History

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of such exceed i ng h i stor i cal accu r acy that the or gan i ser s have no cho i ce bu t to shu t down the f est i val . I f i t cou l d go on l onger , i t wou l d . Bu t f or those w i th l i t t l e i n ter est i n h i stor y, ther e i s always the bar? and what a bar Chal ke Val l ey boast s! At the cen t r e of the f est i val si te l i es a r ound tab l e, cover ed by a canopy, su r r ounded by wooden ben ches st r et ch i ng f u r ther than the eye can see. O n each of these ben ches i s im p r i n ted a gateway to t r an scenden ce: a QR code del i ver i ng access to the w i de ar r ay of al coho l i c goods that the capaci ous canopy on l y bar el y m anages to cover . Avai l ed of these QR codes, pun ter s waste no t im e i den t i f y i ng thei r po i son of cho i ce, thei r th i r st just as soon sl aked by the bar staf f , who gl i de f r om tab l e to tab l e, van i sh i ng, f acel ess, thei r hum an i t y sapped by the sl ave- hou r s they wor k and the m i nd l ess qual i t y of thei r task . Yet the f r u i t s of thei r l abou r ar e

cher i shed by those they ser ve. T he b i ggest h i t s ar e the l ocal b i t ter , a p r oduct of the near by Bu t com be Br ewer y, and Ai x- en -Pr oven ce, a Fr en ch r osé wh i ch appear s to have m ade an im p r essi on on m or e than just Chal ke Val l ey th i s sum m er . T he age p r of i l e of these m er r y -m ak i ng bar - b l ockader s con t r ast s w i l d l y w i th that of at tendees at the m or e h i gh - br ow h i stor i cal tal ks, en t r y r equ i r em en t s f or wh i ch appear to i n cl ude exceed i ng the aver age nat i onal l i f e expectan cy by at l east ten year s. Par t of m y job, as a vo l un teer , was to hel p en su r e these tal ks wen t as sm ooth l y as possi b l e. I had been to Chal ke Val l ey f or the f i r st t im e two year s ago; m y im agi nat i on cap tu r ed , I r eso l ved that nex t year , I wou l d vo l un teer at the f est i val m ysel f . Al as, m y two- year - o l d sel f had an t i ci pated m any th i ngs, bu t not a gl obal pandem i c; w i th the 20 20 f est i val can cel l ed , I wou l d have to wai t

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