Clearwater

Alternate Universe on the Hudson

Last month Sarah and I spent three days in an Alternate Universe. It’s a universe where environmental concerns are paramount; where community is a way of life and music fills the air all day long. And of course, there is the River, with its power and beauty.

This Universe exists just three hours away but you can on;y get there once a year.

By Mark Svetz

WILLIMANTIC –August, 2008

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Clearwater:

We used to spend a great deal of our life in this Universe. Along with hundreds of fellow travelers, we would journey through one world, each in our own way, converging on a particular place and time, unloading our vans and school busses, station wagons and pickups, to set up our tents, tipis, booths and campers. We would dance, sing, talk around the fires, and of course sell the things we make when we’re not on the road.

Two years ago, Sarah and I came in off the road. We set up shop here in Downtown Willimantic, where we hope to be part of a sustainable community, making clothing and bags for our neighbors. The Willimantic in our dreams is, of course, it’s own Alternate Universe.

But we still go the Clearwater. I think of it as an annual visit to our homeland, which exists across time and space. Clearwater is the Mt. Zion of my spiritual existence. It is the place I go to honor my ancestors and my elders. Elders like Pete Seeger, who started it all more than 40 years ago.

Now we drive to the craft tent, where we will unload the van and set up our shop for the weekend. I start looking around for David and Dorita from Syracuse; Clay and Kate from the Hampton;

At Clearwater, we all seem to be acutely aware that we have chosen an Alternate Universe. We have chosen, on one level, to fashion our living with our own hands. We, many of us, have given up that “real world” of careers and straight jobs that is so destructive of human and natural resources.

We have chosen a world where we work together to make sure we get what we need while we look out for each other and our world.

The festival is powered by electricity generated by the wind, water and sun. Festival security is provided by “peace keepers,” who enhance the peace in our hearts as we build this Alternate Universe on the banks of the river. There is an “activists area,” where dozens of organizations set up their booths to share the issues that animate their lives. There is the Green Living Expo, where dedicated people show us how the future might look.

Clearwater is the name of a reproduction sloop of the kind that sailed the Hudson River during the age of the great sailing ships. The Clearwater is a floating school for environmental education and action. It has helped focus the energy of environmental activists who, for the last half-century have dedicated themselves to cleaning up the Hudson River and the world.

The Great Hudson River Revival is the main event every year to raise money for this group that works all year to promote responsible living that nurtures the natural world, including the river.

There have been years when the weather made life in this alternate universe difficult. One year the craft area was in a low spot and the rain was torrential. One group of young people had three feet of water in their booth where they were selling drums. We all helped them move their booth and wares to higher ground.

Many of us had stripped down to minimal clothing and frolicked in the rain and mud. Although the rain was difficult, it hardly dampened our spirits.

The next year there was a huge circus tent under which we could set up our booths. Of course the next few years were dry and sunny.

This year we had rain again on Sunday. The thunder and lightening was wild and the wind threatened everything. Sarah and I had a big leak right over our booth, so we had to rearrange everything to keep our things dry.

As the weather forecasts showed more thunderstorms throughout the afternoon, the festival organizers made the difficult choice to cancel the afternoon performances and ask all the attendees to leave early. This decision seemed to leave a lot of the staff feeling uneasy and they went out of their way to be nice to us.

One worker gave me a hug when I observed that we have had a lot of good days at Clearwater, one bad day didn’t change that.

Another worker was giving flowers to the crafters as they came to break down their booths.

Although I hated to see the festival end early, I felt valued and loved!

That is what I mean when I call the Clearwater Festival an alternate Universe. It is how I would shape my world if I had that power.

Mark Svetz and Sarah Winter own Clothworks, a shop on Church Street in Downtown Willimantic, where they make and sell clothing and bags. They try, every day, to create an Alternate Universe there.

The River is the reason for it all and provides the metaphor of constant motion and strength, all flowing toward a common goal. For us the goal is that all beings should live in harmony. And we do, at least for the weekend.

I’m talking about the Clearwater Festival, the Great Hudson River Revival, and it happens every year in June. Sarah and I have been attending the festival for the last 10 years or so.

We go and set up our booth to sell our bags and clothing, but we also go to see friends and “family” who live, work and frolic with us in this Alternate Universe.

Child looking at river creatures in an aquarium at the Hudson River Discovery Exhibit

Pete Seeger

On the Deck of the sloop Clearwater

The Discovery Tent

I remember my first visit to Clearwater. I was a tourist in this Universe then, unsure what I would find. I remember the feeling coming over me that first visit, the feeling that I was home and among others of my own culture. That feeling never ended.

Each year, as we come off the exit ramp from Rt. 9, driving out onto Groton Point State Park, I feel the forces in my universe shifting.

It starts with the women and men, wearing orange vests, directing cars to the check-in tent. It’s not just, you know, “Stay right up ahead.” We are all searching faces for friends and family, happy to see one another. “Hey!” someone will yell, “You have a good year?”

Tanya and Joe and their boys from Buffalo; Denise and Randy from West Virginia. There is so much to catch up on. News to share.

And there will be new friends every year who will be “old friends” in a few hours. Relationships are formed fast in this atmosphere where we share a common sense of purpose. It is what community is all about.

The Craft Tent

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