While the White Pine County Sheriff’s office breathes a sigh of relief, law enforcement agencies in and around Heber city and the LDS church are having palpitations over a hippie invasion slated to begin in late June.
In a unofficial official announcement the Rainbow Family said this year’s site for the some 10,000 to 20,000 strong group of flower children will be held near Heber City, Utah and not somewhere on forest service land in White Pine County.
But while the site is in Utah many of the hippies will be passing through Wendover on the way to the site.
Established in the early 1970’s the Rainbow Family is loose connection of hippies and other counter culture types that meet annually in a national forest somewhere in the United States in the beginning of July. According to rumors on the groups unofficial Facebook page this years gathering will be held in either Utah or Nevada. The last “Family” gathering in Utah was in 2003 near American Fork in the Ashley National forest. The last time the Rainbows came to eastern Nevada was over a decade ago at the Great Basin National Park and the last time they ventured into Elko county was 25 years ago to the Jarbidge area.
The Rainbows complained that they were harassed and so shabbily treated by Elko county law enforcement that they would never return a promise that then Sheriff Jim Miller greeted with joy.
Deputies reported several drug related arrests and confiscated small amounts of marijuana, black tar heroin, hallucinogenic mushrooms and other controlled substances during the 10 day long event. However for a gathering of well over 10,000 people there were virtually no reports of any crime either at the site in Jarbidge or from the nearby towns Rainbow Family members passed through on the way to and from the site.
But while confrontations with law enforcement at various gathering sites have been mixed the mere prospects of having 10,000 to 20,000 people whether hippies or not is a potential night mare for the rural communities closest to the reunion sites. Emergency services can be stretched to the breaking point. This is especially true as the Rainbow family gets older and older. The 20 something indestructible substance abusing hippies of 40 years ago are now senior citizens who are just as likely to carry blood pressure medication as they are to have a bag of pot.
And even before the gathering began a pall was cast by the death of on of its leaders , Suzy Sunshine, at the reunion site last Sunday morning during the groups Spring council.
“A sister has passed on at spring council. Awaiting positive identification, but information indicates she died at spring council in the nighttime of what they think was a heart attack,” reported one of the group’s unofficial webpages.
“Spring Council is when all potential sites for the gathering are brought to any people who want to be involved in selecting a site. The council usually takes one to seven days and normally ends with either a consensus by silence among people at the council or an exodus of the majority of people heading to the preferred site.” The page explained.
Since the site was chosen, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints took precautionary measures Monday, including shepherding one Lindon stake girls’ camp away from its Aspen Lake campsite and moving another group from the Lake Creek Camp.
“As a precautionary measure, youth groups at Aspen Lake Camp and Lake Creek camp, both situated along Lake Creek Road, have been relocated to other facilities or sent home,” LDS Church spokesman Cody Craynor said in a statement. “Church representatives continue to closely monitor the situation and have put additional precautions in place at the Heber Valley Camp, which remains open.”
Parents of children in the Lindon-based girls group expressed disappointment but were accepting of the added precautions.
“It’s just not the environment we were hoping for the camp,” said Karen Smith, whose two daughters were planning to attend. “We are so sad because we had humanitarian projects planned. We had hikes planned.”
Meanwhile, Heber City police were visiting local businesses Monday to warn of the onslaught of new people to the area.
“When you get more people, it’s double the population, it makes a significant difference in our community,” officer Salvador Segura said.
The police department on its Facebook page said many of the Rainbow Family gathering’s attendees are law-abiding but acknowledged some are not and warned about the potential for public nudity, lewdness, shoplifting and aggressive panhandling.
“Hopefully they don’t get harassed by people loitering into their property,” Segura said.
The last time the group came to Utah in 2003, police arrested 18 people and issued hundreds of tickets and warnings.
Organizers of the Rainbow Family gathering invite all to their event “for the purpose of expressing our sincere desire that there shall be peace on Earth, harmony among all people” and “to hold open worship, prayer, chanting or whatever is the want or desire of the people,” according to a published invitation.
“People are always welcome to visit here,” Wasatch County manager Mike Davis said. “That’s always been our goal. … But we certainly want the component that conforms to the laws.”