Seven Stars Reminded Me what Raving is All About

Although Seven Stars was yet another festival hit by bad weather, it was an incredible weekend overall. On October 9-11, GRiZ‘s Valley of the Seven Stars Festival returned to Arrington, Virginia, for its sophomore edition. I’m picky about what festivals I spend my time and money on nowadays, but Seven Stars is the one festival I plan to return to every year, for years to come. Few festivals who talk the talk walk the walk, but Seven Stars is revered by ravers for a reason. It’s obvious GRiZ and his team truly cares about its attendees, a community who also care about each other. But I’ll admit I arrived at Seven Stars in the early afternoon on Friday feeling irritable. I was running on four hours of sleep, had an upset stomach, and was jittery with pre-festival anxiety. I had questions about whether our campsite would be as good as last year’s, or if our camping gear would hold up against the inclement weather. I was looking for things to complain about, and I had no problem finding them. We breezed through security only to be caught in a 15-minute traffic jam with no communication from staff about what the holdup was. From our corner of the campgrounds, bathrooms and water refill ...