Kick off the Gila River Extravaganza with a special Monsoon Puppet Theater Parade. The parade will lead revelers down to Big Ditch Park where the party continues with more kid- and family-centered fun. We'll have a variety of booths to enjoy tastings of native plant foods, DIY demonstrations of how to make native plant foods and utilitarian products. Enjoy spoken word poetry by Elise Stuart and Raven Drake and music by Miguel Santistevan, Big Ditch Crickets, Andrew Dahl-Bredine & Friends, The Black Teas, and Caliente. The Fort Sill Apache Tribe Fire Dancers with the Gooday Family will return for an encore performance.
"A Drop To Drink" Pub Crawl: All Day Saturday, September 23; All Day until the drinks run out. Downtown Silver City
Enjoy unique alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages created with local native plant food ingredients, such as mesquite syrup, prickly pear syrup, prepared by Chelsea Rittchen, lemoncillo, poleo, arrowhead mint, wild oregano hydrosols by Lizard Dreaming Remedies, and teas by Bear Creek Herbs. Drinks can be purchased at Shevek's Casuals Oh My!, Diane's Restaurant, Tapas Tree Grill, The Market Café, Revel, The Jumping Cactus, The Little Toad, Jalisco's, and Javalina Coffee House. A portion of drink sales will be donated to the festival.
Monsoon Puppet Theater Mask making at Gough Park 12:30 pm - 1:30 pm
Parade to Big Ditch Park 1:30 - 2pm
Join the zany Monsoon Puppet Theater for a family-friendly parade, full of fun costumes, music, dance, and giant puppets! Meet at 12:30 p.m. at the Gough Park gazebo, for face painting and mask making, with all materials provided, and line up for the parade at 1:30. Show off your love for the Gila River with painted faces, puppets, and masks!
Dance of the Mountain Spirits by the Fort Sill Apache Fire Dancers with the Gooday Family 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm; Farmer's Market parking lot
For many generations, the Chiricahua Apaches, now known as the Fort Sill Apache Tribe, have performed the Dance of the Mountain Spirits yearly and during sacred occasions to drive away sickness and evil and bring good health and good fortune. The Fire Dancers are a traditional group and rarely perform for the public.
Music Schedule: 2:00 pm - 8:00 pm; Big Ditch Park
2:00 pm - 2:30 pm - Music & Sing-a-long with Miguel Santistevan
2:45 pm - 3:15 pm - Music & Dancing with the Big Ditch Crickets
3:30 pm - 4:00 pm - Drumming with Andrew Dahl-Bredine & Friends
4:15 pm - 5:15 pm - Music & Dancing with The Black Teas
6:00 pm - 8:00 pm – Caliente from Las Cruces
Big Ditch Park Booths: Tastings and Sales 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm; Big Ditch Park
Mesquite, sacaton, Apache red grass: Richard Felger, Gabriel Feldman, Chelsea Rittchen & Adrienne Booth
Insects: Carol Fugagli
Fermented foods: Margaret Garcia (Taos Real Foods), Harolene Pitts
Acorns, prickly pear: John Slattery
Chile roasting: Kyle & Meggie Skaggs (Frisco Farms)
Herbal medicine: Monica Rude (Desert Woman Botanicals) Nikki Tesnow Brooke Feldman (Lizard Dreaming Remedies) Naava Koenigsberg (Bear Creek Herbs)
Native plant dyes: Ann Hedlund & Hosana Eilert
Kids' activities/ Fire-making: Andrew Dahl-Bredine
Kids' activities/Weaving with native plants: Cedar Smith
Kids' activities/Native plant game: Andrea Warner
Talks, Demos & Poetry: 2:30 pm - 6:00 pm; Big Ditch Park
2:30 pm - 2:45 pm - Poetry reading with Raven Drake
3:15 pm - 3:30 pm - Talk: Curanderismo with Dr. Gilbert Arizaga
4:00 pm - 4:15 pm - Food demo with Consuelo Hester
5:15 pm - 5:30 pm - Talk: Native American traditional foods with Stephanie Muise
5:30 pm - 5:45 pm - Poetry reading with Elise Stuart
5:45 pm - 6:00 pm - Talk: Chiricahua Apaches with Joe Saenz
Sunburst: An Organic Mandala: 2:00 - 4:00 pm; Big Ditch Park
Join artist Zoe Wolfe and architect Steven Shelendich for this community art project to create a mandala out of natural materials in the Big Ditch Park. Feel free to bring organics to add to the mandala, which will remain on the site to decompose with the elements.
Many thanks to our major sponsors: New Mexico Humanities Council, National Endowment for the Humanities, McCune Charitable Foundation, Fort Sill Apache Tribe, ALAYA, Stream Dynamics, Gila/Mimbres Community Radio, Western New Mexico University, the Center for Biological Diversity, The Glasserie, Town and Country Garden Club, the Town of Silver City Lodgers Tax, and our lodging sponsor, the Murray Hotel. For more details and registration, visit our website at: www.gilariverfestival.org or call us at 575-538-8078.
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