MEDIA REPORTS    SUMMER SOLSTICE 2007    ...Back to Home Page
                                                  

Jun 28   Salisbury Journal                                        Some photos 2007

Jun 23   Wiltshire Times 
             eGov                                           

Jun 22   Times  
             Daily Mail  
             Independent  
             Guardian  
             Daily Star  
             The Hindu  
             Turkish Daily News  
             Brisbane Times    
             Fairbanks News  

Jun 21   BBC News  
             CBBC News 
             Wilts Gazette and Herald  
             The Metro
             Fox News
             Swindon Advertiser  
             The Sun  
             Guardian online  
             ABC News  
             Zee News

Jun 20   Guardian online   

Jun 17  Independent on Sunday   

Thousands greet the solstice sunrise
DESPITE some rain and a cloudy sunrise, the revellers who gathered at Stonehenge for this year's summer solstice were in high spirits.
Some 24,000 people - 5,000 more than last year - filled the English Heritage site to celebrate the dawning of the longest day and clapped, cheered and danced to the beat of drums as the sun started to rise and eventually peeked through the clouds at 4.58am.
People partied through the night and chanting, drumming, fire-spinning and even trumpeting could be spotted around the site.
The King's Drums entertained. everyone by torchlight with music, dancing and a huge dragon's head. As the sun rose, Rollo MaughFling, Arch Druid of Stonehenge, called for world peace at his annual gathering at ihe Hele Stone and self-proclaimed druid king Arthur Pendragon performed a haby-naming ceremony for little Oliver Asterix.
Wiltshire police made only four arrests for minor public order offences. Superintendent Dave Bennett said: "We are pleased that, in partnership with English Heritage, another summer solstice has passed off peacefully."
Solstice bus chaos: Page 7.

PICTURES BY ROGER ELLIOTT
Waiting for the sun at Stonehenge on the summer solstice.  DB2435P53         PIC1

A smiling torcbearer.  DB2435P08                  PIC2

Rollo Maughfling, Arch Druid of Stonehenge.  DB2435P27         PIC3

Painted green man.  DB2435P13           PIC4

A colourful dragon adds to the spectacle.  DB2435P44           PIC5

A pagan percussionist. DB2435P02              PIC6

Floral maiden. DB2435P33                  PIC7

Let the party commence. DB2435P58                PIC8

Solstice leads to bus row      p7
By Chris Hooper

COUNTLESS bus passengers across Salisbury were stranded at bus stops last week after Wilts and Dorset struggled to cope with the crowds leaving Stonehenge after the summer solstice celebrations.
The event attracted more than 20,000 people to Stonehenge, and Wilts and Dorset, who recently introduced. massive price increases on all tickets across the city, provided a number of buses to transfer people away irom the English Heritage site after the sun rise.
As a result, bus services across the city were at breaking point with passengers complaining of overcrowded buses, late services, and buses not turning up at all.
Marion Cross, a passenger from Salisbury said: "I got to thc bus stop on Wednesday morning at 8.20am and usually a bus comes along every ten minutes. But, this time, it took more than 30 minutes for one to arrive.
"Even then it was full and could not allow any passengers on board." Eventually, Ruth Wright, another one of the exasperated passengers at the Coronation Road bus stop, decided to call Wilts and Uorset's customer care line to find out if a bus would arrive.
She said: "l was told they were experiencing a shortage of drivers because they had all been diverted to Stonehenge.
"I understand the Solstice is a big deal for many visitors to this area but I do not think it is right to put transporting tourists above the needs of people who Iive and work here and keep the city going for the other 363 days of the year."
However, Chris Harris, a public relations manager for Wilts and Dorset, denied normal services had been re-routed.
He said: "The Solstice buses were winding down by 7am and everything should have been back to normal by peak rush hour time.
"However, because of the Soistice, there was a great deal of traffic in the area and some services may have been affected. I apologise for any inconvenience but this was a one-off event."

A summer solstice reveller gets in the mood at Stonehenge but there
was travel chaos later as crowds left the celebration.  DB2435P69                PIC9
Order online at www.journalphotos.co.uk

Wiltshire Times    Saturday  June 23 2007

24,000 at Stonehenge for solstice
By Craig Evry
CROWDS of 24,000 gathered at the historic Wiltshire monument of Stonehenge for the summer solstice this morning.
Although the sunrise at a few minutes before 5am was obscured by cloud, celebrations remained "good-spirited" according to police.
There were four arrests for minor public order offences.
Police confirmed there were 24,094 at the annual event, compared to 18,700 people last year. There were 3,577 vehicles at locations reserved for revellers, down almost 1,000 from last year with many people opting to use public transport.
Celebrations at Avebury stones also passed off peacefully.

The sun rises on the longest day              PIC1

Solution must be found at Stonehenge - Holmes
Source: Liberal Democrats
Speaking on the day of the summer solstice, Liberal Democrat Heritage Spokesman Paul Holmes MP said:
'Another year has passed without a solution to the problem of the traffic-choked A303 running across the Stonehenge landscape.
'The road problem must be solved in time for visitors to the 2012 Olympics to see the UK’s most important World Heritage Site in a world class condition.
'I believe that only the Published Scheme of a 2.1 Km bored tunnel offers a practical solution without causing further damage to the archaeological remains.
'This scheme will prevent traffic damaging the stones and will allow visitors to the World Heritage Site to see the monument without the blight of a major road running across the site.
'Over a year on from the consultants report and two years on from the public inquiry which both strongly backed the bored tunnel, it is time for the Government to make its mind up and back the scheme.'

The Times    Friday  June 22  2007  p3

[Big Brother comes to Glastonbury]
... and wow, man, there's plenty of light for him to see by ...
Alan Hamilton
Well as they say up North, the nights are fair drawing in.
It's all downhill to Christmas now, and we haven't even had our summer holidays yet. But by the immutable laws of the Universe, the northern hemisphere enjoyed its longest daylight of the year yesterday, and the sun is already beginning its migration back to Bondi and other points south.
Not that we will notice the difference immediately. As the Sun reaches its northern limit, above the Tropic of Cancer, it teeters a bit before turning round. God created the heavens as a slightly imperfect watch.
At Greenwich yesterday on the summer solstice, the Sun rose at 4.43am and set at 9.21pm, giving London 16 hours and 38 minutes of daylight. Five hundred miles north in Aberdeen, where it barely gets dark at all at this time of year, the street lights were on only from 10.38 Last night to 3.42 this morning.
The ancients built stone circles to greet the first rays of the solstice. About 24,000 of their descendants, some clad in antlers, black cloaks and oak leaves gathered at Stonehenge yesterday to celebrate the first rays touehing the 5,000-yearold Heel Stone.
The Druids raised a cheer at 4.58 whieh, they believed, was the moment of sunrise. Scientific data put the actual moment at Stonehenge at 4:49 - it being somewhat west of Greenwich - but in the end it didn't matter much; it was cloudy.
Numbers at Stonehenge were swelled by hundreds of passers-by on their way to another mystic rite, the Glastonbury Festival, where worship is of the mud rather than the sun.

Daily Mail  Friday June 22 2007 p15

MIDSUMMER MADNESS
As dawn broke yesterday on the longest day of the year JANE FRYER joined the 24,000 witches. pagans and druids seeking cosmic energy at Stonehenge
MIDNIGHT on Midsummer's Eve and I'm standing in a soggy field in Wiltshire. To my right is Taloch the Stag Lord, who's wearing a black cloak, thigh-high boots and an enormous pair of antlers which bob about on his head as he talks.
To my left is a nice man called Melkin, the Arch Druid of the Dolmen Grove Coven. He's huddled against the cold in a long green robe and clutches a 6ft long beech staff topped with another pair of antlers.
`As you can see, we're not the archetypal devil-worshipping sect you see in films', he says cheerily. `We're just normal people.
Er, OK. Though to be fair the pair of them are blending in rather better than I in anorak, bobble hat and wellies. Because, as far as the eye can see there are thousands upon thousands of druids, witches, hippies, students, drunken louts, tourists and hundreds of weary looking pollce all lurching about in billowing clouds of cannabis smoke.
Weicome to Stonehenge and the annual New Age get-together to weicome in the Summer Solstice - the moment at which the sun strays farthest north frorn the equator creating the longest day of our year.
And while for most of the 24,000-strong crowd staying up all night to see the sun rise is a top excuse for a party, for the druids it's one of the most important nights of the year.
They're certainly out in force - drumming chanting, singing, reciting poetry, comparing staffs milling about in the incense and drizzle and chuntering about all the imposters.
`It's all getting a bit mainstream' says Melkin, (otherwise known as Chris Walsh, 44, and an antiques dealer from Weymouth) - a lot of party people have popped in on their way to Glastonbury.
`For us, it's different Paganism is our religion and Stonehenge is the temple where we worship. This is serious.'
It certainly is. Hence the massive police presence, the raft of rules - no glass, no camping, no climbing over the massive 50-ton monoliths, no fires, no dogs and no disorderly behaviour.
Things started gently with a sunset ceremony among the stones - more chanting, drums and odes to the sun, earth, air fire... you name it.
But in the 3 1/2 hours since, not much has happened - it's become dark, cold, started spotting with rain and a lot of people have taken a lot of drugs, banged lots of drums and tried to clamber on the stones.
DRUIDS are mad for the stones. They rattle on and on about their `energy' `the DNA of past generations' and give a lot of very earnest chat about tbeir cosmic value and how important they are to their members. Because it turns out there's a whole druid warld out there.
There are more than 9,000 British druids, countless cults and covens, and even an official Cauncil of British Druid Orders. Traditionally they are shy, retiring creatures who hide away in dark woods and copses, but the Dolmen Grove are having none of it.
`Our moots [meetings) have changed with the times,' says Melkin/Chris proudly `They used to be in the middle of a wood, but now they're more likely to be down the pub.'
And while there's no getting round the fact they look weird, they're terribly friendly.
Hello and welcome... now you must come and meet King Arthur...' says Susannah, a handsome battle chieftain in the Loyal Arthurian Warband, otherwise known as Mrs Laford, a 62-year-old grandmother and occasional film extra and charity shop worker from London.
`It's all down to him that we're here today. He made it his mission to free up Stonehenge again for its people and he's done that.'
King Arthur - isn't he dead?
'Oh no!' she says, fiower crown nearly falling off. `Remember the myth of Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table - they're not dead, just resting ready to rise up when they're needed.'
But it turns out that King Arthur - an ex-soldier, ex-builder, ex-Hell's Angel and ex-political protester who changed his name by deed poll in 1976 - is unlikely to rise up to anyone's assistance right this second. `
He was last seen sleeping in the car park after a session in the pub,' chips in a passing pagan.
Next, I head off for a coffee and a chat with Taloch (aka Tony Jameson, 50, a musician from Anglesey - apparently a huge druid stronghold) and his druid daughter Keri, 27.
`The difference between druids and witches,' he explains adjusting his antlers, `is that anyone can become a druid. But witches are born into it, with a special gift.'
Are there any witches round here?
'You're looking right at one, ha ha!' Oh goodness. And the special gift?
`I know what's going to happen next, in the long and short term.'
Such as?
`I can't give examples,' he says quickly. `It doesn't work like that.'
And just then, a bleary teenager lurches over `Hey, mate - yes you, Stagman. Where can I get some LSD? You look like you'd know.'
'No idea,' he snaps.
By 4am, it's drizzling hard. But as hundreds of people leave, too wet and cold to bother with a washed-out dawn, thousands more arrive, with children and grannies in wheelchairs and carryfng cases of lager.
Sunrise is at 4.51am and finally, half an hour before, it's time for the pre-dawn ceremony.
The stone circle is jammed with drunk and stoned revellers, so the druids and hangers-on - led by Rollo Maughfllng, the Elder Arch Druid of Stonehenge - gather in a circle by a huge Heelstone, away to one side, to start the rites.
ROLLO, in white robes, red scarf, long white beard, about four teeth and a grubby straw Fedora, leads the chant as the drums start up again.
`May there be peace in the East... May there be peace in the South... May there be peace in the West and peace throughout the world. We are the ancient Stonehenge choir, so sing after me... aye, aye, aye...' So we do. Just as King Arthur Uther Pendragon staggers over - sword in one hand, warm can of Stella in the other and white robes looking rather worse for wear.
`I'm a warrior,' he shouts. `I'm a chaos magician. I'm King Arthur.'
'And you're totally p*ssed, mate,' shouts someone from the crowd.
He's certainly very chatty.
`I've got loads of children - I've no ldea how many - and all by different women. The King's a bit of a tart, you see. I've more than one wife, so if you fancy a bit darling, you're welcome to join my harem particularly as you're a Stonehenge virgin,' he growls, pulling me tight and making a great show of pretending to grab my right breast.
Back in the shadow of the Heelstone, the rites continue.
Next up, it's Victoria Marsden, a very tanned 56-year-old druid/property developer from Glastonbury with an impressive cleavage who blesses a metal cauldron full of flowers - `Haii to the spirit of Aquarius'.
And then it's Taloch/Tony's big moment to bang his drum and yell something about the gods of water, air, fire and earth. `Sun god, give me your aura.'
'Give me your coat, more like I'm bloody freezing,' quips someone. And now, just as I think I'm going to pass out from cold and tiredness, it's the big moment - 4.51am.
'Lift up thy shining spear of light to protect us ' we chant. `Three cheers for the summer solstice.'
Everyone cheers, shouts and jumps around. And we scour the grey sky for even a hint of sun.
`Look, look ... there's a bit of pink cloud up there.' Where? `Too late, you've missed it. Never mind. Last year, it was much worse. It was pouring and we couldn't see anything. Next year'll be better.'
Maybe, but as we tramp back across the fields, picking our way over a carpet of beer cans, prostrate couples and discarded duvets I know I'll not be here to find out. For me, welcoming in the summer solstice is most certainly a once in a lifetime experience.

Here comes the sun: Jane Fryer (in the bobble hat)
catches the mood of the Soistice celebrations at Stonehenge         PIC1
Picture: SWNS

The Independent  Friday June 22 2007 p6

Here comes the sun   

A crowd of summer solstice revellers waits for the sun to rise over Stonehenge on the longest day of the year yesterday.
Scott Barbour/Getty images         PIC1
Leading article p46

p46     THE THIRD LEADER  CHARLES NEVIN

Sunshine and rain
How was the Solstice for you? Any vestigial stirrings? Anciently, of course, as Frazer related in The Golden Bough, Midsummer Day, "the great turning point in the sun's career", was regarded as a time of particular anxiety about climate change which required ceremony and sacrifice.
Not much, you might think, has changed. Yesterday's dawn was greeted by crowds at Stonehenge and other significant sites around the country, and later the Cabinet gathered to salute its departing leader in the traditional way.
Frazer also reported the custom of the ritual slaughter af the leader by his successor for the purposes of regeneration and propitiation, but clearly, in that respect, things have moved on a little, at least literally, even if Paddy Ashdown has been offered a job.
Elsewhere, too, there has been a reassuring continuity. Sven Goran Eriksson is poised to return to English football, a foreign buyer with an interesting back story is poised to hire him, and an England team has gone out of a tournament on penalties. And there are high hopes for an interesting looking building in Greenwich.
Of further interest is that in the rest of Europe, and in the United States, the solstice ceremonies have long since been deferred to the weekend; let us hope tbere is a British red line on this depressing rationalisation of ritual.
Also, should anyone be looking for a use for their tax savings, the rich in l6th-century England used to give their less fortunate neighbours bread and ale at midsummer. Oh, yes, and another of the purposes of the solstice rites, I note, was to bring rain.

The Guardian    Friday  June 22   2007     p20

Here comes the sun

The summer solstice arrives at the Kokino megalithic observatory
in Macedonia yesterday. The 3,800 year-old structure was discovered in 2001.         PIC1

Daily Star Friday June 22 p8

[Give Glasto Some Welly]  
 by Emma Wall

... The rain also made sure yesterday's summer solstice was more fizzle than sizzle. Revellers queued to visit Stonehenge as clouds covered the sunrise on the longest day of the year.

DAMP: ...cloudy solstice celebrations at Stonehenge.             PIC1   

The Hindu (India)  Friday June 22
Summer solstice ritual at Stonehenge   
Cheering the dawn of the year’s longest day in holdover from a pagan past

STONEHENGE: Druids, drummers, pagans and partygoers gathered at Stonehenge on Thursday to cheer the dawn of the longest day of the year - the summer solstice.
Clad in antlers, black cloaks and oak leaves, a group of druids gathered at the Heel stone to welcome the rising sun as revellers danced and whooped.
'Happy Solstice!' said Laura Tungate, a 26-year-old financial adviser from Newcastle, who wore a rainbow sweater and offered hugs to smiling passers-by. Taking a swig from a mug of vodka and Red Bull, she said she had been coming to the Solstice ceremony for the past eight years. 'I love the whole vibe, and the energy, and the fact that these stones, that they are alive, they do breathe, and they do grow... and they’re massive!' she said.
About 24,000 people gathered at the stone circle in Wiltshire, in southwestern England. Dancers writhed to the sound of drums and whistles as floodlights coloured the ancient pillars shades of pink and purple. Couples snuggled under plastic sheets.
Solstice celebrations were a highlight of the pre-Christian calendar and in many countries bonfires, maypole dances, and courtship rituals linger on as holdovers from Europe’s pagan past. In more recent years, New Age groups and others have turned to Stonehenge to celebrate the solstice, and the World Heritage Site has become a magnet for men and women seeking a spiritual experience - or just wanting to have a good time.
Jeanette Montesano, a 23-year-old recently graduated religion student from New York City and a self-described pagan, said she had been saving for a year to make it to Stonehenge, comparing the importance of the trip to the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, in Saudi Arabia. 'It’s not the Haj, but it is [thousands of] people in a little circle. I wanted to experience something like that,' she said.

Trouble too
But the celebrations can also attract their share of troublemakers - police closed the site in 1984 after repeated clashes with revellers. English Heritage, the monument’s caretaker, began allowing full access to the Stonehenge again in 2000. Police and about 200 English Heritage stewards were deployed to cast a watchful eye on the stones, and to keep the hedonists from getting out of hand. Police reported four arrests for public order violations.
One participant said: 'It’s a little bit silly but it’s been very enjoyable. It’s not threatening at all.'
Solstice celebrations also take place in other countries, though most are deferred until the last weekend in June. Swedes will gather to sip spiced schnapps, Danes will light bonfires, and Balts and Finns will flock to the countryside to dance, sing, and make merry under the midnight sun in one of the region’s most important holidays.

Winter elsewhere
The southern hemisphere, meanwhile, was caught in the depths of winter. In Antarctica, where permanent night rules from mid-April through August 20, staff at New Zealand’s Scott Base science facility celebrated the midwinter solstice with a formal dinner of speeches and toasts. Scott Base Manager Glenn Powell said it was a special time for him and his colleagues. 'We do survive in total darkness - so the return of the sun [from the most distant point it reaches on June 21] is a very special occasion,' he said. 'We’re celebrating the fact that it won’t go any further away.'
Stonehenge, on the Salisbury Plain 130 km southwest of London, was built between 3,000 B.C. and 1,600 B.C. It is one of 20 monuments competing to be named one of the new seven wonders of the world in a massive online poll, but its original purpose is a mystery. Some experts say the monument’s builders aligned the stones with the sun as part of their sun-worshipping culture, although exactly how and why the monument was built remains a mystery. - AP

Annual magnet: At Stonehenge, waiting for the sunrise.             PIC1 
Photo: AP

[This AP story appeared in different versions in many newspapers abroad, often edited down]

Turkish Daily News   Friday Jun 22, 2007

The longest day of the year

Revelers sat outside the stone circle at Stonehenge during the pagan festival, Summer Solstice, in Avebury, [sic] Wiltshire, on June 21, 2007. The festival, which dates back thousands of years, celebrates the longest day of the year when the sun is at its maximum elevation. Modern druids and people gather at the landmark Stonehenge every year to see the sun rise on the first morning of summer.

Brisbane Times (brisbanetimes.com.au)   Friday June 22, 2007

France celebrates summer with all-night music fest;
NY swings along   

France celebrated the summer solstice in the wee small hours Friday with an all-night music festival in cities and towns that drew 10 million revellers onto the streets, while New York swung along for the first time.
In Paris, the mood and vibe changed from area to area. Thousands flocked to Abbesses on the slopes of Montmartre and danced in the narrow streets as small-time artists enjoyed their 15 minutes of fame, while locals blasted their own music from the windows above. Further south in Chatelet and Les Halles the summer air crackled to rock rhythms, electric guitar and even the music of the Andes.
Those in search of the bigger events could attend one of the many concerts specially organised for the "Fete de la Musique" -- an annual celebration of music launched in 1982. The night sees everything from buskers to amateur bands entertain the masses in street parties, while stars take to the stage in around 18,000 free concerts, from Marseille to Metz and from Bayonne to Brest.
One of France's top artists, Renaud, performed at a prison in the northern Pas-de-Calais region, one of the 150 concerts organised in detention centres across the country. A concert in Montmartre supported calls for the release of Franco-Colombian hostage Ingrid Betancourt, a former presidential candidate who was kidnapped in 2002 by rebels. New York on Thursday also held its very first all-day music festival, with hundreds of free concerts across the city gathered under the banner "Make Music New York".
"It's amazing, they like it, it's very positive," said artist-songwriter Larry Stevens, as he entertained the lunchtime crowds munching on sandwiches in the shadow of the business district's skyscrapers.
Outside the United Nations, Dianne Carr, who had organised a concert for children, said: "It's extraordinary, it's unique. It's the first time and people are a little shocked. People love it. We have to catch up with Europe."
The festival was launched by former French culture minister Jack Lang, who created the French Fete de la Musique 25 years ago, and travelled to New York especially to join in the festivities. "The fact it's taking place in New York is a milestone for Fete de la Musique," said Lang as he promoted the event at the Mets baseball stadium.
"New York is New York. The cultural capital, an American but also European city, a city full of heart and spirit, which has suffered and has risen from its ashes; full of creativity, partly myth but also very real."
With Paris set to stay up till morning, the metro (subway) was running through the night, and museums and other heritage sites were being kept open for concerts such as Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, conducted by Kurt Masur in the Orsay museum, or Berlioz at the Senate. The music festival has caught on worldwide with 400 cities shutting off streets this year and setting up makeshift stages to make way for musicians.
Spanish Latin Grammy-winner Miguel Bose was leading events in Madrid, while the Rolling Stones were expected to steal the show with their performance in Barcelona. In Syria, the palaces of Damascus opened their doors to traditional musicians while in Switzerland, DJs set up along the shores of Lake Geneva.
One of the most well-attended festivals of the year in France, the Fete de la Musique is also one of the rowdiest. June 21 is the "worst day of the year at the hospital emergency units," said Patrick Pelloux, president of an association representing doctors who work at emergency units.

Fairbanks news-miner, alaska       Friday   June 22  2007   

Crowds flock to solstice festival
By Chris Eshleman Staff Writer

Travelers mingled with vendors, locals, kids and musicians Thursday at the Midnight Sun Festival in downtown Fairbanks.
They bathed in the sunlight from above and the heat rising from downtown’s streets and sidewalks. Families, couples and solo visitors were all there, and the number of strollers may have matched the number of wheelchairs and canes.
The annual festival, which last year drew more than 40,000 people, is held on the longest day of the year: summer solstice. It’s the day Earth’s northern axis tilts the most toward the sun, bathing the planet’s upper regions with sun rays - and leading to all-day sunlight in places as far north as Fairbanks.
Some of those who were visiting Fairbanks reported trouble adjusting to the almost-constant sunlight. But it hadn’t proven problematic for Nick and Fran Pratt, who were two weeks into a visit from their home state of Colorado.
'It’s hard to find the time that you want to sleep,' Nick Pratt said. 'There’s too many things to do up here.'
New Orleans natives Lynn Pearlmutter and Bill Steward, who arrived in Fairbanks early this week, said they’ve found the daylong sunlight phenomenon 'a bit confusing' early in the morning. Any inconvenience, however, was offset by beautiful weather and the friendly atmosphere they’ve discovered around the state.
'It would be real easy to say, ‘Hey, I could live up here,’ Pearlmutter said. 'At least based on the four days we’ve been here.'
The festival’s crowd experienced a blend of entertainment, from hip-hop mixed by Steve Hunter - known as D.J. 50/50 - to Dixieland played by Jammin’ Salmon, a six-piece band from Fort Wainwright Army Post.
Colleen Reilly, in Fairbanks on a two-day business trip, said her tight travel schedule left her just enough time to notice the extended daylight.
'I felt like a little kid again,' Reilly said. 'Like when you have to go to bed when it’s still light out.'
Reilly, a public affairs specialist and producer with the Boston Red Sox, was in town documenting one of the city’s other major solstice-related events - the Midnight Sun Game, an annual baseball game held on the evening of the longest day.
First, Second and Third avenues slowly filled with visitors early Thursday afternoon, with most people drifting toward the festival’s 160-plus booths from downtown’s western side.
Among the vendors was 8-year-old Douglas Vonder Haar, who made news last week after inadvertently setting up a hot chocolate stand where law prohibited vending.
This time, the boy was invited to participate by the Downtown Association of Fairbanks, which organized the festival. Douglas expanded his efforts, hiring his older brother, his sister and a family friend to help sell snacks at a small stand on the southern curb of Second Avenue.
Douglas said he was hoping to make enough at the festival to buy an iPod.
And what was the most exciting part of doing business with a crowd of thousands of people?
'Probably meeting them all,' Douglas said.

BBC News online    Thursday  June 21  2007

Thousands attend solstice party
More than 20,000 people attended this year's summer solstice celebration at Stonehenge.
A total of 24,094 people witnessed dawn break over the ancient stones, compared with 18,700 last year. The sun rose at 0458 BST in overcast conditions.
Many apparently heeded advice to come by public transport and fewer cars than previous years were at the scene.
Four arrests were made at the event, which Wiltshire police described as "very peaceful".  
'Whooping and cheering'
Druids, Pagans, hedonists and hippies were among those who attended an all-night party at the stones.
Mark Graham, a druid from Gloucestershire, said: "We didn't see the sun unfortunately, the cloud was scuttling across the sky just as the sun was getting ready to rise, but it was fantastic anyway.
"The whole process of sitting through the night is part of the magic, this feeling of expectation which builds.
"It tends to go quiet before the sun rise, then as the sun comes up there's a lot of whooping and cheering and the beating of drums."
He said the 21 June - the longest day of the year - represented the high point of the Earth's growing energy and its renewal after winter.

Conditions were overcast as the sun rose over the stones at 0458 BST          PIC1

In pictures: Stonehenge longest day celebrations

Around 20,000 people gathered at Stonehenge
in Wiltshire to welcome the longest day of the year.                           PIC1  

No-one really knows why the stone circle was built, but some people
think it was a place for worshipping the sun. Some say it has special powers.          PIC2  

Drummers played and people danced as the sun came up.
It was quite cloudy, so the view wasn't as good as it could have been.
Looks a bit crowded, doesn't it?                                                                 PIC3  

Everyone seemed to have a good time anyway.
This woman even felt the need to hug one of the ancient stones...                PIC4  

But then it was time for the crowds to go home.
See you again - same time next year!                                  PIC5  

Wiltshire Gazette and Herald     Thursday  June  21  2007    

Nature's glitch for solstice hopefuls
By Nigel Kerton

Nature played a cruel trick on the hundreds of revellers who who gathered at Avebury to watch the summer solstice sunrise shortly before 5am today.
There had been clear starry skies all night as the annual gathering waited patiently, but not noiselessly, in the hopes of seeing the sun rise over the east horizon.
With less than 20 minutes to go to the sunrise at 4.58am a few wispy clouds began to rush across the eastern sky from the south.
These quickly built up to form a belt of cloud that obscured the eastern sky and the spectacle of the sun rise.
A few rays from the sun did however glow fiercely red on the lower edges of the layers of cloud.
Druid Terry Dobney, who has the title of Avebury's Keeper of the Stones, stood with colleagues waiting for the solstice sun to rise.
The Druids and the hundreds of other revellers who had spent the night in the stone circle were disappointed but by no means dejected as the clouds rolled in at the last minute.
Mr Dobney, who has been in the stone circle at dawn every day this week for a Druid sunrise ceremony, said: "It is a carbon copy of what happened yesterday .
"We might not be able to see it but we know it's happening so we still celebrate it."
There were far fewer people at Avebury than in recent years because of a clamp down on camping in the village's main car park.
No Parking cones lined the roads for miles on all sides of Avebury with notices warning that errant vehicles would be towed away.
The sight of a large breakdown truck stationed strategically in the centre of the village hammered the message home.
Dozens who had gathered in the stone circle behind the village chapel and performed ancient fertility dances to celebrate the Druid and Pagan solstice occasion left Avebury at about 10pm to go to Wiltshire's other solstice event at Stonehenge.
The others that remained either settled down in sleeping bags for the night or formed small groups playing drums.
A number of fire jugglers put on fantastic displays with their blazing batons twirling against the night sky.
Police kept a high profile watch throughout the night with officers discreetly mingling with the crowds and joining in with them for the clouded sunrise observance.
While there were four arrests at Stonehenge for what police described as "minor public order offences," the Avebury celebrations passed off trouble free.
National Trust spokeswoman Katharine Boyd said: "Cloudy conditions did nothing to cloud the spirits of this year's solstice celebration at Avebury."
She said the night "passed peacefully" with an estimated 1,000 people attending. The Trust, police, local residents and the Pagan community, she said, had worked together to encourage people to use public transport in the light of new camping restrictions.

The Metro online     Thursday  June 21   2007

Music lovers flock to see the stones

More than 24,000 summer solstice revellers gathered at Stonehenge for the dawn of the year's longest day.
Music fans bound for Glastonbury on Wednesday night swelled numbers at the 5,000-year-old site.
A spokeswoman for English Heritage, which runs the site, said: 'There was a very good atmosphere but the sunrise was not very spectacular because of the amount of cloud.'
As the Sun rose at 4.58am, a cheer went up from those surrounding the stone circle on Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire.
Revellers clad in antlers, black cloaks and oak leaves gathered at the Heel stone - a twisted, pockmarked pillar at the edge of the prehistoric monument - to welcome the rising Sun.

Revellers flock to ancient rocks  (wizard_dude.jpg)                PIC1  

Stonehenge Revelers Celebrate Summer Solstice   

STONEHENGE, England

More than 20,000 people braved heavy rain and clouds of cannabis smoke to celebrate the summer solstice at Stonehenge.
The ancient monument rang to the sounds of drumming and a saxophone as the Sun rose unseen above the Heel Stone at 4:58 a.m.
Druids, pagans, punks and New Age travellers mingled with the merely curious, despite the unfortunate weather.It was the first gathering at Stonehenge since the reclassification of cannabis and police were concentrating their attention on those suspected of possession with intent to supply rather than just smoking it.
The ceremonies were led by the self-styled Druid leader King Arthur Pendragon, who lit a fire to mark the imminent arrival of dawn.
'The fire welcomes the Sun for the longest day of the year, part of the seasonal wheel which we as Druids and pagans celebrate,' he said. 'At the end of the day, this living temple we call Stonehenge belongs to all of us. We all have a right to come here and celebrate the solstice.'
Despite clear skies throughout the night, a ring of low cloud threatened to blot out the spectacle of the Sun rising in line with the stones as dawn approached.
To a chorus of applause from the crowds, it finally appeared above the cloud at 6:15 a.m., a late but welcome appearance. Peter Carson, who manages Stonehenge on behalf of English Heritage, said: 'It’s wonderful. We are delighted that people have been able to come here and enjoy the solstice in a safe and peaceful manner.'

Visitors listen to drummers play at the ancient
Stonehenge monument, background, in Southwest England.          PIC1

Swindon Advertiser    Thursday  June 21   2007

Peace as the sun rises   

SUMMER solstice celebrations passed off peacefully, despite the largest crowds for several years.
The sun rose at 4.58am [yesterday] on the longest day of the year, and 24,094 people were counted at Stonehenge - 6,000 more than last year - and about 1,000 at Avebury.
Police said fewer cars were taken to the stone circles than last year and they were pleased people had taken advice to use public transport.
Supt Dave Bennett said: "We are pleased that another summer solstice has passed off peacefully.
"There have been no incidents of note.
"Yet again attendees have not been able to see the sunrise fully given the unpredictability of our British weather but at least it has remained dry."
Despite the grey conditions at Avebury, the National Trust said the weather had not clouded the spirits.
Scott Green, the trust's property manager, thanked everyone who attended for keeping the solstice peaceful and enjoyable.

Visitors mark the solstice.            PIC1

The Sun online      Thursday  June 21   2007

Dawn of the summer
By Online Reporter  

MODERN-DAY druids, pagans and partygoers gathered at Stonehenge to watch the dawn break on the longest day of the year.
More than 24,000 revellers clad in antlers, black cloaks and oak leaves gathered overnight at the Heel Stone - a twisted, pockmarked pillar at the edge of the prehistoric monument - to welcome the rising sun.
Many on their way to the Glastonbury music festival stopped off to join the party.
A spokeswoman for English Heritage, which runs the 5,000-year-old site, said there were only four arrests overnight for minor public disorder.
She added: 'There was a very good atmosphere but sunrise was not very spectacular this year because of the cloud.'
As the sun rose at 04.58am exactly, a cheer went up from those gathered overnight at the stone circle on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire.
Laura Tungate, 26, a financial adviser from Newcastle, who has attended the event for the past eight years said: 'I love the whole vibe, and the energy, and the fact that these stones are alive, they do breathe, and they do grow and they’re massive.'
A spokeswoman for the Druid Network said: 'The Summer Solstice is a way of attuning ourselves back into the cycles of nature, connecting with the land and the turning of the seasonal tides.'
Jeanette Montesano, a 23-year-old religion graduate from New York and a self-described pagan, compared the importance of the trip with the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca.
She said: 'It’s not the hajj, but it is 19,000 people in a little circle. I wanted to experience something like that.'
Meanwhile at the complex of ancient stones in Avebury, 25 miles north of Stonehenge, another all-night Summer Solstice party took place.
On a smaller scale, the Avebury festivities are said to be lower-key and more 'chilled out'.
In London and Edinburgh, 300 aspiring artists gathered to paint at simultaneous events to celebrate the longest day of the year.

Thousands gathered to watch the rising sun...             PIC1  
... including modern-day Druids, pagans and partygoers        PIC2  
Many on their way to Glastonbury stopped to join the party           PIC3  
Some dressed in black cloaks and oak leaves             PIC4  
Visitors were allowed close up to the stones       PIC5  
But this cheeky partygoer wanted the best view          PIC6  
Only four arrests were made among the 24,000 who attended         PIC7  
But clouds spoilt a spectacular sunrise          PIC8  
Many slept through the night          PIC9  

Guardian online     Thursday   June 21  2007

Thousands of modern-day druids, pagans and partygoers converge each year on Stonehenge to celebrate the dawning of the longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere - the summer solstice   
 PIC1      PIC2      PIC3       PIC4      PIC5      PIC6      PIC7      PIC8     PIC9     PIC10     PIC11  

ABC News  online     Thursday   June 21  2007

PHOTOS: PAGAN PARTY: SUMMER SOLSTICE
Among the various celebrations for the summer solstice, nearly 24,000 druids, revelers and the simply curious witnessed a cloudy sunrise at Stonehenge during an annual pilgrimage to the site. Celebrating the longest day of the year, the eclectic bunch, at left, watched the sunrise on the day of the summer solstice at the 5,000-year-old monument on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, southern England, June 21, 2007. (Alessia Pierdomenico / Reuters)         PIC1  

Revelers blow horns within the stone circle of Stonehenge during the pagan festival Summer Solstice, in Avebury, Wiltshire, June 21, 2007. The festival dates back thousands of years before the Christian calendar when solstice celebrations were the highlight of the year. (Carl de Souza, AFP/Getty Images)    PIC2  

Bolivian indigenous witch doctors gather in Tiawanaku, about 47 miles from La Paz city, to look at the rays of the sun, June 20, 2007. Andean people prepared to receive the first rays of sunlight during solstice June 21, 2007, to celebrate their 5,515th new year. (Jose Luis Quintana / Reuters)     PIC3  

Glastonbury festival attendees have descended on the grounds for the major music festival, although the musical acts don't get under way until June 22, 2007. However, many of them were up early June 21 to witness the sun rise on the summer solstice.  At left, festival attendees stand on an installation by the artist Banksy to celebrate at the stone circle at Worthy Farm in Pilton, Somerset. (Anthony Devlin/Landov)      PIC4  

Some experts say that the alignment of the stones reflects the builders' sun-worshipping culture. Modern druids and people gather at the landmark Stonehenge every year to see the sun rise on the first day of summer when the sun is at its maximum elevation. (Carl De Souza, AFP/Getty Images)      PIC5  

Bolivian indigenous witch doctors give an offering to Pachamama, mother earth, before solstice in Tiawanaku, Bolivia, June 20, 2007. (Jose Luis Quintana / Reuters)      PIC6  

Macedonians celebrate the summer solstice at the Kokino megalithic observatory, June 21, 2007. The 3,800-year-old observatory was discovered in 2001 in the northwestern town of Kumanovo, 43 miles north of the capital, Skopje, and is ranked as the fourth oldest observatory in the world after Egypt's Abu Simbel, Britain's Stonehenge and Cambodia's Angkor Wat, according to NASA. (Ognen Teofilovski / Reuters)       PIC7  

A girl spins a plastic hoop during the summer solstice celebrations, within the stones at Stonehenge, Wiltshire, in southern England, June 21, 2007. (Carl de Souza, AFP/Getty Images)        PIC8  

A Bolivian indigenous witch doctor stands with a Whiphala, Indian flag, before solstice in Tiawanaku, Bolivia, June 20, 2007. (Jose Luis Quintana / Reuters)        PIC9  

Revelers celebrate the summer solstice during the Glastonbury music festival in Somerset, southwest England, June 21, 2007. (Dylan Martinez / Reuters)        PIC10  

Zee News, India     Thursday   June 21  2007

A day for all musicians to unite and redefine world peace  

Kolkata, Jun 21: World Music Day should be celebrated every day of the year and not just on one single day, so we can redefine world peace in a much simpler and harmonious note, says the city`s musicians in unison.
Almost every singer, musician and dancer- everyone related to the World of Music- had the same opinion and message to offer on the occasion of World Music Day.
Incidentally, World Music Day was a festival that first came to be celebrated in France in 1982 as the Fête de la Musique. It was celebrated every year on the summer solstice.
The idea was conceived by the French Minister of Culture Jack Lang in 1981. Today it has spread to Belgium, Britain, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Israel, China, India, Lebanon, Malaysia, Morocco, Pakistan and many other countries.
In this connection, santoor maestro Tarun Bhattacharya said, ``If we all started our day with music, by simply listening to the strings of Pandit Ravi Shankar or Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, we would never have ill feelings in our mind. Then we can all become musical and would be able to channelise the power of music to find world peace.`` Another aspect that the santoor maestro talked about was that classical music today needs a better packaging. It should be sufficiently highlighted before the new generation so that they will be able to accept it more easily, he said.
He also urged the media to promote Indian classical music among the youth in our own country ``when there is such a good audience for it in other nations.`` Echoing his thoughts, renowned classical dancer Mamata Sankar stressed on the proper utilisation of the power of music which can make people laugh, cry, heal or hurt.
``Music should be such that it touches the soul. World Music Day is a day when we celebrate the union and meeting of different kinds of music from all over the world,`` she said.
``If we can come together in music, why then do we still fight amongst ourselves? she mused, while adding, ``Keeping my own culture and its heritage and classical music in mind I can still say that we need to promote world music and let the chords meet, because it has the capacity to bind people together.`` The term World music includes traditional or folk music or even root music, played by indigenous musicians.
In musical terms, ``world music`` can be roughly defined as music which uses distinctive ethnic scales, modes and musical inflections, and which is usually performed on or accompanied by distinctive traditional ethnic instruments, such as the kora (West African lute), the steel drum, the sitar or the didgeridoo.
Speaking on the essence of the day, famous tabla player Bickram Ghosh said, ``This is a day which brings musicians and music lovers from all over the world together to celebrate the union of so many kinds of music. This in itself has the capacity of redefining world peace.`` Another young percussionist and music composer Abhishek Basu said, for him World Music means that it should have a touch of Indian classical music, since Indian classical music has the power to open one`s heart and free one`s mind and communicate in a manner that no other language ever could.
Bureau Report

Guardian online       Weds   June 20  2007

Solstice Revelers Heading for Stonehenge  
By RAPHAEL G. SATTER   

LONDON (AP) - Thousands of modern-day druids, pagans and partygoers converged on Stonehenge late Wednesday as people across the northern hemisphere prepared to welcome the summer solstice - the longest day of the year.
Thursday's sunrise will be welcomed by about 20,000 people expected to crowd around the ancient circle of stones in Wiltshire, southern England.
Solstice celebrations were a highlight of the pre-Christian calendar. People in many countries still celebrate with bonfires, maypole dances, and courtship rituals.
In more recent years, New Age groups and others have turned to Stonehenge to celebrate the solstice, and the World Heritage Site has become a magnet for those seeking a spiritual experience - or just wanting to have a good time.
But the celebrations can also attract their share of troublemakers. Police closed the site in 1984 after repeated clashes with revelers. English Heritage, the monument's caretaker, began allowing full access to the site again in 2000.
Police will be present just in case the hedonists get out of hand, and to prevent revelers from climbing the stones.
Solstice celebrations also take place in other countries, although most are deferred until the last weekend in June. Swedes will gather to sip spiced schnapps, Danes will light bonfires, and Balts and Finns will flock to the countryside to dance, sing and make merry under the midnight sun.
Stonehenge, on the Salisbury Plain 80 miles southwest of London, was built between 3,000 B.C. and 1,600 B.C., although its purpose remains a mystery. Some experts say its builders aligned the stones with the sun as part of their sun-worshipping culture.
It is one of 20 monuments competing to be named one of the new seven wonders of the world in a massive online poll.
Associated Press writers Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen, Denmark, Louise Nordstrom in Stockholm, Sweden, Gary Peach in Riga, Latvia, and Matti Huuhtanen in Helsinki, Finland contributed to this report.

Independent on Sunday          June 17  2007  

Briefing: Druids, pagans and party-goers prepare for the summer solstice
By Ian Griggs

What is it? The solstice occurs twice a year when the Earth's axis tilts furthest towards or away from the Sun.
The name solstice is taken from the Latin "sol", meaning sun, and "sistere", meaning to stand still. The term also refers to the whole day on which this passage of the Sun occurs.
In some parts of the world the solstice begins the seasons, while in the UK they are considered to be centre points of the year, occurring within days of midsummer and midwinter.
The summer solstice is on 21 June and is the longest day of the year for the northern hemisphere, with about 17 hours of daylight in the UK.
Where will it be celebrated? English Heritage will be bracing itself for the annual influx of druids and pagans to Stonehenge in Wiltshire.
The stone circle is the big draw for people who mark the summer solstice and is one of the few times of year when visitors are allowed to walk among the stones. Thousands are expected to flock there on Wednesday night to see in the dawn.
It is thought Stonehenge, built from bluestone, sarsen and Welsh sandstone, dates from 3100BC and took 30 million man-hours to construct.
What will they do when they get there? Stonehenge is a pagan symbol and druids, a pagan order claiming to date back to Celtic Britain, will lead the celebrations. For the less spiritual, it is an opportunity to indulge in recreational substance abuse, while others see it as a warm-up act for the Glastonbury Festival the next day.