When the moon perfectly aligned with the sun over Big Summit Prairie on August 21, 2017, it wasn’t just a rare celestial event – it was the culmination of one of the most ambitious gatherings in festival history. The Oregon Eclipse Festival transformed the Ochoco National Forest into a temporary utopia where 30,000 souls from across the globe united to celebrate art, music, community, and cosmic wonder.
A Historic Convergence of Music, Art, & Cosmic Wonder
The Oregon Eclipse Festival stands as a testament to what’s possible when visionaries unite. This monumental event was born from an unprecedented collaboration between 13 international festival organizers, including Australia’s Rainbow Serpent, Japan’s Re: Birth, South Africa’s Origin Festival, and many others. Each collective brought its unique cultural perspective and expertise, creating a tapestry of experiences unlike anything seen before.
The result was seven distinct stages, each with its own character and musical journey, spread across the stunning 55,000-acre Big Summit Prairie. Rather than competing, these microcosms complemented each other, allowing attendees to traverse musical and artistic worlds throughout their week-long adventure.
Sonic Journeys Across Seven Realms
The festival’s musical programming spanned the entire electronic spectrum while embracing live instrumentation and world music influences. From dawn ambient sessions to peak-time psychedelic journeys and late-night bass explorations, the soundscapes were as diverse as the global crowd.
Legendary acts like Bassnectar delivered earth-shaking performances that united thousands in collective movement, while The String Cheese Incident brought their genre-defying live instrumentation to the prairie. Visionary sound alchemist Simon Posford presented Shpongle’s transcendent auditory journey, perfectly aligned with the festival’s boundary-dissolving ethos.
Other notable performances included:
Desert Dwellers’ tribal-infused downtempo music perfectly matched the desert setting
The hypnotic techno odysseys of Dixon and Âme at the Earth Stage
Random Rab’s soul-stirring sunrise sets became daily rituals for many
The Classical revolution of Portland’s orchestral reinterpretations of electronic classics
Psychedelic Art Oregon Eclipse Festival
Visionary Art That Transformed Reality
What truly set Oregon Eclipse apart was its commitment to large-scale immersive art that transformed the landscape into an otherworldly realm. The festival grounds became a living gallery where attendees could interact with installations that challenged perception and inspired wonder.
Live psychedelic Painting at Oregon Eclipse Festival
Among the most breathtaking creations was Android Jones‘ “Samskara,” a 360-degree digital art dome where his intricate psychedelic visuals enveloped viewers in a meditation on consciousness. The renowned visionary artist also collaborated with projection mapping specialists to create dynamic visual stories that came alive on natural formations throughout the grounds.
The Luminous Hendecahedron, a geometric structure covered in LEDs that responded to sound and movement
Shrine’s upcycled temple structures created from discarded materials transformed into sacred spaces
The Pulse Portal by Davis McCarty, a rainbow-hued archway that played with light and perspective
Live Painting at Oregon Eclipse FestivalPsychedelic Art Galleries at Oregon Eclipse Festival
Beyond Entertainment: Workshops and Learning
What made Oregon Eclipse transcend the typical festival experience was its dedication to education and personal growth. Multiple villages hosted hundreds of workshops covering topics from permaculture and sustainable living to sound healing, yoga, and indigenous wisdom traditions.
The Psychedelic Science and Healing Village became a hub for discussions around consciousness, featuring talks by ethnobotanists, neuroscientists, and spiritual leaders. These spaces fostered genuine community and connection that extended far beyond the temporary city in the prairie.
The Day of Totality: A Moment of Universal Unity
When the moon completely obscured the sun for two minutes of totality, 30,000 people fell silent in collective awe. As darkness descended in the middle of the day, temperatures dropped, stars appeared, and the sun’s corona created a silver ring in the sky. What followed was an eruption of cheers, tears, and embraces – a shared recognition of our place in the cosmos that transcended all cultural and personal boundaries.
This moment of unity was precisely what the festival organizers had envisioned: using a natural phenomenon to create a container for transformation and connection.
Oregon eclipse festival
Environmental Stewardship and Community Values
The Oregon Eclipse Festival set a high standard for environmental responsibility in large-scale events. Operating with a “leave no trace” philosophy, the organizers implemented comprehensive sustainability initiatives, including:
Advanced waste management systems with composting and recycling
Water conservation practices, despite the remote location
Educational programs about ecological impact
Post-event restoration of the natural landscape
The community aspect was equally impressive, with a self-governing approach that emphasized mutual respect, creative expression, and collective responsibility. Many attendees reported that the social dynamics—the way strangers became family through shared experience- was as transformative as the art and music themselves.
The Legacy of the Oregon Eclipse
The 2017 Oregon Eclipse Festival has become a benchmark in transformational festival history. What made it unique was not just its scale or celestial timing but how it demonstrated the possibility of creating temporary autonomous zones where different rules of engagement and connection could flourish.
Its influence continues to reverberate through festival culture worldwide. Many of the artistic collaborations, production techniques, and community models pioneered at Oregon Eclipse have inspired a new generation of events and gatherings. The organizers themselves have continued to create impactful experiences around the globe, carrying forward the lessons learned from this historic convergence.
The Oregon Eclipse Festival of 2017 wasn’t just an event – it was a milestone that showed what’s possible when art, nature, community, and cosmic wonder align in perfect harmony. For those who were there, it remains an indelible memory of humanity at its most inspired. For the rest of us, it stands as a testament to the extraordinary potential of transformational festival culture at its zenith.
Yaniv Ben Ari stands as a multifaceted creative force, carving a distinctive niche in the realms of music, technology, and entrepreneurship. Renowned as a Musician, DJ, Event producer, and Psychedelic Art enthusiast.
