Hundreds of modern-day hippies ordered to leave forest – or face fines

Gatherings attract between 5,000 and 10,000 people each year

(NEW YORK POST) – Hundreds of modern-day hippies who form a commune known as the “Rainbow Family” are being kicked out of their campsites at a California national forest with the threat of fines and jail time. The U.S. Forest Service ordered about 500 of the permitless campers to leave Plumas National Forest within 48 hours on Wednesday or face a fine of up to $5,000 and/or prison time of up to six months, according to the vacate order.

The California eviction is the first time the Rainbow Family of Living Light – a loose-knit group of free-spirited people who gather to camp together in a different national forest each year during the first week of July – has been forced to end its annual camping tradition since its first gathering in 1972. The free annual gatherings attract between 5,000 and 10,000 people each year.

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The group calls itself the “largest non-organization of non-members in the world” and as such, organizers do not get the required permits as they claim they do not have leaders to sign them on behalf of the group, according to the US Forest Service.

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