I'm so curious to see what happens here on this 'Festival & Space Maker Network', and just in general our local cultural growth over time. Thank you to everyone that puts blood, sweat and tears into making it happen. 🥰 I decided to take a little time to share what this all <waves hands generally> means to me. Dancing under the stars and on the farms, getting sweaty and silly with friends and strangers, dressing up, showing up a bit bigger and bolder than usual (and closer to who I really am). For me, it comes down to this: I am seeking ritual, and I am seeking belonging. And these moments, these weekends, these hugs, these sunrises on the dance floor, are part of how I find them. To me it feels like the default world, western capitalist hegemony doesn’t make much room for ritual. It doesn't really teach people about marking transitions or tending to our longings in communal ways. And I've so appreciative to see people in my community putting time and care into this. From cold water dipping circles to cacao ceremonies, from Dance Temple to late-night fire-side truths, to men's and women's circles, we are building rituals together—sometimes clumsy, sometimes sacred, but always meaningful. These are small acts of collective re-enchantment and a reminder that magic and the mundane are both important (hopefully more and more magic though!) For me, festivals are not just parties, they’re temporary temples. They offer space for play, for presence, and for purposeful connection. I've been to Burning Man multiple times, and I'm curious about Shambhala and Bass Coast, however I have made a conscious decision to prioritize local festivals like Pachena Bay, Otherworld, and next year’s Dance Temple Gathering, because they connect me to the people I live alongside year-round. It just feels "right" to be dancing beside the same people I might run into at the farmers’ market or at a business mixer, or grabbing a coffee. We’re not just co-partiers, we belong to the same community... and to each other.