The 2019 Program Guide is live and online! Get a head start reading up on this year's Grant Recipients, Honored Volunteers, Honored Artist, Honored Activist, and Honored Community Organization. We're really proud of the work that was put into the Program this year, and we hope that you enjoy it. As always, we'll have plenty of the at the festival, so don't forget to pick up … [Read more...] about 2019 Program Guide is ONLINE!
2013 Program Introduction
The basic necessities of life are a right, not a privilege If the statement on the back of the 2013 ComFest volunteer T-shirts sounds familiar, there’s good reason. The slogan chosen by organizers for the themeof this year’s fest leaps straight off the page of Community Festival’s Statement of Principles: The basic necessities of life are a right, not a … [Read more...] about 2013 Program Introduction
2012 Program Introduction
“The People, Yes!” Welcome to Comfest! In the words of the great TV dramatist Rod Sterling, you have entered “a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind.” Beyond being the nation’s largest independent volunteer-run festival, ComFest is an engine of change. It consciously and unabashedly provides a voice for progressive politics as well as a showcase for … [Read more...] about 2012 Program Introduction
2011 Program Introduction
Workers’ Rights Are Human Rights ComFest has always been politically progressive, explicitly celebrating the struggle for social justice together with the wealth of local talent. So when thousands of citizens were locked out of the Statehouse last winter during hearings on legislation to strip away the right of public employees to bargain for wages and safe … [Read more...] about 2011 Program Introduction
2010 Program Introduction
LIVE EVERY DAY THE COMFEST WAY Welcome to Community Festival-three days of alternative politics,arts & crafts, music, reunions with old friends and introductions to new ones, sunshine (OK rain…), shared dreams and shared work in a shared space. Those repetitions are intentional. The underpinnings of this annual festival were birthed in the cultural civil war … [Read more...] about 2010 Program Introduction
2009 Program Introduction
IN COMMUNITY WE TRUST educate advocate organize The most powerful words in any language, anywhere on earth, are “How can I help?” Even more than “Yes we can!”, the offer to help has power to weave people together. Especially in hard times, this deceptively simple question, a reflexive expression of empathy, is the very essence of community building. So … [Read more...] about 2009 Program Introduction
2008 Program Introduction
Be the ChangeYou Wish To See in the World As volunteers go through their annual discussion of how best to capture the spirit of ComFest in a short statement/slogan, it’s always an effort to include the linked concepts of struggle and celebration that are integral to a full life. This year (2008), no one needed to mention the obvious issues of war, economic hardship, … [Read more...] about 2008 Program Introduction