Mountain Jam 2008
by Peter Aaron
“The festival’s location is not only beautiful but convenient for people from all over the Northeast to come to,” says Haynes. “In addition to that, I think that what sets Mountain Jam apart from similar festivals is that we hand–pick every act, so there’s a flow [to the program] that’s really natural.”
A feature new to Mountain Jam for 2008 is the Awareness Village, a spiritual consciousness–expanding center located on the festival grounds and offering information and workshops on astrology, plant and spirit medicine, crystals, yoga, and related topics, all of which are a natural outgrowth of the green philosophy that has been a strong aspect of the festival since its inception. “Green consciousness is something that’s a big part of the Woodstock brand,” says Chetkof. “It’s a tradition that was part of the first Woodstock festival in 1969 and one that we really want to carry on.” For this year’s event, WDST and Haynes have brought in Clean Vibes, an Earth–conscious, North Carolina–based firm that specializes in sanitation at large outdoor events, to assist in keeping everything clean and green.
But no matter how large Mountain Jam becomes as the summers come and go, no matter how many days it swells to, how many stellar artists it presents, or how many thousands of attendees it attracts, its organizers want to make sure the festival never loses the communal spirit of sharing great music and great times in the great outdoors that has been its guiding tenet since day one. “Mountain Jam started out very basic, compared to where we’re at now. Early on, everything was very organic. We were learning by the seats of our pants the first couple of years,” Chetkof says. “We do have a bigger team now, and better production, but we’re trying really hard to keep the same, down–to–Earth feel that Mountain Jam began with...CONTINUE...
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