Maybe I'm biased, because I've been going to Ravenswing since it was a once-a-month craft & zine fair in a smallish room at the Jack Purcell Centre, but I still think Ravenswing is astonishing.
From virtually nothing, Sean and all the other people that have gravitated towards the Ravenswing collective have created something that grows visibly every year, that gets better and better, and that hasn't yet lost its totally refreshing anti-corporate, local, indie, DIY feel. Ravenswing is a carnival: diverse, colourful, celebratory, and playful.
The crowds at this year's fair were easily double that of last year. And people have begun to realize that you can come and just hang out in Minto Park that day, catch the bands, do some workshops, and stroll around talking to the artists and crafters. This year, too, the organizers scored a stage, which really enhanced the sense of 'occasion' and brought more people up to the stage to listen to the bands. As usual, the bands ran a little later than the printed schedule, so that the last band went on at 4:00, when the fair was officially supposed to be wrapping up... but everyone still had their stuff out and no one seemed eager to leave. It was just too nice to be in the park with all the cool people.
Girls on roller skates handing out the program, too? NICE touch.
I was broke at this year's fair, so I only walked out with a couple of things. One gem was a stunning photograph by Ian McPhail of a statue in the Art Gallery (she's either Roman or a Baroque copy, I think) which also came with a great story about how he managed to get a camera into the gallery and get the shot in the first place.
Another good one was Paula Belina's zine/comic about being in Oregon on Election Night 2008, with nifty complex art and a tone that totally captured the crazy swell that happened to a lot of people that night, from semi-cynicism to an outburst of collective, charged celebration that - in her story - had people dancing into the intersections on the "walk" cycles in Portland, for hours. (She threw in her one-pager mini-zine on how to cross the border, too.) She's looking for other people's election night stories - send them to funisfreepress@gmail.com.
I also had very little to sell this year, so I was free to ditch my table and go off looking for workshops to get involved in. I sat in on the prayer flags workshop (a little explanation of what those colourful flags are that you see hanging around people's houses, the Buddhist temple on Heron, and Crystal Dawn, plus a lot of time to cut out and design your own, nontraditional prayer flags: mine involved a few Norse runes and some gorgeous copper-coloured fabric paint.) I also had been looking forward to the breaking/locking dance workshop for days, so I had to join that one: my legs still hurt from the crouch-squat pose... must dance more!)
I was happy to see more than just jewelry and clothes at the sale too - nothing against jewelry and clothes, that's what I brought, but having Rockalily Burlesque there with their pasties and hula hoops was a nice touch. The same with the Henna tent and the table selling all-natural makeup.
And if this year was this good... how awesome is next year's Ravenswing going to be?
