In the summer of 2022, a convoy of women driving trailers and cars north past Evansburg signaled to local residents that something big was happening out in the woods.
It was the Wild Roses Festival, then called Wild Women, Wild Roses. It’s been growing ever since its inception in 2021, and will take place near Evansburg on July 5-7 this summer.
Having just had a baby on the first day of the COVD-19 lockdown of 2020, Lauren LaRose-Ference knew she needed to build her village. She wished she had more support in the isolation and heaviness she was feeling at the start of motherhood. Being a trained herbalist and having worked at the Lucina Birth Centre, she felt a strong need for kinship. She was looking for community, one of sacred female spaces to teach, heal and share. Her intention was a camping trip and a potluck with other women. She imagined a group of 40-50 women sharing a meal on the first weekend away — over 300 ended up attending, after LaRose-Ference spread the event through social media to a community of healers.
“We want every woman who attends to step onto the land, into the space, to enter and exhale,” LaRose-Ference says. “It’s a Choose Your Own Adventure, so each woman can choose what experience speaks to her and follow that intuition into the weekend that she needs.” It can be a weekend of rest, of healing, of transformation. Women support women and hold space for each other.
On the land there are options for camping, glamping and trailers (there are also Airbnb rentals available in town). A temporary Nordic spa will be set up with cold plunge pools and sauna tents, as well as healing and wellness offerings from the healers’ village like massage, facials, spiritual readings, chiropractic treatment, yoga and meditation. There are plenty of local food vendors to feed attendees and an artisanal marketplace with over 50 vendors.
In the era of Gwyneth Paltrow’s posh new-age spirituality, one might default to think of this as an exclusive weekend. It’s exactly the opposite, with affordability as a priority. A three-day weekend ticket is $333 for a full roster of sessions and events. Accessibility for Black and Indigenous Women of Colour (BIWOC) is highlighted; there are 13 scholarships to attend the weekend. The organizers’ focus is on culture, inclusivity, sharing and support.
LaRose’s vision is to equip each woman with knowledge and sisters so she can go home with a network of supporters. It’s not about the line-up; this is no spiritual Coachella. There are practical sessions like creating a sourdough starter and financial literacy teaching as well as workshops for artist expression like sculpture, beading, writing and painting. There are presentations and performances, and food and dance are an important part of the weekend. LaRose-Ference hopes all women from all walks of life and all cultures will find something that speaks to them to support their journeys.
“We try to follow the flow of what the group asks for and what women say they need,” she says.
A lot of that has to do with coping with the world. Good-girl syndrome, being socialized to please others, is something the millennial generation is shedding. Perfectionism and independence were bred into young women in the ’90s and early 2000s, and around that there is fear of judgement. It’s hard for many of the “you-go-girl” era to admit they want and need help in raising babies, managing careers and households, and “doing it all.”
The common traditional retreat in many cultures around the world doesn’t exist for many women in the West. This experience of being female — menstruation, pregnancy, birth and menopause — is kept silent and medicalized. LaRose-Ference sees Wild Roses as a space for maidens to learn from mothers and mothers to learn from crones. She hopes every woman who attends will find her own sisterhood, and encourages attendees to be open and intuitive, to make space or to take space, to “leave with your cup filled up.”
This article appears in the Jul/Aug 2024 issue of Edify
