The 56th annual festival is returning to the Quad
By JESSICA YUNG — campus@theaggie.org
The 56th annual Whole Earth Festival (WEF), a student-run festival dedicated to sustainability and activism, will be held on the Memorial Union Quad on Mother’s Day weekend from May 10 through May 12. The event, which is free to enter, is returning to their long-time venue after being held last year at Russell Field.
WEF will feature live music, local performances, food and art vendors and service booths, according to WEF’s Co-Directors Jaye Duckhart, a fourth-year neurobiology, physiology and behavior major, and Katherine Krinsky, a fourth-year English major.
“During festival weekend, you can plan to see two stages with live music all day, every day,” Duckhart and Krinsky said in a joint email.
WEF will also host over a dozen vegetarian food vendors from various different cuisines, plus over 120 craft vendors — both students and members of the larger Davis community.
WEF was founded in 1969 as an art class project titled “Art Happening” on the Quad.
“The students used art to teach visitors about the realms of activism, wellness, and environmental sustainability in an interactive and creative way,” the WEF website reads. “Following the United Nations’ recognition of Earth Day in 1970, the event was renamed to the Whole Earth Festival […] and has since evolved into a free student-run event, attracting over 30,000 visitors annually.”
Duckhart and Krinsky described the inspiration behind this year’s theme.
“[‘Earth to the People’ reminds] us that action starts now, not later,” Duckhart and Krinsky said. “Our festival artwork strives to bring that message to life, urging us all to wake up and step up for the world we love.”
The event will have various different places to engage in crafts and to explore environmental practices. These include service booths, offering services from henna to hair-braiding, an education space, an art space and a kids area.
“We also have an experiential dome that holds different experience-based activities, workshops, and performances throughout the weekend,” Duckhart and Krinsky said. “Our second dome is our staff dome, home for our staff members throughout the weekend, and also is where volunteer check-in occurs and all WEF questions can be answered.”
The event is dedicated to sustainable practices, such as reusing plates and dishes and prohibiting meat from being sold by food vendors.
“The Whole Earth Festival has been historically vegetarian in an effort to embrace food sustainability,” the WEF website reads. “The Whole Earth Reusables Cooperative (WERC) Dish program and our Compost and Recycling team work together to reduce waste throughout the three-day festival. Our goal for zero-waste is to reduce our carbon footprint by contributing as little waste as possible to landfills.”
With so many offerings, the co-directors suggest that interested visitors do their research on programs and specific experiences to find what they might enjoy best.
“All of these different spaces have such variety in [what] they offer throughout the weekend,” Duckhart and Krinsky said. “We recommend checking out our program either at the festival or on our social media to find what interests you.”
Written by: Jessica Yung – campus@theaggie.org
