- The story of this year's Monarch - Each year, a Monarch is chosen to organize, plan, run social media, announce contest winners, and make and suggest changes and improvements in The Forest. This year's Monarch (aka "Quing" or "Grand Pooba") - Rachel Britton (@rachelmariebritton): drag performer (he/him in drag - they/them otherwise), photographer (@rachelbrittonphoto and "Art is a Drag"), 4 year Electric Forest Festival goer, and their friends and family Beeka (@beeka_darwin), Salem (@dekaylee_salemmassacre), and Rikki (@rikkipaepke) brought drag performance and culture to The Forest for the very first time in Electric Forest history this year. Rachel is also the first ever non-binary Monarch that has been chosen. Though there was some Internet kickback initially upon the announcement of their win, they were met with nothing but acceptance, love and support in The Forest and with the beautifully embracing Forest Family. Spreading awareness while educating on gender identity and variance and making the LGBTQIA community feel at home here has been their main purpose and goal. Their aim has also been to increase queer representation in the festival scene as a whole. As this year's Monarch, Rachel also has the great opportunity to offer suggestions for further festival improvements and ways to increase The Forest's inclusivity for coming years. Among other wonderful ideas they have, they plan to suggest gender neutral restrooms and showers in the camp sites. I'm very much looking forward to seeing the impact Rachel and their Monarch has on this loving and ever growing community. This year was my first year attending, and with all the good vibes I felt this past weekend, I can only imagine Electric Forest Festival will only get better and better each year. It was an absolute pleasure meeting and spending time with all of you! Hope to see you again soon! Sending you all so much love and light. Keep up the amazing work! ⚡️🌲💚@electric_forest #monarch #quing #nonbinary #electricforest #LGBTQIA #inclusive #awareness #representation #TheForest #ForestFamily #EF2X17 #love #light #acceptance #beautifulForest #beautifulFamily #sograteful #yearstocome (at Electric Forest)
