- video produced by Starlie Drake

- video produced by Ron Slabe

ELEVATE

This year's theme is Mutation, focusing on transformation and change- both of one's community and one's self. Recycled Rainbow is always mutating into new and unexpected things and this year is no different! From moving our Leave No Trace experiment from our previous home to another exciting location, to the very foundations of our culture, Recycled Rainbow looks forward to not only mutating ourselves but offering a clean slate for participants to experience their own mutations however they see fit.

What Is Recycled Rainbow?

First of all, we encourage you to visit our official web site at: http://www.recycledrainbow.org

Recycled Rainbow is, in few words, what you turn it into. You have the reigns as much as anyone else does. Does it have a drive-in theater? If you build a drive in theater, it will. Does it have a stage for experimental performance art? It does if you build one. Does it have clowns? Do you know a mob of clowns and can you bring them? (please, we desperately need a mob of clowns). Recycled Rainbow challenges you to do what you've wanted to do within a set of 10 guidelines. One of those guidelines is Participation.

Is Recycled Rainbow A Gay/Lesbian/Bi/Transexual Event?

Recycled Rainbow is not strictly a Gay/Lesbian/Bi/Transexual event. While the rainbow is used by the GLBT community it is also used by many other organizations and peoples. Recycled Rainbow is certainly Gay/Lesbian/Bi/Transexual friendly but we do not represent the GLBT community or any community for that matter. We follow a principle of Radical Inclusion welcoming and embracing anyone and everyone who wishes to attend.

Recycled Rainbow Is Being Held On A Public Campground

Recycled Rainbow will be held this year at Big ARB's Campground in East Rochester, Ohio 21 miles east of Canton. The Invisible City will return providing participants with a primitive area in which to live and do. A much larger downtown area will also be available with electricity and water provided.

If you are concerned that your RR experience will be diminished by being close to public residents you are strongly encouraged to camp in the invisible city. People wishing to provide transportation between the two areas via artfully modified vehicles (art cars) should contact Recycled Rainbow immediately to plan their project with the RR organization.

Radical Inclusion!

Anyone can be a part of Recycled Rainbow. Conservatives, liberals, farmers, artists, partiers, engineers, philosophers, bums, millionaires, cowboys, freaks, christians, students, pagans, introverts, clowns and all others are encouraged to join this community and share your gifts. Does this cause friction? Absolutely! Can these people exist together peacefully? You bet! As we learn more about each other, getting to know each other and what we have to offer each other we each grow.

Of course, in this spirit, we all ask that you respect the rights of others to be a part of RR.

RR is a member of the greater community, the greater Cleveland community, Northeast Ohio and The United States. We respect local, state and federal laws and everything we do acts in accordance with those laws. We believe the RR experience fits within the frame of civic resposibility in the same way a canvas fits in a frame, or music within a space of time. Every RR since 2002 has been visited and enjoyed by local law enforcement and we plan to enjoy their company well into our future!

There Are No Stores, So Bring Everything You Need...

RR is by nature an experience of the moment- we bring everything we need, we do what we can for three days, and then we pack everything we made out. Nothing stays behind. There are no trash cans at RR. There are no dumpsters. There are no stores to buy food or drink. What you need, you bring and what you create (art, garbage, friendships, memories) you take with you. It is this part of RR that is both the most noticeably responsible and most wonderful. RR lives in the moment- it deals with what happens as it happens and it leaves no trace afterwards.

Nobody sells anything at RR. You will see no sponsors, no logos, no advertisements, no money traded. In a sense, what you will see, hear, read, feel and taste cannot be purchased with money. What you "purchase" when you buy a ticket is the opportunity to do and experience what you and everyone else offers. Money from ticket sales go into renting and insuring the land. In a sense, you aren't really "buying" anything- you're renting a space that everyone shares to make RR possible.

Hey You! Do Something!

Participation means not just sitting by and watching everything go on around you- it means getting in there and doing something! Your participation is a gift to everyone at the event- whether you make pancakes for people, dress in fabulous costume, create aural landscapes, offer the people you meet free hugs, shoot lasers into the woods or build a dance club, you are giving the community something by creating Recycled Rainbow.

Recycled Rainbow has always encouraged its participants to bring their gifts, whether concrete, like CDs, DVDs, jewelry, books or artwork or ephemeral- spoken poems, conversation, teaching someone something, song, dance, tea, pancakes or backrubs! More importantly, nothing should be expected in return. We gift because we have something to give.

I'm Not Your Mother. Clean Up After Yourself, And Others!

Recycled Rainbow is a LEAVE NO TRACE event. No trace on the ground, in the woods, on trees, on rocks and on existing structures. Considering that it will for the first time ever take place among the trees and open air, it is of utmost importance that these natural resources are guarded and maintained. We will leave the land we share in better condition than when we left. This often means cleaning up after the people who shared the land before us.

One of the first people you will meet, other than RR greeters are Earth Guardians. These are RR volunteers who will teach you what you need to know about the land, what to look out for, what not to do but more importantly what TO DO. Once again, there will be no trash cans or dumpsters and certainly, no litter afterwards.

We look forward to hearing from you! You can commuunicate better by joining our tribe on tribe.net. Remember, even if you can't attend, you can participate..

Please visit RECYCLEDRAINBOW.ORG if you're interested in attending!