Valerie Cassity
Special to the Sun

Kern Valley Progressive Alliance for Change (KVPAC) held its fourth annual Kern Valley Progressive Freedom Festival in Kernville last weekend, Oct. 24-25, with a music and political outdoor festival at Frandy Park on Saturday, and various workshops at the Oddfellows Hall on Sunday. The theme of this year’s festival was “The Voice of Social Consciousness,” and nationally-know as well as local speakers offered many ideas on how individuals can do their part to improve the world.

Former soldier Dwayne Hunn, now of the World Service Corp., told the story of one mother who is working to raise funds to send her son the proper Kevlar equipment that the army is not providing him, so that he will come home to her safely. Health care reform was a widely discussed topic on Saturday, with many speakers rallying for a public option.

(Use arrows above to view more photos)

Delores Huerta, founder of the Delores Huerta Foundation and co-founder of the United Farmer Workers with Cesar Chavez, has worked relentlessly to ensure farm workers’ rights. Huerta, who has been the recipient of numerous awards and holds four honorary doctorate degrees, spoke about health care being a basic human right, and not something to be denied due to the balance in one’s bank account. “We need to come together to do something to get health care for all,” she implored.

Keynote speaker Cenk Uygur of Air America’s “The Young Turks,” who has appeared many times as a commentator on CNN, spoke of ways that we can change the world. A self-identified lifelong Republican, Uygur said he became disillusioned with previous administration. Uygur added that while it is exciting that President Obama was elected, he predicts that Obama will only be able to affect a five percent change during his time in office, and the rest is up to us. Uygur had many ideas about how the common man and woman can work together to make sure that our elected officials work for the people rather than the lobbyists. He suggested that a Political Action Committee is formed, much like NRA or NAACP, to bring down one crooked politician through ads in that official’s state, so that the others will take notice and worry that they, too, will be held accountable for their actions. “Nine out of ten politicians are cowards; they want to please everyone and they sell out to those who can give them the highest contributions. They need to sell out to us, the voters,” said Uygur. “The way to change the world is not to rely on politicians, but to do it ourselves.”

In addition to the various speakers, there was musical talent throughout the day, including Out of the Question with a set of bluegrass and folk, in addition to a tribute by Valerie Cassity to Peter, Paul, and Mary’s Mary Travers, who passed away last month. Event emcee R.J. Eskow took a turn on stage showcasing his musical talent, as well as Dos Guys, and the women’s Celtic group Banshee in the Kitchen.

The musical headliner was Brian Vander Ark, a singer-songwriter best known as lead singer for the band The Verve Pipe. Vander Ark wrote the band’s hit “The Freshmen” and many others, and had a supporting role as the bass player in the movie Rock Star. Vander Ark sang for an hour with only his acoustic guitar for accompaniment. Punctuating his songs with brief stories about their origins, Vander Ark told the story of his step father taking his last breath in a hospital with his family surrounding him, and also shared the tale of taking his four-year-old daughter on a daddy/daughter date to McDonalds with her in her princess dress and tiara and him in a suit.

One focus that the festival organizers wanted to emphasize is celebrating sustainability and localism, which was accomplished by having all local vendors selling their wares ranging from locally hand made skin care creams, jewelry and crafts made from local materials, a square-foot gardening system, and more. Children were kept entertained with a bounce house by Kern Kids Party Rentals, bracelet and dream catcher making activities, pendulum art, peace flag decorating, and a patriotic mosaic portrait featuring the Statue of Liberty drawn by Joan Desmond, which had various 6” square pieces of a large picture to be decorated by everyone at the event. There was also a display of the Freedom Wall, which was covered with pictures drawn by local children about what freedom means to them, and included everything from (several) American flags to a girl riding her horse in a field.

The event organizers also wanted to encourage green energy, and invited KV Solar Supply to set up an information booth, as well as CA Green Team Windspire energy systems; a company that sells personal wind energy systems which powered much of the day’s activities.Dawn Jordan pointed out that the stage was made of 100 percent recycled materials, and there were recycling bins throughout the festival area so that the event would create as little waste as possible. On stage, Jordan encouraged everyone to recycle as much of their trash as they could, and that local recycling centers will take almost anything for recycling. “Ghandi’s ‘Be the change you wish to see in the world’ is one of my favorite quotes, and one of the changes we want to see in this valley is more green energy and more recycling,” said Jordan.