North Country Fair Turns 50 

Under bright, sunny skies, the North Country Fair, an Arcata tradition created by the Same Old People organizers in 1974, featured the All Species Parade on Saturday and the Samba Parade with Samba da Alegria and Samba do Mar on Sunday. This year's party featured 175 art and craft vendors, interactive toys and playgrounds for children and adults, local food booths and three stages of music and entertainment running continuously both days.

Jerry Martien, director emeritus of the Same Old People, walked around the crowded plaza. He shared the message on the original poster: "We believe the basis of our life and economy is cooperation and mutual aid." Today's fair poster by the Same Old People, includes an expanded message that includes social and environmental justice: "We celebrate and advocate for a healthy environment, cooperation and community, a vibrant alternative economy, and justice for every person and all forms of life." The most visible manifestation of that environmental message today were the fair's reusable 50th anniversary Klean Canteen cups available for purchase and Zero-Waste volunteers sorting the waste into recycling, composting and trash bins.

"It's always been very political. It's about cooperation as opposed to competition," says Martien. "Even though its original base was a group of community businesses, the idea of having a storefront was one of community service." The Same Old People — named for the core group of organizers, business owners and activists who kept showing up to plan events and actions — came to the idea for the festival at an unlikely moment, on the heels of losing the fight against splitting Arcata with U.S. Highway 101. Martien says as they gathered in defeat and wondered what to do next, "Probably the looniest person among us said, 'We should give the town a party!'"

The All Species Parade, now shepherded by the Arcata Playhouse, was originally the province of the Northcoast Environmental Center. Executive Director Caroline Griffith says the parade and the All Species Day Proclamation serve "to remind us that we share this planet, we don't own it ... as a reminder of our space in the scheme of things, that we're one of many species." The organization maintains its presence in the event, participating in last year's street performance of tearing down the Klamath dams. This year, NEC cleanups provided materials for the giant turtle sculpture built by homeless and housing insecure people at Our Space Arts, run by Playhouse Arts.

Executive/Artistic Director of the Arcata Playhouse Jackie Dandeneau says the All Species Parade is a natural fit for the theater and its programs. "We do outdoor spectacle," she says, adding the theaters is brimming with giant puppets, fish hats and the like, "and artists on staff that are like, 'Yeah, let's go!'"

This year's Samba Parade was the 38th to rumble and shake its way around the plaza. It grew out of the All Species Parade, in which Sam Camp and other musicians used to play samba music. In 1986, David Peñalosa, Humboldt's godfather of samba percussion, led a stand-alone Samba Parade and two years later, Ann Youmans brought a troupe of samba dancers. 

Maria Vanderhorst, artistic director of Samba do Mar Humboldt, which co-produced the parade with Samba da Alegria, says, "The parade has just really grown." This year, some 68 adult and 25 youth dancers performed to the music of Samba da Alegria's 44 drummers, singers and musicians. The tribute to Brazilian culture takes enormous planning and preparation. On the dance side alone, planning and costume design began in late May, and weekly classes started in July, ramping up to twice weekly classes as the fair drew closer. Vanderhorst, who danced alongside her 9-year-old daughter this year, says it's worth the time and effort. In practice as well as the big performance, she says, "We really get to connect to our community."

"It is still a chance for the community to see itself," says Martien, who sees mostly discord and danger in the news of late, and people being told to fear their neighbors. The North Country Fair, he says, is for coming together. "It's a healthy dose of community that we all need."