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Summer Arts and Music Festival
This weekend, May 30th & 31st, the quiet green of Benbow Lake State Recreation Area, will transform into the lively and colorful site of the 39th annual Summer Arts & Music Festival! This year the Festival, known for it’s diversity and family feel, has also been honored as one the top ““15 Transformational Festivals to Attend in 2015”” byFest 300 Magazine, that reviews festivals worldwide.
Let’s take a look at some of the SAMF’s more transformational features this year.
First of all the Trees Stage, as always, will feature an awesome line-up of music fromJJ Grey & MoFro headlining Saturday night, to Sunday night’s headliner,Blackalicious and exciting performances like Motherlode featuring Fred Wesley, Angelo Moore & Brand New Step; Candelaria; The Brothers Comatose; Todo Mundo and many more.
In between major acts Trees will feature such beloved locals as Feet First Dancers, (at noon both days), Lost Coast Marimbas and many others. See the full stage schedule for more details and check out the Main Talent Photo Array farther down this page for more details.
Throughout both days of the festival you’ll also enjoy more than 60 of the best local musical acts, dance troupes, and children’s entertainers.
Starting at the far south end of the fairway, and working our way back to the Trees stage, new this year, is “The Sacred Round”. Located in the turnaround loop, adjacent to the Solar Stage, The Sacred Round is a giant calendar of painted river rocks created to honor Earth and celebrate her seasons. The Solstices; North and South & Equinoxes; East and West will be highlighted, giving the viewers a visual representation of the four seasons. Everyone is invited to walk The Round and give thanks.
There will be a table at the Devine Round Calendar Booth for people to paint a rock and place it in the Sacred Round on a day that is special to them. Special guest- local teacher and author, Gillian Brown, will conduct a ceremony at noon and also read a story for children at 1pm both days.
Also at the south end, is the Generation Green Tent and Dome hosted by local business, Greenwired Renewable Energy Solutions. who, by the way, will be powering their dome with a complete off grid power system featuring solar water pumps and ventilation fans. One of the exciting exhibits there will be electric vehicles available for viewing with information on renewable energy charging. A rep from Omnivoltaics a micro solar products company will be there to show off their products and answer any questions.
There will be an aquaponics system on display; a Black Soldier Fly Compostingdemonstration and a Bio fuel classifier will be there demonstrating a bio fuels power generation system. Green building materials and water saving goods will be on display from Garberville’s Organic Grace and other green businesses will be available for consultation. As a service to fair attendees, Sol Solutions will make power outlets available for battery charging off of the solar power systems.
Next to Generation Green is the Workshop Mobile Gallery, a new Summer Arts installation inhabiting a 1958 Kenskill trailer and featuring the work of artist, Nora Dougherty, it is also a mobile venue for artists from the Santa Cruz area working in wood-cut print-making, sculptural jewelry, found wood cabinets, paintings and ceramics.
There will be a beer tent located at the south end for attendees enjoying these exhibits and the musical entertainment happening at the Solar Stage including the local, newly-reunited Non-Prophets; Asha Nan; Jah Sun & I Kronik and Garberville’s own, Little Kidd Lost.
Moving up the fairway, the Lawn Stage will be featuring lots of fun and talented local groups including Off the Chart with their Latin Jazz standards and originals, the OLIO Music & Dance Collective with their high energy ensemble of Brazilian, Latin and Congolese influences, heavy percussion and lively dancers; SaltPetal with their tropical surf-dance sound, a cross-border combination of Argentinian folk, Brazilian tropi- calia, Cumbia, and up-tempo indie-rock.
Midway up the fairway at the always popular Kid Zone, families will enjoy a plethora of fun and fabulous kids acts designed to delight and amaze! Circus acts like theClownSnotBombs, Circus Nature, with their interactive Three Rings of Play that includes circus equipment and toys galore; the hilarious Circus Emporium Roadshowand the Circus Emporium Odditorium, are just a few of the attractions to the Kid Zone. There also an Arts & Crafts Tent with fun hands-on activities, and of course, the bouncy houses.
In addition to all the interesting arts and crafts booth to explore, leaving the Kid Zone area, you’ll see the Summertronica Tent a space dedicated exclusively to Electronic Music from our community, which every night from 7:30 to 10, will feature some of the top DJs of Northern California.
Right next door, you’ll want to check out the Andean Music Area where all afternoon on both days, Huayllipacha (pronounced Why-Lee-Pacha) a group conceived in 1987 by several Peruvian youths from the Andes. As a tribute to their culture and with respect, honor, and admiration of their ancestors, the meaning of their name is “Singing to the Earth,” and it is in this spirit that their music is offered. Over the years, they’ve expanded their style to include traditional and contemporary music of the Andes, as well as flavors from other regions in South America. Truly a cultural treasure, it is said, “one listen to these world- class Andean musicians will sweep you away to the Peruvian highlands”.
Almost directly across from the Andean Music Tent will be the Hearth’s World Music Jam Tent, a world beat music gathering place where you can bring your own drums or try various shared instruments provided by the Hearth Ensemble. Random jams and performances will be happening all weekend here facilitated by expert players who invite you to come to jam, to listen, or just to try something new. All ages and abilities are welcome and dancers are especially encouraged.
Always a Summer Arts favorite is the belly-dancing temple where Lakshmi’s Daughters‘ musicians and dancers fill the air with sweet and spicy sounds and moves that make your hips sway along with the dancers. This band of local Gypsies invites you to celebrate life with song and ecstatic dance, “an offering to the Goddess and all Her Children“.
The best resource for talent, vendor, and all other festival information is the officialSummer Arts and Music Festival Program Guide, which is out now on local newsstands and was be inserted into the May 14th edition of North Coast Journal and the May 19th edition of Redwood Times. This full-color, 32 page program includes all the info you’ll want to know about festival shuttles, parking, children’s activities, fine art, vendors, sponsors, entertainment schedules, and all the other featured activities/ areas, plus a site map and info on upcoming Mateel events and programs. But why wait to pick one up? You Download the 2015 SAMF Festival Program Guide right now!
Gates open at 9:30am and the fun rolls til 10pm each evening. Admission is at the gate only for a price of only $20 per day or $30 for the weekend pass.
For more information call (707) 923-3368 or visit the Summer Arts page of www.mateel.org and don’t miss the magic of the 39th annual Summer Arts and Music Festival at Benbow Lake State Recreation Area on the weekend of May 30st and May 31st.
See you at Summer Arts!!
DATES/TIMES
WHERE
PRICE
- $20
- $30 full weekend pass
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