Highlights from The Woodstock Fruit Festival

Our 13th year of this infamous raw vegan festival!

I’m back online! And it felt great to get offline for a week and celebrate another incredible festival with my Woodstock fruit family. If you’re wondering what this is, check it out here:

This was a first time holding the festival in Florida, after 12 years in upstate New York. We had an inviting tropical setting, with lush landscaping and a wonderful swimming lagoon, with rocky cliffs that almost made me think I was in Costa Rica!

Daily fresh-coconut and sugar-cane beach parties at the lagoon were definitely a highlight, with plenty of energetic and playful dancing! Fruit-festers tend to have a lot of energy :). Jeannette’s very creative watermelon exercise class was another popular way to express the energy. And when the fruit festers were not dancing, playing, or eating fruit (my favorites were the fudge-like ‘black sapote’ and creamy ‘durian’), there was an abundant array of educational classes, lectures and discussions to choose from. The most redundant complaint I heard was that there was TOO much great stuff on the schedule! I enjoyed offering daily ‘Living Yoga,’ several interactive talks that explored the depths of the emotional and spiritual aspects of a raw vegan lifestyle, and a women’s support group centered around the universal phenomenon of emotional eating.

I really enjoyed the nightly fire-circles this year, with so many talented and spirited musicians to entertain and engage us. I am always blown-away by the level of talent that appears at each and every Woodstock Fruit Festival. This is truly a high-caliber, high-vibe tribe! I loved the warm and cozy family-style sing-alongs by the fire. We really know how to party…with no need or desire for any harmful substances. Just playfully, lovingly shining our authentic feel-good light together. I think this is why we all make the annual trek to come together - in a world so full of fakery and dis-ease, we crave what is REAL and true and naturally healthy.

A theme-song emerged at this year’s festival, brought to us by Atreya from Maui. He taught us a song he wrote called O’hana (“family”). With his natural expertise on guitar, and playful theatrics, it was infectious. I still catch myself singing it, at home. You can find it on Spotify - look for the one by Atreya. It made an especially wonderful appearance as the grand finale to our Talent Show, with musicians coming out of the woodwork to perform together. I am always so amazed at the quality of the Talent Show solo-acts and collaborations, all of which had precious little rehearsal time.

I had to leave the festival a day early, to get home in time to greet retreat clients coming to stay in my Living Heart Sanctuary. I was disappointed to miss yet another Woodstock Family Wedding, on the last day. How many have there been now? So beautiful, the connections made and celebrated at this unique gathering.

Durian “wedding cake”

It will take us all a while to process and integrate all of our experiences at The Woodstock Fruit Festival 2024. A lot can happen in a week of such immersion! I hope the festival can remain in Florida, and even at this venue (I hear it may be for sale….hmm…I wonder what is possible?!). I think our community has proven its commitment and sustainability, and I dream of us one day having our own venue for our festivals and retreats, one we can steward ourselves in our beautiful fruit-tribe way. It would be blanketed with fruit trees of so many varieties, and sustained on love and inspiration.

We’re looking up at Philip, climbing the coconut tree to take the photo!

‘Til next year…..thank you, Woodstock family.