There’s a certain symmetry in the fact that the grand marshal of this year’s Western Weekend is a historian. After nearly eight decades, the event itself has become a living piece of West Marin history. Who better than Dewey Livingston to take a leading role in the festivities?
Mr. Livingston has written several books about the region, chronicling the lives of both its ordinary citizens and leading lights. Last year, he published his pièce de résistance, a sweeping history titled “Point Reyes and Tomales Bay: A History of the Land and Its People.”
“He is so committed and passionate about documenting and sharing West Marin history, remembering long-gone families and traditions that might otherwise be forgotten,” said Lisa Krieger, an Inverness resident who sits on the Western Weekend Committee. “By chronicling our changes, he reminds us of the importance of protecting what’s unique here.”
As the foremost living historian of the region, Mr. Livingston followed in the footsteps of Jack Mason, a former Oakland Tribune editor who summered in Inverness before retiring there in the 1960s.
Mr. Mason published eight books about the Tomales Bay area and a quarterly journal called the Point Reyes Historian. After his death in 1985, the Inverness Association purchased his historic home, known as the Gables, and transformed it into a library and history museum, fulfilling Mr. Mason’s wishes.
Mr. Mason mentored Mr. Livingston and anointed him as his successor. Now, Mr. Livingston, who is 72, is casting about for someone to follow in his own footsteps someday.
In the weeks leading up to this year’s celebration, two young women recruited by Mr. Livingston have begun collecting oral histories for his latest projects. Both endeavors are rooted in the social ferment of the 1970s, when the civil rights movement, women’s liberation, the Vietnam War, and flower children were all transforming the nation.
One project will chronicle the emergence of regenerative and organic farming and food systems that have become hallmarks of West Marin agriculture. The other tells the story of how hippies, artists, and back-to-the-land idealists built an enduring local culture, opening small farms, a home-birth center, preschools, an environmental center, and a thriving community center—the Dance Palace.
Sadie Barrett, a recent University of California, Berkeley, graduate who spent her first three years in Inverness, is collecting oral histories for the farming innovations project. Bay Whitney, an Inverness native who studied history at Western Washington University, is conducting interviews with the 1970s newcomers, some of whom identified as hippies and some of whom did not embrace that label.
Mr. Livingston raised money to pay for their efforts, equipped them with top-flight recording gear, and shared insights he has gleaned over the years about conducting fruitful interviews.
“Both of these young women have been having a great time meeting people, sitting in their kitchens, and learning a lot about subjects that they’re very interested in,” Mr. Livingston said. “Of course, it’s all up to them, but I have hopes that they will use the skills and experiences they gain in these projects in their future endeavors. I’m really into mentoring people and inspiring them to continue this kind of work.”
The 1970s arrivals came to town with scraggly beards, long hair, bell-bottom pants, and, sometimes, recreational drugs. They had much in common with many of the Berkeley summer kids whose families had second homes around Tomales Bay, but their social mores clashed with those of the local ranching community.
“Of course, many of the older local populace were appalled, and yet they observed, occasionally joined, and certainly witnessed the birth of a new community culture that contributed to the well-being of West Marin and has lasted to this day,” Mr. Livingston wrote in his project outline.
So far, Ms. Whitney has conducted 17 interviews for the project, including one with Jim Campe, who came to Inverness as part of a group of outlaw architects and builders led by Sim Van der Ryn. They prioritized harmony with nature and incorporated driftwood and recycled materials such as lumber from dismantled chicken coops into their designs.
“They called themselves outlaws because they did not always think of building codes first,” Ms. Whitney said. “They prioritized form and function, and how to open up spaces to the natural world around us.”
After graduating from Western Washington, Ms. Whitney spent a year working at Brickmaiden Breads and volunteering at the Jack Mason Museum, where she researched an exchange program between students from West Marin and the U.S.S.R. She lives in Portland, Ore., where she works as a baker at Lewis & Clark College. Her summer schedule allowed her to return to her hometown to work on the oral history project.
After a few early meetings, Mr. Livingston sent her into the fray.
“He’s been a wonderful mentor—so patient and trusting,” Ms. Whitney said. “He basically handed me a microphone and said, ‘Go for it, you’ve got this.’ That kind of faith means a lot.”
Ms. Barrett has deep roots in West Marin. Her grandfather was the only dentist in Point Reyes Station in his day, and her father, a graduate of Tomales High, grew up in Inverness. Since her family moved to Arroyo Grande near San Luis Obispo, she’s been a regular visitor to West Marin and considers it her home away from home.
Last December, the same month she was graduating from Berkeley, she ran into Mr. Livingston at his sister’s 80th birthday. They chatted, and she mentioned her interest in journalism, publishing, and editing. He told her about his project, and they met a month later to brainstorm.
Like Point Reyes, Arroyo Grande is an agricultural town, and Ms. Barrett’s family had a hobby farm when she was growing up, with goats, chickens, and a vegetable patch. The West Marin agriculture project was a good fit.
Mr. Livingston encouraged her to give her interview subjects leeway to explore their thoughts while still exerting some control over the conversation. “It’s a fine balance,” she said. “I don’t think I’d be as successful in these interviews without his feedback. I think of the great professors that I’ve had at U.C. Berkeley, or even the great teachers I had in high school, and he is like them all in his ability to educate and reflect and guide you and support you, but also to push you to your best abilities.”
Although neither mentee is ready just yet to claim Mr. Livingston’s mantle, they both have grown to share his sense of mission when it comes to telling West Marin’s stories. “It’s an honor to work on this project,” Ms. Whitney said. “This area has a really rich history, and we’ve got to keep it going.”
The Western Weekend parade starts at high noon on Sunday, June 7.