GILFORD -- Riding the shuttle bus from the lower parking lots of Gunstock Mountain Resort to the base of the ski trails, where dozens of Christian music bands rocked 13,000 people on five stages at SoulFest 2012, you can't help but notice lots of happy families.

Parents, their children and lots of teenagers filled the seats of the popular annual event which began in 1998 as a three-day event at Loon Mountain in Lincoln, moved to Gunstock in 2006.

Along the winding road, you see some of the 5,000 campers at 600 sites set up by Gunstock officials for this four-day event which ended on Saturday. There are kids everywhere and lots of parents — and everybody seems to be smiling. Most were there for the entire four-day event.

Walking up to the ski hill, families are swimming in the resort's pond. Young people are streaming into the festival grounds. On the side of the ski hill, a few thousand people, mostly families spread out on beach towels, are enjoying the top shows at the Revival Stage.

A blond-haired, blue-eyed boy leaving the festival with friends reminds you which “family” this is and what it's all about.

“Jesus loves you,” he says.

SoulFest is open to all faiths, but festival organizers said some non-religious fans of some of the Christian music bands are among the patrons every year. This year, a proclaimed atheist even bought a ticket, they said.

Although there are many Christian-oriented vendors and prayer tents, many filled with praying teens, on the festival grounds, along with a variety of carnival-style food vendors, the only preaching going on was by the stage performers. No one approaches with evangelistic intent. There are just lots of young people and their parents, and they're having a good time.

A girl walks by, hugging people. She's Trisha Tuttle, 16, of Franklin, and she's wearing a “Free Hugs” sign.

“I do it to share my great feelings for God,” she said. “It just seems like a great thing to do, everything is so warm and fuzzy here.”

There are no beer tents. The only security guards are the SoulFest “Peace Patrol” — men and women wearing red shirts. The patrol hasn't had to deal with many problems, nor do they usually at the event, said peace patrol member Fred Hutchinson, a sixth-grade teacher at Woodbury Middle School in Salem.

The Belknap County Sheriff's Department, which polices the event because Gunstock is owned by the county, said there have been relatively few problems over the years. And those are mostly criminal mischief issues “that you'd expect to see when you have this many people in one place,” said Lt. David Perkins of the sheriff's department.

“It's always a great bunch of people,” Perkins said, who is one of four police officers at the event at any one time. A small number compared to the sozens on duty for the annula Bike Week which drew about 150 people this year.

“The kids have no attitude, they are apologetic,” Hutchinson said.

“To me, it's a slice of heaven.”

For youth, SoulFest can be a liberating experience.

“It's a lot easier to be a Christian here,” said Ashlee Ferrante, 18, who was hammering a nail into The Cross, a wooden replica of the cross on which Jesus Christ died, with her friend, Emily Boyd, 19. Both are from Methuen, Mass.

The Cross “is as an exercise of rededication and belief that you are now able to live free,” according to SoulFest. People are invited to hammer a nail and say a prayer and rededicate themselves to God.

“It's a great environment. You feel much more free here to talk about God and be joyful as Christians,” Boyd said. “In everyday life, some people just aren't into it.”

The message isn't the only draw, though.

“The music is really, really good,” Boyd said with a smile.

At about midnight on Friday, the festival's headliners, Family Force 5, jumped on the stage to thundering bass lines. Its signer rapping the lyrics to the band's hit “Zombie” from inside a clear plastic balloon that was tossed around in the front rows.

The music resembled the heavy riff-laden tunes of Korn or Linkin Park, but the words were much different.

“Back-back-back-back from the dead!” he rapped to a frenzied crowd of youth. “Transformed, be-be-be-be-reborn!”

Back in the crowd, parents were watching approvingly.

“It's good music that has good meaning, it's a very good experience for our kids,” said Wayne Morrill of Mendon, Mass., who brought his 12- and 14-year-old sons, as he has in the past few years.

“It's a lot better than a lot of the stuff you hear them playing today, all these songs about sex and drugs. They don't need to hear that all the time,” he said.
dseufert@newstote.com