Rainbow gathering brings hundreds of new faces, with many more on the way

Mica Schmelzer said Rainbow Family members are hard to miss. Asked to describe the people she's seen streaming through Cougar over the past few weeks, she smiled and said: "Dreadlocks, pungent smell." The travelers have a lot of dogs with them, she said, and the dogs all seem to be wearing bandanas. The clothing, she said, is a throwback to the '70s. About 400 of them are now reportedly settled in a meadow 16 miles southeast of Mount St. Helens — and more are on their way. Many, many more. The Rainbow Family of Living Light has chosen Skookum Meadow, deep in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, as the site of its annual gathering. The event, from July 1 through 7, is expected to draw tens of thousands of people. The group, a loose counterculture network that recalls the 1960s peace movement, hosts the event to socialize and pray for peace. It's been hosting similar gatherings on U.S. national forests since 1972. "I'm nervous as a business owner," said Beth Rogers, who owns the Cougar Resort. Wild rumors about the Rainbow group are flying. Rogers said she's heard of the visitors blocking the road, defecating in public, abusing their dogs, even urinating on the produce in a Woodland grocery store. She said U.S. Forest Service officials told her not to leave her gift shop unattended and to quarantine any stray dogs from the group because they likely haven't had veterinary care...more