Annual festival in New Hampshire, USA
The Porcupine Freedom Festival , commonly known as PorcFest , is an event held annually every June since 2004 in the
U.S. state of
New Hampshire . The festival is the main event held by the
Free State Project , a
libertarian organization that advocates for the relocation of libertarians to New Hampshire in order to make the state a stronghold for their
movement . The festival has been described as "the libertarian version of
Burning Man "
[1] and "the largest gathering of libertarians in the world".
[2] The festival on average hosts approximately 1,500 attendees.
[3]
Background
The
Free State Project originated from a 2001 essay by then-
Yale University student (and later
lecturer at
Dartmouth College )
Jason Sorens . The idea behind the project is to get 20,000 libertarians to move to
New Hampshire , a state with a low population where a group of that size could yield significant political influence.
[1] By 2014, about 1,500 libertarians had already moved to the state, and several "Free Staters" have been elected to the
state government , including
Andrew Prout of the
New Hampshire House of Representatives .
[4] The Free State Project hosts two annual events in the state: The
New Hampshire Liberty Forum , a
convention -style event, and the Porcupine Freedom Festival, which is a weeklong event held at a
campground in
Lancaster, New Hampshire .
[5]
History
The festival began in 2004,
[6] one year after New Hampshire was selected as the target state for the Free State Project.
[5]
[7] The festival is named after the
porcupine , which serves as a mascot for the Free State Movement.
[7]
The festival is known for its embrace of
cryptocurrencies and
precious metals over
Federal Reserve Notes ,
[8] as most vendors accept cryptocurrencies such as
Bitcoin ,
Bitcoin Cash , and
Dogecoin .
[1] In 2013,
Vitalik Buterin , the creator of the cryptocurrency
Ethereum , attended the 2013 PorcFest along with
Erik Voorhees , an early embracer of Bitcoin and a member of the Free State Project.
[9] A 2011 episode of
Planet Money discussed the prevalence of
forges at the festival for the purposes of working precious metals (
silver in the case of the episode) into smaller units for sales transactions.
[10]
The event in 2020, held during the
COVID-19 pandemic ,
[11] attracted over 1,000 attendees.
[12]
Jeffrey Tucker of the
American Institute for Economic Research gave a presentation at the festival wherein he argued against the
COVID-19 lockdowns .
[11]
The event in 2021, for the first time since 2004, was a sold out event.
[13]
[14] It sold out again in 2022.
[15]
References
^
a
b
c Terris, Ben (July 2, 2014).
"Inside the libertarian version of Burning Man: Guns, booze and bitcoin" .
The Washington Post .
ISSN
0190-8286 .
Archived from the original on July 5, 2014. Retrieved November 12, 2020 .
^ Harper, Jennifer (June 11, 2016).
"PorcFest, 'largest gathering of libertarians in the world,' to meet in New Hampshire" .
The Washington Times .
Archived from the original on November 8, 2020. Retrieved November 12, 2020 .
^ Ronayne, Kathleen (June 24, 2016).
"Free Staters Host 'PorcFest' " .
Valley News .
Newspapers of New England, Inc.
Associated Press .
Archived from the original on August 30, 2016. Retrieved November 12, 2020 .
^ Reed, Nathaniel (June 24, 2019).
"Libertarians gather for 16th annual PorcFest" .
WPTZ .
Archived from the original on November 8, 2020. Retrieved November 13, 2020 .
^
a
b Quimby, Taylor (April 12, 2018).
"You Asked, We Answered: What Is The Free State Project?" .
New Hampshire Public Radio .
Archived from the original on October 9, 2020. Retrieved November 13, 2020 .
^ Eha, Brian Patrick (2017).
How Money Got Free: Bitcoin and the Fight for the Future of Finance .
Simon & Schuster .
ISBN
978-1-78074-659-3 – via
Google Books .
^
a
b Hill, Kashmir (June 12, 2014).
"The Free State Project: A Libertarian Testing Ground For Bitcoin, 3D Printers, and Drones" .
Forbes .
Archived from the original on November 13, 2020. Retrieved November 13, 2020 .
^ Moody, Chris (July 10, 2015).
"The movement to free New Hampshire" .
CNN .
Archived from the original on July 7, 2019. Retrieved November 13, 2020 .
^ Leising, Matthew (2020).
Out of the Ether: The Amazing Story of Ethereum and the $55 Million Heist that Almost Destroyed It All .
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. p. 59.
ISBN
978-1-119-60295-8 – via
Google Books .
^
"Episode 286: Libertarian Summer Camp" .
NPR . July 5, 2013.
Archived from the original on August 3, 2017. Retrieved November 13, 2020 .
^
a
b
Tucker, Jeffrey A. (June 29, 2020).
"Broadway Closed but Porcfest Stayed Open" .
American Institute for Economic Research .
Archived from the original on October 13, 2020. Retrieved November 12, 2020 .
^ Hayes, Paul (June 28, 2020).
"Left, Right Outrage Meet At PorcFest" .
The Caledonian-Record .
Archived from the original on September 21, 2020. Retrieved November 12, 2020 .
^ Carroll, William (June 29, 2021).
"Porcfest breaks attendance record" . Manchester Ink Link . Retrieved April 19, 2022 .
^ Gericke, Carla (June 28, 2021).
"Sold-Out, Historic, Legendary PorcFest 2021: A Smashing Success Story of Peace Over Coercion (Part 1)" . Carla Gericke . Retrieved April 19, 2022 .
^
"Porcfest 2022 (XIX) Tickets" . PorcFest . Retrieved August 30, 2022 .
Further reading
Lhooq, Michelle (July 1, 2015).
"My Big Gay Libertarian Orgy" .
Vice .
Vice Media .
Archived from the original on November 8, 2020. Retrieved November 12, 2020 .
Parshley, Lois (July 14, 2014).
"Guns, Drugs, And Partial Nudity: PopSci Goes To A Techno-Libertarian Bash" .
Popular Science .
Bonnier Corporation .
Archived from the original on September 25, 2020. Retrieved November 13, 2020 .
External links