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Winter Park " Sonic Bloom Festival grows on fans

KATIE LOOBY
SKY-HI DAILY NEWS

Summit County’s Caitlyn Morris stayed up past 2 a.m. last Wednesday sewing together her outfit for the Sonic Bloom Festival at Winter Park Resort.

Her skirt contained “disco fabric” and feathers left over from her Halloween outfit. Each day she and friends threw on different outfits in hopes of standing out in the crowd.

“I definitely expected our costumes to be on the wilder-side,” she said, “but I feel very tame.”



Next time the 23-year-old plans to be “more extreme.”

Sonic Bloom is a three-day festival of dance, art and human performance with live entertainment and music. It visited Winter Park June 19-21.



George Peele, 31, of Denver, goes by “Orange Peel.” At the event he sported a green Las Vegas visor, a Hawaiian shirt, fanny pack, and big yellow sun glasses while smoking a cigarette out of a holder with a bag of oranges thrown over his shoulder.

“First of all there are no real names. There are given names and chosen names,” said the managing editor of Image Magazine. “Who’s to say your given name is any more real than your chosen name … I have 100 or more other ones that I sprinkle randomly into my day-to-day reality.”

This was his third Sonic Bloom Festival. “The talent these interconnected, super-musical geniuses bring together is definitely special,” he added.

Chris Greska, 23, of Fraser donned his “homegirl’s” green dress at the festival Friday.

“It fit a little tight up here around the chest,” he said. “The music’s awesome. The people are out of this world.”

During a press conference many of the performing artists expressed their spirituality.

“If we don’t change the way we’re doing things we’re going to really destroy the environment and ourselves,” said Jamie Janover, who’s involved in eight projects. “If humans realized that nothing is separate from anything else ” there’s no such thing as separation ” then most of those problems would go away.”

Music “absolutely” brings people together, he said.

“I’m not religious at all, however I’m very deeply spiritual in a sense of understanding that every single religion on this planet is praying to the same thing in a different way,” he added. “Just like every style of music is music being expressed in a different way. So, in a sense I’m deeply religious. I’m every religion.”

He said he “loved” Grand County. “I think the people have been very accommodating, very nice and it’s probably a function of the environment.”

The altitude only affected him a “little,” he said. “I just hydrate a lot. I’ve lived in Colorado for 13 years, so I know what to do.”

David Starfire got his first big break when he was in a signed band at 19-years-old. “We got a call to open up for Nine Inch Nails’ first U.S. tour.”

This is his advice for young inspiring musicians: “Make music that is true to your heart always. Not for the people ” for yourself. And other people will love it to. Never stop.”

Sonic Bloom Security

“Besides a few drug instances everything was very mellow,” said Fraser-Winter Park Police Cmdr. Brett Schroetlin. “The crowd was fine … We didn’t have any fights.”

He said there were two to four officers per shift, along with the resort’s security.

“Besides a few noise complaints and a few fires that weren’t approved … everything was quiet,” he said.

Authorities made 10 felony drug arrests during the weekend, he said.

Drugs included meth, ecstasy, molly (a version of ecstasy), LSD, and possible psychedelic mushrooms that are being evaluated.

“There were four to five types of drugs,” he added. “Besides the high population of drug stuff we didn’t have any other incidents … We were very prepared. It was a good collaborate effort” among the three departments (county, Granby, Winter Park-Fraser).


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