Gathering of the Vibes: A Convergence of Peace, Love, and Happiness

Hidden within the city of Bridgeport, CT right on the Long Island Sound is a festival that comes around once a year that is filled with positive energy and merrymaking. This festival is Gathering of the Vibes. For four days, it is a coming together of 15,000-25,000 people with the intent of pursuing happiness, spreading good vibes, and enjoying music. Since 1996, Vibes has been paying homage to the Grateful Dead by having artists and bands that reflect similar musical styles and harmonic expressions, as well as the Dead themselves. Keeping a focus on grassroots, the festival has vendors that sell their hand-made wares and crafts (among other things), which helps give it a very non-commercial flavor. As at the Rainbow Family Gathering, there is a meditation on peace at the main stage led by Woodstock icon Wavy Gravy, which is a beautiful demonstration that a music and arts festival can not only be a place where people can come to enjoy music, but also be a tool and catalyst for world peace.

This year’s Gathering of the Vibes was held in Seaside Park, which is situated right on the Long Island Sound in the city of Bridgeport, CT. Upon driving into the city, I wondered where could there be a peaceful music festival in such a big city. It turned out that there is a park right by the ocean and this location was quite a beautiful place for a gathering of this kind.The weather was all sunshine and a small cloud here and there, adding to the wonderful feeling of serenity I felt in my being when entering the festival. There was relaxing music by Galactic playing and reverie was something I saw everywhere. Hula-hoops, bubbles, and tie die were everywhere I looked. A higher state of consciousness permeated this gathering…feelings and expressions of peace, love, and happiness. Meeting new people and making friends was an effortless and enjoyable process. There were so many incredible individuals at the festival. Some drove down from nearby Woodstock while others came all the way from California, where the festival was originally located. So many people from so many places converged in harmonic resonance with each other because of the focus being on the unifying states of consciousness. Being in such an elevated group consciousness has the ability to lift you up and enhance your sense of connectedness with others. It is a beautiful experience that everyone should have at least one time in their lives.

Since this festival is centered around the Grateful Dead, there is a sort of intimate connection with the 1960s consciousness revolution in that the Dead had started giving the gift of music to others back in 1964 in California when they called themselves the Warlocks. The Dead have an incredibly close-knit community that feels very unified to the point that they will travel great distances or even travel wherever the group goes to perform. Since the death of Jerry Garcia in 1995, who was essentially the leader of the band, the group known as Phish kept the strong unified community sense alive and includes many of those who adored the Grateful Dead. You will perhaps see more tie-dye at this festival than at any other event. It is a surreal explosion of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet that makes one feel an exhilarated sensation of visual pleasure. Here, it feels as if the 1960s had never ended. All the main elements that existed then are apparent now at this gathering of vibes, as the festival is so aptly named. For those who are gravitated towards the consciousness revolution aspect of the 1960s, this festival is certainly a place that you will want to experience sometime in the future.

Elements of the ego-based levels of consciousness were hardly anywhere to be found. There was plenty of unity-centered acts of conscious expression that I saw, which was quite a comforting element within the people at the festival. People gave both tangibles and intangibles freely and with love. The level of respect was something that is seldom seen. Everyone seemed to be in the same domain of consciousness, since harmony was a pervasive feeling I experienced all throughout the festival. Human beings acted as human beings…with empathy, compassion, and sincerity. Serenity and tranquility guided people in the way in which they presented themselves. There seemed to be no rush to get anywhere by anyone. Time ran as slow as molasses and what an enjoyable experience that was…to have one of the major elements of control loosen its grip on us.

Although it is a 4 day festival, I was only able to stay for two of the days and so I did not get a chance to experience all that this festival has to offer. However, the elements that I did experience were very pleasing and have persuaded me into going once again next year. Such gatherings of people being connected through the love of music and positivity are something that we should cherish, because they are models which demonstrate that a society based on peace and love is indeed possible, if we truly will it to be. Because of the universal reality of interconnectedness and oneness, we are already halfway to accomplishing such a seemingly-utopic society. All that is missing is the will and determination that such a reality is possible. Fueled by hope, we can make this happen, we can make this dream come true. The next time you are at a festival such as Gathering of the Vibes, become aware of the level of consciousness of all those around you collectively. Imagine this consciousness as being the one that permeates the global consciousness of humanity. The world is our mirror…let us see a reflection of peace, love, and unity so that in the future, this is the reflection all see.