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First Country Fair basks in good weather, good vibes By SUSAN JAY Jenny "Moonshadow" Kuehnle feels the beat Saturday at the Ashland Country Fair. ASHLAND -- The valley's first Country Fair was like Saturday's weather -- mellow and laid back. Except for the parking. Cars lined Highway 99 on both sides, while a steady stream of people lined up at the front gate throughout the day. Seniors, toddlers and teenagers, parents, the middle-aged and twenty-somethings mingled peacefully in the tree-shaded open spaces at Wellsprings Healing Community, formerly Jackson Hot Springs. They sampled aromatic food, swayed, clapped and hooted to uplifting music, and browsed booths selling, among other things, organic clothing, herbal elixirs and clairvoyant psychics. Other booths sold artwork, including large, handmade masonry tiles, charcoal drawings and blown-glass beads. Other vendors offered massages for barter or trade, cleansings and spirituality. Kathleen Jarschke-Schultze of Hornbrook found herself lying for a few minutes on a tall cot. Beneath lay a dozen or more crystals of varying sizes, placed on a copper-wire grid. It's called an accelerated energy field. "Before I laid down I was feeling tired," Jarschke-Schultze said. Afterward, she said, she felt relaxed. What's the difference? "Tired is without patience," she said. "Relaxed is with patience." Jarschke-Schultze, a regular visitor to the Barter Fair in Ruch and the Country Fair near Eugene, was enjoying Ashland's first event. "We had high hopes it would be a fun thing, and it is," she said. "I expect it to grow because there's some really good stuff here." Energy field purveyor Brian Porter said the field, boosted by the crystals, helps the feelings and emotions a person has denied to come to the surface, so he or she can deal with them and move on. "I think people are looking for tools to help move the energy blocked in their bodies," he said. No one had yet paid him Saturday for an energy session, but that was OK with him. He said he had hoped to earn a little money, but added, "I've chosen to be a trusted servant of God." A short distance away, Jai Riopelle of Ashland lay on the ground on a small pad, with her ankles in The Chi Machine and her body wiggling from side to side. "Right after it shut off, it felt like ecstasy," she said. The Chi Machine, which sells for $460 and was designed by a Japanese doctor to release and move energy in a person's body, was being demonstrated and sold by Karen and Gary Dix of Talent. A block with depressions for the user's ankles sits atop a box, the engine. The ankle block vibrates from side to side. It is said to help with bad circulation, sore muscles and poor digestion, among other things. Karen Dix, a former massage therapist and now a caregiver, just started selling the machines, after one drastically reduced her varicose veins. "I want to see people happy and vibrant and with good bodies," she said. Riopelle said she could feel something inside her change while she was on The Chi Machine. Riopelle, who sold crystals during the fair, pronounced it a success. "Today it's got the spirit," she said. "Yesterday I wasn't quite sure" because of the exhaust fumes from vendors' cars when they were setting up. Sponsors said an estimated 2,000 people streamed through the gates Friday night and Saturday, and they expect a total of 4,000 people by the end of the weekend. "This is going unbelievably smooth," said Jerry Lehrburger, an emergency room physician at Ashland Community Hospital and co-owner of Wellsprings. The fair attracted 160 vendors and more than 20 entertainers, including the Shamwari Marimba Band, Wordfish and the Rhythm Kings. A cardboard sign at the entrance asked those entering not to use alcohol or drugs or carry weapons. Lehrburger credited 200 hard-working volunteers for enforcing those rules. "It's a nice, clean, tight fair, and the volunteers are hammering to keep it that way," he said. "All we're hearing from people, from venders, musicians and people wandering around, is what a perfect spot this is," he said. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA