For those that don’t know, Driftwood is an annual gathering out in the Delta, on Bradford Island. Reachable by car ferry, there’s no running water or very much electricity; we sort of bootstrap the whole thing with stuff we bring in. A lot of people contribute various things, like hauling in porta potties, or a generator, or they help organize. I bring my cameras. The point, although we call it a ‘festival’, is to get together and make art with a bunch of cool people.
Look, I know this is a lot of pictures. Driftwood has expanded from a weekend to four days. So there’s a lot of stuff that happens. The big edit was like 120 pictures. So. I did cut quite a few.
There are communal dinners, music late into the night, camping, swimming in the Delta. We sit out on the dock/in the water during the day, when it’s hot, and then come back to Jack’s plot (it’s also Jack’s dock) for dinner and music and dancing. Originally, the whole thing was powered off Jack’s solar array, but in recent years upgrades to our PA system have required more watts than he has on tap at night. There are batteries, but not quite enough of them.
Because Sophie helps organize, we went out on Thursday. This year, me and Sophie rented an RV, sort of experimentally, because AC is nice. It was a pretty big hassle though, and I don’t know that we’ll be doing it again. The ferry plus the drive out there was just a lot. Although, getting there and basically being set up in 15 minutes, instead of having to set up a tent was pretty nice. There was an amount of other setup to do, of course. Lights, rugs, DJ booth, you know, just the essentials.
The second day, there was a really amazing sunset, complete with double rainbow. I got a picture of it, but pictures of rainbows never really do it justice, so you’ll just have to trust me. I did get a bunch of the sunset that night from the top of the levee, though. Jack and Benny both came up in one of the carts to see.
I really should take field notes at these things, I have no idea what order these photos should go in. The whole experience was magical and amazing, even with the rain the second day. In fact, it made the whole thing a little less hot; it can be really unbearable sometimes, you know?
There were a lot of moments I didn’t get pictures of, because I too was lost in the moment. Joseph put down some foam and blankets and pillows in the back of his truck, and parked it so it was close to the music, where people could chill and look up at the stars. That was a good one. Or when someone brought watermelon down to the dock to share just as it was getting hot. Or like, probably a hundred other little moments.
Anyway. Here are the rest of the pictures.
Posted by matt on 2025-04-16T06:48:38Z GMT
