LANDER - Up to 20,000 people from throughout the United States will reportedly assemble at Big Sandy in the Wind River Mountains this summer for the annual "Rainbow Gathering of Living Light."

As local authorities gear up for the event, Cowboy State residents who witnessed a similar get-together 14 years ago said Wednesday that based upon that experience, there's little to worry about this summer.

When the Rainbow Family brought its congregation to Wyoming in 1994, it was something of a shock to the tiny town of Big Piney, as an estimated group of 14,000 free-spirited campers suddenly showed up, locals Lynda Leeper and Pam Hamilton said.

But both said, in retrospect, the weeklong counterculture jamboree turned out better than many area residents had anticipated.

Rainbow Family members have assembled on public lands every year, somewhere in the United States, since 1972, and the events occasionally draw up to 25,000 participants.

The assembly is intended to be a celebration of peaceful living and love for the planet earth. It is also, famously, a so-called alternative congregation featuring craft trading, dancing, drum circles, Eastern-style meditation and prayer, and where varying degrees of nudity and drug use are not uncommon.

"They were a different breed of cat, but they were interesting, and sure fun to be around," said Pam Hamilton, a rancher who runs summer cattle in the national forest where the Rainbow Family held its 1994 gathering. "They treated us well. They were pretty darn good to work with, and the Rainbows pretty much handled everything."

The group had its own "law enforcement" keeping order, Hamilton said, and when it was all over, the cleanup was impressive.

"They really tried to put the land back to the way it was. And they did. It went right back to the way is was," she said.

Hamilton was also struck by the way the participants treated one another, she said.

"The love that they showed for each other was just unreal. They definitely took care of fellow Rainbow members, and it was just kind of neat," Hamilton said. "And I thought, at the time, that the world ought to take a lesson from these people."

Lynda Leeper, a U.S. Forest Service employee who works in the Big Piney office, remembers the event as a "shock" to the town of a few hundred residents, simply because thousands of people suddenly descended on the town.

"Just the sheer numbers of people that came through the grocery stores, for example," Leeper said. "The shop keepers were trying to keep the shelves stocked, but they couldn't plan for the number of people that were going to come through. You'd go into the local grocery store, and the shelves would be fairly depleted. But the grocery store made enough money they were able to pave the parking lot after that."

Leeper said the Rainbow group tried to minimize its impacts on the environment, but with a group of that size damage is inevitable.

"They do a remarkable job of cleaning up after themselves," she said. "But there's no way to get around the impact to the resources. We have a short growing season in southwest Wyoming, and the resources are sensitive."

Various "unofficial" Web sites and blogs associated with the Rainbow gathering have confirmed local media reports that the Rainbow Family has chosen Big Sandy for this summer's event, which will take place July 1 through July 7.

But event locations have changed at the last minute in the past, and occasionally the gathering will split into two separate ones, said Mary Cernicek, spokeswoman for the Bridger-Teton National Forest.

There are no official leaders or spokesmen for the Rainbow Family, so it's very difficult for authorities to pin down the "official" spot before the event, Cernicek said.

The Bridger-Teton office was flooded with requests for information Wednesday, but Cernicek said she had little to dispense. Many locals called asking if the Forest Service can stop the group from holding the event.

"What people keep asking me is, 'Can we prevent it?"' Cernicek said. "Some people are concerned about vandalism to private property, things stolen out of pickup trucks…"

If people happen to be victims of crimes, she said, they must work with local law enforcement.

The Forest Service will have an incident management team assembled before the event starts to work with the Rainbow gathering participants, and which will coordinate the agency's response to any problems that might arise, Cernicek said.

Although the group will not have a permit for the assembly, the district ranger has been working with the group to develop a plan for how the site will be restored and what the rules will be regarding fires and medical emergencies, she said.

"It's a pilot program for this year. We're not issuing a permit. We'll be working with them under an operating plan - that was the decision of the department," Cernicek said.

Jim Whinnery, undersheriff with the Sublette County Sheriff's Office, said the sheriff will likely start having meetings today with local agencies in preparation for the gathering, and by next week should meet with the Bureau of Land Management, the Forest Service and law enforcement agencies of neighboring counties.

In 1994 the gathering was held on national forest land, and the sheriff's office assisted the Forest Service in policing the event, he said. This year the event will likely straddle national forest and BLM land, and as a result the three agencies will have to coordinate.

"We still need to figure out the logistical arrangements, but I can assure you we are going to do something," he said.

Cernicek said the Forest Service and the BLM work "rather seamlessly together," and her agency isn't expecting and problems coordinating with local and federal law enforcement officers.

Environment reporter Chris Merrill can be reached at chris.merrill@trib.com or at (307) 267-6722.