America & Pioneer Valley 16 Sep 2007 09:37 pm
Of Garlic Festivals and Community
I went to the North Quabbin Garlic and Arts Festival in Orange, Massachusetts today. It was, in its way, a pretty standard festival - lots of booths, and food, and stages for musicians, etc. It was fun, for sure. The “GQ” index (Ruth and I like to talk about the “GQ” or “Grooviness Quotient”) of the festival was quite high. It was a “trash-free” festival - everything was recycled or composted, which was wonderful. All of the electricity was generated either by biodeisel or solar power. There were lots of local farmers and local artists and artisans selling everything from, er, garlic, to special kinds of jams and mustards, to wood sculptures, to prints and varied kinds of artwork, etc.
As Ruth and I were driving to the festival, while she was twiddling the dials on the radio, she noticed that I rarely listen to music while I drive, but “people talking about depressing topics.” We then went on to talk about what point is it, really, to stay informed? What can we do differently, or better, if we hear how many thousands of dollars a minute is being poured into killing innocent people?
I was thinking about the fall of the Roman Empire, and what average Jane and Joe did while it crumbled. I don’t have an answer, but I did realize that there wasn’t much we could do except vote, make our voices heard when we can, and, I think perhaps most importantly - create the communities, organizations and culture that will, perhaps, grow out of the rotting hulk that is our society.
As Ghandi said, “be the change you want to be.”
on 21 Sep 2007 at 6:33 pm 1.Mata H said …
Interesting about the greening of the event — I just heard that “The Big E” had contracted with a supplier of beverage cups that looked like clear plastic stuff, but was actually a 100% biodegradable product made from oranges. Ya’ gotta love livin’ in Mass. I close on a house in Westfield (at last) on Halloween. I can hardly wait to be back in Mass.