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ComFest (officially The Community Festival; is an annual festival currently held at Goodale Park in the Short North area of Columbus, Ohio. The festival bills itself as "The Party with a Purpose" and is "arguably the largest free, non-corporate urban music and arts festival in the United States."[1] To accomplish this goal, the festival relies on community members to participate in the planning and operation of the festival serving on committees and work teams including clean-up and recycling, safety and first aid, entertainment, and street fair. BE A VOLUNTEER. GO TO http://www.comfest.com/forvolunteers.htm.
The festival was first held in 1972 as a showcase for a collection of progression community organizations including the Free Press, Free Health Clinic, Food Co-op, Tenants Union, Crisis Hotline, and Recycling Center. The festival continues to provide a forum for alternative lifstyles and collective activity.
The Purpose of the Party can be summed up in the "statement of principles" that govern the festival:
1) "We think that people ought to work for the collective good of all people rather than for personal gain. We support cooperation and collective activity rather than competition and individual profit.
2) The basic necessities of life are a right and not a privilege. People have the collective right to control the conditions of their lives.
3) People should strive to conduct their lives in harmony with the environment.
4) We recognize that there are primary attitudes which divide and oppress people. These attitudes are usually shown by prejudice against people on the basis of age, class, ability, income, race, sex, and sexual preference/ orientation.
5) We seek to eliminate these attitudes."
The 35th annual ComFest was held June 22-24, 2007. The 36th annual festival will be held June 27-29, 2008. Six stages hosted hundreds of local bands, live arts and cultural performers, and political activists. The street fair hosts community organizations, local food vendors, and artists and craftspeople from stone carvers to radical knitters. Beer from The Columbus Brewing Company is sold in large colorful mugs to offset the cost of the festival itself and to raise money for community projects and grants. All tips from the beer booths go to homeless shelters. Recently ComFest has championed a specific cause such as raising the minimum wage.
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