Clay's Park- North Lawrence, Ohio
August 1-3, 2014
The very first reggae band I ever saw was the Wailing Souls,
for FREE at Nautica during FlatsFest way back in the summer of 1993. They performed their radio hit ‘Shark Attack’
and I danced with reggae abandon as I did this weekend when the Wailing Souls
were the Saturday headliner for the Midwest Reggae Fest. Everyone in the crowd was loving the classic
reggae groove- two-year-olds dancing with 80 –year-olds and people with cream,
brown, gold and tan skin tones laughing and hugging and moving as one. That feeling of unity reverberated through
the crowd and throughout the weekend- this was easily the highlight of this
year’s festie season.
After music at the main stage was over on Saturday night we
headed into the woods to a smaller side stage to catch a Florida rock/reggae
band Sowflo’s set- it was late at night, there were probably a handful of
people gathered, just chilling on the primitive benches. It is hard to fully convey the magnitude of
what happened next. As soon as Sowflo
started to play I turned to my sister and said ‘These guys rock!’ By the second or third song we were up and
dancing, making our way to the front of the stage. Before I knew it, what started out as like 20
people had turned into hundreds of people linked at the arms, singing together,
swaying to the beat of the keys and horns and drums. There was an energy running from the band and
we could all feel it- we were truly connected by the power of the music and the
harmony we felt with each other.
By the time SOJA headlined on Sunday night, I’d seen many of
my favorite festie friends and met a lot of beautiful souls. I sat around a campfire with some of my
closest friends laughing hysterically about past experiences and planning
future endeavors. I could feel a special
vibe the moment we pulled in and by the end of the weekend I’d had one of the
most beautiful and transforming experiences of my life. The attitude of everyone in attendance was
one of unity which created an atmosphere of peace and comradery. Reggae has a way of bringing together people
of differing age, economic status, race or religion, giving us common ground
and we can’t help but dance with each other.
I truly felt the meaning of ‘One LOVE’ that weekend.
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