August 17-19: Equifunk!

It is Friday morning and we are frantically preparing to leave for what would be a fantastic adventure. By early afternoon the last bit of gear is loaded into the car and our friends have arrived to join us on the first leg of our journey, the Equifunk Music Festival in Equinunk, PA.We intended to be on the road by 10am, but what would turn out to be a recurring theme we grossly underestimate the amount of time needed.

Our first stop  - Lancaster Brewing Company for dinner and some of their delicious Amish Four Grain Ale. The pouring rain motivates Maggie to periodically check the weather to see if this festival will be more akin to Woodstock ‘64 than the advertised fun in the sun.

We arrive around dusk, just as the rain stops.  Our home for the weekend is football field with a few hundred tents packed together into the lower 50 yards. Other festival-goers stay in the cabins....ok wait, let’s back up a minute so I can explain this place...  

Water slide!

Most of the year, Equinunk is a summer camp for children. There are sports, horseback riding, a pool with a waterslide, and pow wows around campfires. The place has cabins, a girls side and a boys side, mess hall, the works. We are greeted by a few young British lads, and it seems the festival is staffed mostly by Europeans and a crazy guy riding around in a golf cart yelling through a loud-speaker. The place is great for a festival except for one little issue... the bathrooms were scarcely placed, overflowing port-o-pots with one water fountain to clean your hands. On top of that, we are unable to find the showers even though one of the volunteers assured us there were some, but hey, water slide. 
 

Dumpstaphunk

The weekend was spent dancing to some great funk bands like Orgone, Dumpstaphunk, Pimps of Joytime, and Galactic. Nothing beat Saturday afternoon in the sun watching some great acts while taking periodic trips down the waterslide. The festival ticket included three meals, camping, music and unlimited beer; not bad. The food was ok, but Maggie found it lacking in vegetarian options and would pack something supplemental the next time. The Beer was Coor’s - not a favorite of mine - but when you walk up to the truck to get it they refuse to let you leave with less than two so I will let it slide. I could see us coming back to this festival again.

After a full Saturday of funk, waterslide rides, and endless light beer, Sunday morning was rough to say the least. On top of that the crazy guy is yelling at us “funky funky people” to “get the hell out” followed by a “I love you guys”. We part ways with our friends and the two of us head for our next destination - The Finger Lakes National Forest.