The Rainbow Family traces its beginnings to 1972, when thousands of people answered a call to gather in the Colorado Rockies to pray for peace. This section brings together the earliest footage of that first gathering with firsthand accounts from people who helped start it, including co-founders Barry 'Plunker' Adams and Garrick Beck and early participants such as Glowing Feather and Sunny Mason. Their stories connect the gathering to the wider counterculture of the late 1960s, from Woodstock to the communes and the peace movement. These videos show how a one-time event became an annual tradition and, eventually, a worldwide movement, and they set out the founding ideals the Family still refers to today.
The First Rainbow Gathering, 1972 - Archival film and slides documenting the very first Rainbow Gathering in Colorado in 1972.
1st Rainbow Gathering: Granby, Colorado 1972 (Highlights) - A highlights reel from the original 1972 gathering near Granby, Colorado.
Meet Glowing Feather, Participant of the First Rainbow Gathering - A first-generation participant shares his philosophy of what the Rainbow Gathering is and means.
Sunny Mason's 'Hipstory' of the First Rainbow Gathering - Sunny Mason recalls the 1972 gathering where tens of thousands of free spirits met in Colorado to pray for world peace.
Barry 'Plunker' Adams on the Genesis of the Rainbow Family (Part 1) - Co-founder Barry 'Plunker' Adams tells the origin story of the Rainbow Family in a long-form Woodstock Museum interview.
Barry 'Plunker' Adams on the Genesis of the Rainbow Family (Part 2) - The second half of the Woodstock Museum interview with Rainbow Family co-founder Barry 'Plunker' Adams.
A Talk with Rainbow Gatherings Co-Founder Garrick Beck - Reed College hosts co-founder Garrick Beck on how the gatherings began in 1972 and spread to more than 50 countries.
Maji Glowing Feather Tells Stories of 1972 (at the 50th Anniversary) - Glowing Feather recalls the first gathering while sitting in circle at the 2022 50th-anniversary gathering.