Festival Season with Faith In Nature

Phew, that was fun! While our tents dry off, we’re reflecting on the muddy fun we had at both Bluedot and Kendal Calling festivals. Besides finding time to dance to great acts like Roisin Murphy and Chic, we spread the word about Nature’s rights and handed out some much-appreciated soap. Here’s more about what we got up to in the fields…

Ponchos, Soaps and Showers

Lucky festival-goers might have seen us prancing around both events in our eye-catching ponchos, pushing our wheelbarrows full of free soap. We heard a rumour we were known by some as ‘The Soap Fairies’. It was a joy to hand out soap bars to people who were so grateful for them, and to have lots of lively conversations about what we do.

Plenty of partiers asked us where our ponchos and matching bucket hats were from; they’re a limited edition collaboration between Faith In Nature and Rainkiss and we love them! You’ll be able to buy them here on our website very soon, just keep an eye on our social media channels to see when they drop.

As well as handing out soap, we provided our much-loved Grapefruit & Orange Shampoo, Conditioner and Body Wash in the boutique showers at Bluedot, and in the Soap Opera and boutique campsites at Kendal Calling. We also placed some Aloe Vera & Tea Tree Hand Wash in selected sinks at Kendal Calling, so that people could enjoy a gentle but refreshing hand wash after all that antibacterial gel!

Rights of Nature Placard Workshops

Sure we make soap, but that’s not all we do. In case you missed the memo, we’re very passionate about Nature – especially the Nature’s rights movement. That’s why we loved running our workshops, helping people make Nature’s rights placards ready for the festivals’ parades.

Open to everyone, but especially popular with children, these sessions were an opportunity to talk about what we love most about Nature and the messages we’d like to spread on its behalf. The creativity we witnessed was dazzling, and it was heartening and hopeful to see how much kids care about the future of our planet.

On Sunday at both events, we joined spectacular performers and waved our placards in the colourful festival parades.

Sustainability at Festivals

At Bluedot, Simeon, our Creative Director, took part in ‘How to Save the Planet’, an inspiring panel about sustainability in festivals. The discussion was chaired by Professor Teresa Anderson MBE, Director of the Jodrell Bank Centre for Engagement, where Bluedot is held. Joining her and Simeon were Chris Jones, Research Associate at the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research at the University of Manchester, and Hannah Cox, Sustainable Impact Leader and Founder at betternotstop.

The panel chatted about what can be done to make festivals more sustainable, from greener travel arrangements to offering more vegan food. Hannah spoke about Leave Nothing But Memories, her successful campaign (which we’re proud to support) to encourage people to take their tents home from Kendal Calling. Simeon shared his experience of appointing Nature to our board of directors, and encouraged festival organisers to consider following our open source guide to putting Nature on the Board.

Live Nature

One of our favourite things about festivals is (of course) being in Nature. Sometimes, amid all the bright lights and noise, it can be easy to forget that you’re in the countryside. But from a buzzard hovering close to our campsite at Bluedot to the dramatic hills in the distance at Kendal Calling, there was no shortage of natural wonders to be enjoyed over the two weekends.

At Kendal Calling in particular, Nature came to us. We had a butterfly land in the showers we were stocking, frogs and toadlets hopping around our campsite and more than one friendly bee buzzing around and pausing awhile with us. These little visitors were a happy reminder of where we were – and of why we love spreading the word about Nature’s rights.