Sect claims garlic fest is religious event

Thursday, August 1, 2002
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/80911_lovefam01ww.shtml

ARLINGTON — The Love Israel family’s annual Arlington Garlic and Music Festival has grown too large to be considered a religious event, Snohomish County Auditor Bob Terwilliger says.

The sect, established as a counterculture group in the 1960s, applied under protest this week for a permit for the 13th annual garlic fest next week

For the past 12 years the group claimed an exemption on religious grounds from county requirements that a permit be obtained for public gatherings of at least 100 people.

Organizers say the outdoor festival’s booths, music and food drew as many as 15,000 people last year.
“That’s not a religious event anymore,” Terwilliger said Wednesday.

A spokesman for the group, Serious Israel – all members take the last name Israel – said the permit application was filed but the decision to require one has been appealed to the county hearing examiner.
The event is “a part of our culture. This is our summer festival, where we celebrate our friendship with a whole lot of people,” he said.

The group uses the event as “a gathering of the family. We get people coming from all over the world to reconnect,” he said. “For us, this is what our religion is all about.”

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