{"id":3762,"date":"2023-11-01T08:36:37","date_gmt":"2023-11-01T08:36:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/goldenbricksevents.com\/main\/2023\/11\/01\/local-hero-chevon-powell\/"},"modified":"2025-07-04T21:12:42","modified_gmt":"2025-07-04T21:12:42","slug":"local-hero-chevon-powell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/goldenbricksevents.com\/main\/2023\/11\/01\/local-hero-chevon-powell\/","title":{"rendered":"Local Hero: Chevon Powell"},"content":{"rendered":"
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[This story originally appeared in <\/i>Alpinist 73<\/i><\/a>, which is now available on some newsstands and in our online store<\/a>. Only a small fraction of our many long-form stories from the print edition are ever uploaded to Alpinist.com. Be sure to pick up <\/i>Alpinist 73<\/i><\/a> for all the goodness!\u2013Ed.]<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"Chevon<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Chevon Powell, organizer of the Refuge Outdoor Festival. [Photo] Earica Brown(This article is reposted from http:\/\/www.alpinist.com\/doc\/web21s\/wfeature-a73-local-hero-chevon-powell .)<\/strong><\/p>\n

In 2015 thirty-two-year-old Chevon Powell was driving in Vermont on her way to start a two-week solo backpacking trip. Originally from Houston, she\u2019d attended college in New England, and she was ecstatic to be back among the changing colors of a Northeast autumn. Overhead, the leaves of sugar maples created the dazzling hues of red, orange and yellow iconic of the state. Fluttering in the breeze, the trembling aspen seemed to hint at the winter ice to come. Then Powell noticed a police car was following her.<\/p>\n

WHEN POWELL REACHED THE HOTEL where she planned to spend the first night, before heading into the mountains, the officer confronted her and demanded to know what she was doing in the area. As she explained her purpose, he declared, \u201cThat\u2019s unbelievable.\u201d The officer called for backup. He kept insisting that the situation was \u201cunbelievable\u201d to the policeman who arrived, but the second officer let Powell go. She proceeded to hike along a section of the Appalachian Trail, and in the years that followed, she has continued to advocate for a broader picture of who recreates outside.<\/p>\n

In many of her public interviews, Powell tells this story as part of what inspired her to establish the Refuge Outdoor Festival<\/a>. She organizes the festival through her long-standing company, Golden Bricks Events, as a \u201cthree-day camping experience geared toward people of color.\u201d Since the inaugural year of 2018 at Tolt-Macdonald Park in Carnation, Washington, Powell knew she was meeting a deep need for herself and for members of her community to feel safe while enjoying the outdoors. Some participants said this was the first time they\u2019d seen \u201cBlack people hugging and smiling\u201d at an outdoor festival, feeling that \u201cThis is our space,\u201d as she told me in the autumn of 2020.<\/p>\n

The philosophy behind Refuge doesn\u2019t assume what recreating should look like to different people\u2013the event is diverse by design. Want to go for a hike or learn about survival skills? Great! Want to gather in a circle and create music outdoors? That\u2019s equally valid. Bethany Lebewitz, a climber and one of the founders of Color the Crag festival, offers insight into why spaces such as Refuge are helpful in bringing people from varied backgrounds together: \u201cThe way our society is structured, there are lines and compartments everywhere that\u2026have divided a lot of us\u2013in reality it\u2019s all connected.\u201d And while Powell is not a climber herself, she supports efforts to diversify the narrative around the pursuit.<\/p>\n

Not everybody takes up climbing to crush hard grades\u2013the appeal can lie in simply being outdoors, connecting with nature, with a community and with one\u2019s own body and mind.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

When the pandemic arrived in 2020, Powell moved the festival online, offering workshops on conservation, disability justice, gardening, somatic healing and much more. She still avoids imposing any particular iteration of \u201cbeing outdoorsy\u201d onto attendees\u2013so that each of them can decide for themselves. Narratives of mountaineering and outdoor adventure often remain dominated by colonial ideas of exploration and conquest. \u201cBut that\u2019s not how all people of color experience the outdoors,\u201d Powell says. She designs Refuge with a broader scope: \u201cMy core belief is the outdoors is for everyone and there will be something about Refuge or something else that I\u2019m doing that resonates with a person that might get them into something they\u2019ve never experienced before.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the rise of a \u201csecond wave of Black Lives Matter,\u201d Powell observes, \u201cmore people are starting to acknowledge the systemic racism in the outdoors, and even in climbing culture.\u201d Today, for example, there\u2019s a grassroots-led push to replace bigoted route names at many crags. Powell doesn\u2019t expect advocacy work to become any \u201ceasier,\u201d she says, but she\u2019s now hopeful that more people will understand its necessity. \u201cFor us as people of color to be connected to nature, or to be more connected to each other,\u201d she continues, \u201cthose are the things that keep me sane and keep me wanting to create Refuge and other opportunities. So that we can live freer\u2026and actually have real change on individuals\u2019 lives and on the world.\u201d In a time when we are all facing high anxiety, Powell reminds us that everyone deserves to find healing and belonging in outdoor communities and in nature. Everyone deserves to take refuge.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The author, Anaheed Saatchi. [Photo] Courtesy Anaheed Saatchi<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

[This story originally appeared in <\/i>Alpinist 73<\/i><\/a>, which is now available on some newsstands and in our online store<\/a>. Only a small fraction of our many long-form stories from the print edition are ever uploaded to Alpinist.com. Be sure to pick up <\/i>Alpinist 73<\/i><\/a> for all the goodness!\u2013Ed.]<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\n
\n

[This story originally appeared in <\/i>Alpinist 73<\/i><\/a>, which is now available on some newsstands and in our online store<\/a>. Only a small fraction of our many long-form stories from the print edition are ever uploaded to Alpinist.com. Be sure to pick up <\/i>Alpinist 73<\/i><\/a> for all the goodness!\u2013Ed.]<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"Chevon<\/p>

Chevon Powell, organizer of the Refuge Outdoor Festival. [Photo] Earica Brown<\/figcaption><\/p>\n
\n<\/div>\n

In 2015 thirty-two-year-old Chevon Powell was driving in Vermont on her way to start a two-week solo backpacking trip. Originally from Houston, she\u2019d attended college in New England, and she was ecstatic to be back among the changing colors of a Northeast autumn. Overhead, the leaves of sugar maples created the dazzling hues of red, orange and yellow iconic of the state. Fluttering in the breeze, the trembling aspen seemed to hint at the winter ice to come. Then Powell noticed a police car was following her.<\/p>\n

WHEN POWELL REACHED THE HOTEL where she planned to spend the first night, before heading into the mountains, the officer confronted her and demanded to know what she was doing in the area. As she explained her purpose, he declared, \u201cThat\u2019s unbelievable.\u201d The officer called for backup. He kept insisting that the situation was \u201cunbelievable\u201d to the policeman who arrived, but the second officer let Powell go. She proceeded to hike along a section of the Appalachian Trail, and in the years that followed, she has continued to advocate for a broader picture of who recreates outside. <\/p>\n

In many of her public interviews, Powell tells this story as part of what inspired her to establish the Refuge Outdoor Festival<\/a>. She organizes the festival through her long-standing company, Golden Bricks Events, as a \u201cthree-day camping experience geared toward people of color.\u201d Since the inaugural year of 2018 at Tolt-Macdonald Park in Carnation, Washington, Powell knew she was meeting a deep need for herself and for members of her community to feel safe while enjoying the outdoors. Some participants said this was the first time they\u2019d seen \u201cBlack people hugging and smiling\u201d at an outdoor festival, feeling that \u201cThis is our space,\u201d as she told me in the autumn of 2020.<\/p>\n

The philosophy behind Refuge doesn\u2019t assume what recreating should look like to different people\u2013the event is diverse by design. Want to go for a hike or learn about survival skills? Great! Want to gather in a circle and create music outdoors? That\u2019s equally valid. Bethany Lebewitz, a climber and one of the founders of Color the Crag festival, offers insight into why spaces such as Refuge are helpful in bringing people from varied backgrounds together: \u201cThe way our society is structured, there are lines and compartments everywhere that\u2026have divided a lot of us\u2013in reality it\u2019s all connected.\u201d And while Powell is not a climber herself, she supports efforts to diversify the narrative around the pursuit. <\/p>\n

Not everybody takes up climbing to crush hard grades\u2013the appeal can lie in simply being outdoors, connecting with nature, with a community and with one\u2019s own body and mind. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

When the pandemic arrived in 2020, Powell moved the festival online, offering workshops on conservation, disability justice, gardening, somatic healing and much more. She still avoids imposing any particular iteration of \u201cbeing outdoorsy\u201d onto attendees\u2013so that each of them can decide for themselves. Narratives of mountaineering and outdoor adventure often remain dominated by colonial ideas of exploration and conquest. \u201cBut that\u2019s not how all people of color experience the outdoors,\u201d Powell says. She designs Refuge with a broader scope: \u201cMy core belief is the outdoors is for everyone and there will be something about Refuge or something else that I\u2019m doing that resonates with a person that might get them into something they\u2019ve never experienced before.\u201d <\/p>\n

With the rise of a \u201csecond wave of Black Lives Matter,\u201d Powell observes, \u201cmore people are starting to acknowledge the systemic racism in the outdoors, and even in climbing culture.\u201d Today, for example, there\u2019s a grassroots-led push to replace bigoted route names at many crags. Powell doesn\u2019t expect advocacy work to become any \u201ceasier,\u201d she says, but she\u2019s now hopeful that more people will understand its necessity. \u201cFor us as people of color to be connected to nature, or to be more connected to each other,\u201d she continues, \u201cthose are the things that keep me sane and keep me wanting to create Refuge and other opportunities. So that we can live freer\u2026and actually have real change on individuals\u2019 lives and on the world.\u201d In a time when we are all facing high anxiety, Powell reminds us that everyone deserves to find healing and belonging in outdoor communities and in nature. Everyone deserves to take refuge.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>

The author, Anaheed Saatchi. [Photo] Courtesy Anaheed Saatchi<\/figcaption><\/p>\n
\n<\/div>\n

[This story originally appeared in <\/i>Alpinist 73<\/i><\/a>, which is now available on some newsstands and in our online store<\/a>. Only a small fraction of our many long-form stories from the print edition are ever uploaded to Alpinist.com. Be sure to pick up <\/i>Alpinist 73<\/i><\/a> for all the goodness!\u2013Ed.]<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3763,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[87],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3762","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/goldenbricksevents.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3762","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/goldenbricksevents.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/goldenbricksevents.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goldenbricksevents.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goldenbricksevents.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3762"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/goldenbricksevents.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3762\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goldenbricksevents.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3763"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/goldenbricksevents.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goldenbricksevents.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goldenbricksevents.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}