all About the best: These Photos From Lightning In A Bottle Will Fill You With FOMO

Ashley Wilhardt for Uproxx

Last year, we sent travel writer Jade Moyano to LiB (Lightning in a Bottle) at Lake San Antonio in central California. Her tales took us inside the fest and made us long to check it out for ourselves. This year, we sent photographers Ashley Wilhardt and Atessa Farman and now our FOMO is dialed up to 11.

Ashley and Atessa came back with photos that show LiB at its wildest, strangest, and most hippified. They reveal a fest where people are eager to connect and unafraid of letting their freak flags fly. Wild costumes? Check. Face sparkles? You’d better believe it. Top hats? So many you could supply every ring master to ever pass through Barnum and Bailey.

Headdresses? Nope. The festival has a policy against it. Kudos, for that.

What’s plainly evident in the pictures below is the sense of freedom that transformational festivals like LiB exude. These are the parties that are worth traveling for. Not just for the scene, but for the deeper spirit of positivity underpinning the whole experience. As Jade told us so poetically last year: “We are living in unprecedented times… it is more necessary than ever to educate ourselves, to come together and share ideas about self-care, community care, and earth care.”

Check out 50 photos from Ashley, Atessa, and LiB on-site photogs Aaron Glassman, Jessica Bernstein, Eric Allen, and Hailey Howard below.