I had originally planned to go to the Clearwater Festival Revival on Saturday for the entire weekend, but I overslept on Saturday and had to get my bike repaired. So I left around 6:30 on Sunday and attended for the entire day. It was a little more then two hour drive.

It was a beautiful morning out as I started heading South on Route 32, then out Route 23/82 out to the Taconic Parkway. The Taconic is a beautiful drive, although traffic was heavy and the road narrow in Putnam County. The road became 6-lanes wides in Westchester County and I finally made it the exit for Croton-on-Hudson. It was a narrow twisty road, but a relatively short drive to Croton-on-Hudson where I found parking on a residential street and took my bike down to the festival.

I had an activist pass so I got in for free. I got to use valet bicycle parking, which allowed me to ride right up the entry. I met up with the people at the Bethlehem Neighbors for Peace booth, where I volunteered throughout the day. We talked to dozens of people, gave away and sold all kinds of things related to peace. While certainly not the only peace group there, we had a major table with much information that many people where quite interested in.

There was music throughout the day, playing on four different stages. Almost every kind of music genre was represented, at least in the underground form, and if you were willing to walk around you could probably find almost anything you wanted to listen to. Most of it was to a degree quite political, but most was quite enjoyable—particularly the Hudson stage right next to the river.

Many of the activists' booths also were interesting. There were a number of environmental groups there, as where there animal rights, public transit riders, and anti-nuclear activists. The information on the dangers of nuclear and its alternatives were particularly fascinating to me. There truly is no safe nuclear plant, and the technology is unsustainable to say the least. It takes almost as much fossil fuel energy to create nuclear energy, then it does to burn the fuel directly—without the major disposal headaches or toxins.

The Clearwater booth had updates on the major issues facing the Hudson River, from the issue of dredging to the dangers and problems of Indian Point. It's a bit scary to think a mistake like one made at Browns Ferry, if unstopped, could kill one out of every eight people in the United States, and half of the state's population. The dredging section taught me about the pros-and-cons of dredging, and why it should proceed even if there was temporary concerned about the short-term impacts of dredging on the river.

It was a hot day out, but nice and cool sitting down to the river. There was plenty of activists there, and plenty of people to discuss the issues of the day—from the war to our domestic policies on the environment. While I didn't always agree with all the activists there, it was good to see them getting out their ideas, and trying to educate others on their beliefs.

On a bit of an ironic note, the festival takes place on the point of Croton-on-Hudson. Like many downstate areas, the environment was seriously compromised. The festival takes place between a major power plant, the Harvestraw Plant on one side of the Hudson, and on the other side, the closed Croton-on-Hudson Landfill. Air pollution with the humidity was noticeable, as was the New York City sprawl in Westchester County.

Forty-five bucks plus a two hour drive each way to this festival might seem a bit expensive for a lot of people. Yet, it was an enjoyable time and well worth the time and money. I would encourage anybody to go, learn as much as they can from the festival, and enjoy the music. What you will get out of the day will far outweigh the costs of going for the day.

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Clearwater 2007 Photographs