Whole Earth provides an opportunity for many people to experience a culture that they are not necessarily familiar with. Davis High sophomore Grace Mariano met a traveling monk who was passing out free meditation books.
“He asked me if I knew a lot about meditation and I said ‘no, I know pretty little,’ and he stopped what he was doing and looked up at me. ‘Oh, really?’ he said, ‘I’m surprised.’ And I asked him why and he told me that I have really good vibes. It made me really happy,” Mariano said.
Vendors of all kind set up booths all around the UCD quad to share their creations with the crowd.
Clothing salesman Michael Kensinger hand-paints silk sheets into a marble design and then cuts them to create all sorts of clothes and accessories like vests, scarves and ties. He has been a part of Whole Earth for about 30 years and says that his favorite part is always the people.
“I love the way people dress with feathers in their hair and the tie dye and I love the music, and I love the drums, and I love the dancing,” Kensinger said. “I love the politics, the discussions and I love making money. I love my customers, of course–my favorite part is the customers I’ve met over the years.”
Whether it’s politics, religion or a billboard asking people the meaning of life, Whole Earth has its fair share of social action.
“It’s fascinating,” Kensinger continued. “I just met a young person today who was registering voters at the Bernie Sanders booth and she’s not even a citizen, but she understands the role and necessity of voting. She’s a dreamer.”
