Village Fair II - Past and Present:
(see slide show below)
Facebook site: http://www.facebook.com/events/133565290034736/
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In 1971, North Vancouver’s counter culture hosted a “Renaissance-type Faire” in Cates Park, Deep Cove. It was a Faire that presented music, minstrels, performers of all kinds, arts and crafts, food and drink for all. For many of the middle class in Deep Cove it was their first direct experience of the counter culture and it became a peaceful, coming together of arts, lifestyles and ideas.
Several thousand people attended the original Village Faire; locals and travelers from across North America came together creating a unique and enjoyable experience for all. It became a showcase for Deep Cove, which was at that time, a sleepy inlet village perched just outside of the mainstream Greater Vancouver. The model for this Faire became a blueprint for many other Faires including the 1973 Pleasure Faire in Mission.
We are proposing to revisit the spirit of this Faire by hosting a Village Faire II. It was an idea spawned by comments on a delightful Facebook page called, ‘Deep Cove – Home of the Coolest Kids’, created by Crystal Mellis. Many former, and some current, Deep Cove residents felt strongly that a second Village Faire could serve as a long overdue reunion of friends and relatives who, over the intervening 40 years have dispersed across the planet. It could also be an event where Deep Covers who were not at the original Faire could experience a similar event. After all, anyone who has ever drunk the waters off Seymour Mountain shares the same minerals in our bones and may be identified archaeologically, aeons into the future, as having lived in this area. We view this as a community event that is for the people of Deep Cove but also as a venue to share with others what an amazing part of the world this is and the good fortune we have had, living in Seymour/Deep Cove.
Excerpt from "A Band is a Beautiful Thing" by David Jenneson (Burner Boys):
"A Pleasure Faire would be strictly forbidden today. That it happened at all shows how out of touch the authorities were with popular culture. In 1970 it consisted of about a hundred unregulated hippie entrepreneurs who invaded a public park, hacked a storefront out of the bush and brambles off one of the many trails and set up shop, peddling anything from sand candles to drug paraphernalia to tie dyed skirts. The twisting, confusing trails were thick with dope smoke, jugglers, and wandering minstrels who played guitars and lutes for the pleasure of passers by. Sunlight filtered through the leafy canopy and cast bright spangles on the trails. It was entrancing - like being transported back to the 13th Century and the age of Chaucer. We quickly became separated. I found myself wandering in a pleasant, medieval daze until I came to the beer seller’s booth. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Without consulting authorities a bunch of good-timing hippies had set up a plank counter on two saw horses and had a huge stock of home made beer lined in big carboys behind the bar. I used my last quarter to buy a big frothy plastic cup. I sipped it. It was delicious."