Hundreds of people belonging to a counter-culture group are reported to be enroute to a section of Mark Twain National Forest in southern Missouri for a mass gathering.
The group, known as Rainbow Family of Living Light, has chosen a section of Mark Twain National Forest in southern Missouri’s Oregon County for its annual gathering. The site is located about six miles northeast of Thomasville along County Road 430/Banner Road.
The U.S. Forest Service, which is part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), has assembled a National Incident Management Team to monitor the situation. Hilary Markin, Public Information Officer for the management team, said that nearly 140 Rainbow members had arrived as of Monday.
“That number fluctuates, you know,” she told Missourinet. “We’re going to see is this gradual increase of folks over the weekend. We had like 200 and our count was 234 or something like that.”
Between 2,000 and 5,000 people are estimated to attend the campout between now through the July 4th holiday weekend. The gathering is illegal because no one from Rainbow Family of Living Light has applied for a permit.
“Any groups going to the national forests that are over 75 individuals are required to get a special use permit,” Markin said. “This particular group claims to have no one person in charge or no one person that is willing to step up and take responsibility for the group, and so they claim to kind of be individuals just camping in the woods.”
The Rainbow Family of Light bills itself as a non-violent group that promotes peace, love, and taking care of the earth. But Markin states that the National Incident Management Team is prepared for whatever may happen.
“Anytime you have a large group of people you know, gathering together, there’s going to be individuals that maybe make different choices than others,” she said. “That’s why we do have our large (number of) law enforcement officers that will be patrolling the incident site in and around the community to help deter any illegal activities from happening. Our incident management team is there to protect public health and safety.”
Past gatherings have included public nudity, so anyone, including families with children, not affiliated with the group may want to take note.
Heavy traffic on local roads in Oregon County at and near the gathering is expected. They could frequent local businesses asl well.
It’s not the first time the Rainbow Family of Living Light has gathered in Missouri’s Mark Twain National Forest. According to the group’s “unofficial” website, they also gathered on national forest land in Missouri in 1985 and 1996.
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