Clark – For the first time in its 30 years, the dusty wooden storefront of The Clark Store has a “No shirt, no shoes, no service” sign sitting in the window.
Clark Store manager Susan Saari and many others in and and around Steamboat Springs are bracing for the arrival of thousands of members of the Rainbow Family of Living Light, a group of modern-day hippies who will hold their annual summer gathering in the nearby Routt National Forest.
“I had to put it up,” Saari said of the sign. “You can’t come in here with no shoes. This is an old country store – my floor couldn’t take it.”
The Rainbow gathering is scheduled for the first week of July, but hundreds of people already have set up camp at the site, a grassy meadow known as Big Red Park.
Based on past gatherings, Forest Service officials say the event could draw up to 25,000 people.
The group, which bills itself as an alternative society for those who wish to leave the mainstream, has failed to sign a special-use permit required by the Forest Service for groups of 75 or more. As a result, rangers Monday barred people from the site and issued between 60 and 70 citations to some of the early arrivals.
Many residents and business people are worried that the trouble is just beginning.
“When it’s over, all that’s left is going to be one square mile of feces,” said Alicia Spanhake of Steamboat Springs. “I hate hippies.”
The Rainbow Family, which held its first gathering outside Granby in 1972, comes together every summer in locations across the country for a weeklong celebration that peaks with a July 4 peace circle and a parade. The group returned to Colorado once before, in 1992, when it camped in the Gunnison National Forest near Paonia.
The group tends to meet where people are scarce and nature is abundant, but family members still need supplies. That means venturing into nearby towns, which are usually not accustomed to Bohemian visitors.
Barefoot youth with dreadlocks have been hitchhiking through Clark and Steamboat for several days.
“They don’t enjoy being around us that much, and I think it’s the same way the other direction,” said Becky Rupnow, 16, who works at The Clark Store, the only retail outlet in a town with a population of less than 1,000. “There’s definitely a culture clash.”
Business owners say they have seen an increase in loitering and panhandling, and are worried about theft.
Many residents say they are concerned about impacts on the forest.
“It’s somebody invading our back yard,” said Elmer Balvante, who frequently rides his motorbike in the forest with his son.
Clark has held a community meeting with Forest Service officials to discuss the gathering. A similar meeting is planned for Steamboat Springs on Friday.
Some Rainbows are equally wary of the locals.
They complain of having been denied service at stores in town. One man, who calls himself The Raven, said he ties back his Willie-Nelson style braids and puts on a baseball cap in order to blend in when he leaves his makeshift kitchen at the campsite to go into town.
Problems with the Rainbow Family have been minimal so far, according to Steamboat police, who have issued fewer than 10 citations for panhandling.
The Rainbows have increased business for some merchants. The Clark Store and Healthy Solutions Community Market have taken the group’s advice to stock up on items like bulk foods, tarps, rolling papers and garlic – a natural bug repellant, according to Rainbow Family lore.
Workers from the health-food store said they found the Rainbows so nice that they plan on checking out the gathering.
“People don’t know us at first, but then they come to know us and see what we’re about,” said Rainbow member Felipe, who like many in the group goes by a single name.
The fringe elements of Rainbow, such as panhandlers and homeless people, are the ones who tend to arrive first and make the initial impression, said a man named Bodhi.
And, he added, an open mind goes a long way toward easing a culture clash.
“If you come up here expecting to see a bunch of dirty hippies, that is what you will see,” he said. “But if you come up here with a pure heart, looking for enlightenment, that is what you will get.”
Staff writer Alicia P.Q. Wittmeyer can be reached at 303-820-1316 or at awittmeyer@denverpost.com.
