The 4th Annual Symbiosis Gathering - this week!

Just when you thought that the outdoor music festival season ended once you left the playa, here comes another one: the Fourth Annual Symbiosis Gathering in the Yosemite National Park area, September 17-21 (this week!).

Symbiosis Gathering is located at Camp Mather in Yosemite, California (180 miles east of San Francisco, about a 3 hour drive). Normally a summer camp for over 1200 students, it houses 82 cabins wired with electricity next to a gorgeous lake shaped like a yin yang symbol.

The popularity of Symbiosis Gathering has grown in leaps and bounds in just four short years. It drew around 800 in its first year then attracted over 3000 in its third, taking a hiatus last year to better plan and adjust to its rapid growth.

While major festivals such as Burning Man transforms a vast, open space into a temporary city of revelers, Symbiosis Gathering places considerable emphasis on sustainable living and environmental preservation. You can learn how to make a solar oven out of recycled materials, learn about and tour the surrounding Yosemite Valley and Sierra Woodlands and its rich array of animal and plant life, and create art with natural materials.

You can also rejuvenate from the revelry within the Wellness Oasis, where daily yoga and tai chi classes, acupuncture, massage, and other bodywork activities are available.

The Garden of Eatin’ provides a mecca of food vendors that use organic and sustainable ingredients, all locally produced. There are so many food options to choose from as well: organic pizza, organic Asian food, full breakfast options, organic coffee, vegan tamales, smoothies, just to name a few.

There’s even a portion of the festival dedicated to kids: the MagiKidz Village at Symbiosis Gathering. Here, kids can participate in dance workshops, circus games, face painting, and much more.

Then there’s the musical lineup. Headliners include Les Claypool, psych-rock pioneers Os Mutantes, Yard Dogs Road Show, Amon Tobin, Bassnectar, and Coco Rosie. The rest of the lineup is also stellar and includes the likes of Caspa, Claude Von Stroke, Djuma Soundsystem, Flying Lotus, Glitch Mob, Alland Byallo, and Heavyweight Dub Champion, among many, many other DJs and artists.

So if you’re considering making the trek, act fast – tickets are expected to sell out!

More information about Symbiosis Gathering at: www.symbiosisgathering.com

- Verse