August 10, 2013 - August 11, 2013 - All Day
8th Annual Rock, Rattle & Drum Pow Wow
Gifts of the Four Directions
Saturday, August 10th and Sunday, August 11th, 2013
Bowe Field, the Adams Agricultural Fairgrounds
Old Columbia Street (off of Route 8), Adams, MA
Nammy Award Winner, “Lord of the Strings”, Arvel Bird!
Danza Azteca -The Aztec Dancers! /Wolf Cry Singers
A Cultural Council of Northern Berkshire 2013 grant recipient!
Pow Wow is happening rain (under the Pavillion) or shine!
All tickets are available at the gate.
Pow Wow One Day Admission
$7 – Adults
$5 – Seniors 65+ and Youth 11-17
Free – Children 10 and under
Saturday, August 10, 10am – 10pm
Grand Entry: 1:00pm
Sunday, August 11, 10am – 6pm
Grand Entry: 1:00pm
Come Stomp, Dance, Sing and Shake Your Tail feathers
It’s Pow Wow time again! After eight years of celebratory dance, song, and drumming, this year’s 8th Annual Rock, Rattle & Drum Pow Wow will explode in another weekend of American Indian music, dance, education, entertainment, arts and crafts vendors, and cultural festivities fun for the whole family!
The 8th Annual Rock, Rattle & Drum Pow Wow is returning to the Berkshires this summer on Saturday, August 10th and Sunday, August 11th, 2013 and will be held at the beautiful Bowe Field, the Adams Agricultural Fairgrounds in Adams, MA. Tickets are available at the gate for only $7 for adults and $5 for seniors 65+ and youth 11-17. Children 10 and under are free. This year there are also tickets available in advance. Please go to HealingWinds.net or call 413-443-2481 for a list of ticket outlets.
The theme of our Pow Wow this year is Gifts of the Four Directions. Pow Wows are gatherings that Native American people use as a place to meet, dance, sing, renew, strengthen and share their rich culture. Our Pow Wow features authentic American Indian dancing, drumming, and tribal regalia. Native Americans ranging in age from toddlers to elders will dance in several different styles including fancy, traditional, grass and jingle dress wearing traditional and contemporary regalia. Drum groups provide vocal and rhythmic accompaniment for the dancers.
A variety of American Indian culture is also expressed through vendor exhibits of arts, crafts, music, contemporary and traditional foods, and information on social and political issues that currently challenge local, regional and national American Indian communities; local not for profit organizations will also be represented.
Everyone native and non-native is welcome. In addition to watching traditional dancing there will be times when non-natives will be invited into the dance arena to share an intertribal dance including a candy dance for the children. American Indian storytellers will share old native stories with the young and young at heart. American Indian vendors will sell native made arts and crafts such as native beadwork, quill work and silver. Traditional native foods such as Indian fry bread, Indian corn soup and buffalo will be available for purchase.
Back by popular demand, this year’s Pow Wow will feature special performances by Arvel Bird, a Nammy Award Winner Native American violinist, flute player singer and storyteller, Danza Azteca – Aztec Dance Group and the amazing Wolf Cry Singers, an acapella all women Native American singing group. Aaron Athey, Mohegan Nation is our Master of Ceremonies, award winning dancers Hector Rosa LeBeau, Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe is our Head Man Dancer, Nakia Marion, Ojibway Nation is our Head Lady Dancer, Skye Pagesiaic, Ojibway Nation is our Head Junior Man Dancer and Kendall Scott, Wampanoag Nation, is our Head Junior Lady Dancer.
Special Honoring
A special veteran's honoring and presentation during the Grand Entry on Saturday and Sunday at 1pm will be made by the 65th Chapter of the Vietnam Veterans of Pittsfield.
Arvel Bird
Arvel Bird violinist and Native American flutist extraordinaire, is known around the world for his dramatic connection between Celtic and Native American traditions, stirring up scenes that echo from North American memory. Dubbed “Lord of the Strings” by fans and music critics, his music evokes the soul of North American history and is thoroughly entertaining, enlightening and humanizing. In a language and experience that captures the hearts of all audiences, he’s emotional without being condescending, intellectual without being pretentious. One measure of any art form is when the medium is so mastered that it becomes transparent, allowing its message to be seen, heard and felt. Arvel Bird has achieved that mastery. For more information, photos and videos please go to arvelbird.com
Pow Wow Information
Pow Wows offer native people the opportunity to celebrate their identity and to visit and share with their friends in the greater community. This special event is about building and celebrating community and respecting the culture, history and the traditions of our First Nations People. For more information please go to healingwinds.net, call 413-443-2481 or email humanityinconcert@earthlink.net. A portion of the proceeds are being distributed to Pittsfield Kiwanis of Pittsfield, the Dalton Lions, Eve's Fund and One Spirit/Native Progress.org.
Healing Winds
Healing Winds, the non-profit producing and host organization has been producing Pow Wows and cultural events in the fashion of a movable feast bringing public awareness and appreciation for the Mohican and Algonquin speaking tribes and nations within the bio-regional and cultural footprint of the tri-states, Massachusetts, New York and Vermont.
The Perfect Place for a Pow Wow
Tucked away in an all but forgotten part of Massachusetts is the Northern Berkshire Town of Adams. Sitting under the watchful eye of the Mt. Greylock War Memorial Tower and within the permanent embrace of Mt. Greylock itself, Adams, today, stands in testament to the social, political and entrepreneurial prowess of the Second Industrial Revolution and the ensuing Gilded Age of the late 1800's. The power and prestige of this iconic New England mill town has long since faded, but the legacy of the wealth and power of that period can be seen in the remaining red brick mills, mansions and cultural heirlooms left by the business elite of that period. As the industrial operations grew silent, the natural beauty of the area became manifest.
From atop Mt. Greylock -- the highest peak in Massachusetts -- one is treated to a panoramic view which not only showcases the town of Adams, below to the east, but also surrounding the mountainous regions of Vermont, New Hampshire and New York. The mountains, valleys and the rivers, which exist throughout this area, once served as the homeland for numerous Native Americans. By virtue thereof, Northern Berkshire County became this Country's first Western Frontier. Indeed, Fort Massachusetts was constructed near the border of Williamstown and North Adams along the Hoosic River. In and about this undulating topography are myriad trails which were laid out by Native Americans and subsequent settlers, the oldest and most prestigious of which is the Mohawk Trail. The Mohawk Trail served as a Native American trade route connecting the Atlantic tribes with tribes in upstate New York and beyond. Somewhat more modern, but equally prestigious is the Appalachian Trail, which intersects with the Mohawk Trail, near Fort Massachusetts, crosses over the summit of Mt. Greylock and proceeds South through Berkshire County.
Whether walking the tree line streets of Adams or the numerous trails cut into the surrounding countryside, one is overcome with a sense of "Source." Over 600 million years ago, the forces of the universe and the planet earth combined to create a veritable "Eden" for the terrestrials that would eventually come to inhabit this area.
The town was named by its people after Samuel Adams, one of the fiercest proponents of the American Revolution. The town is the birthplace of Susan B. Anthony, whose dedication and persistence helped break the shackles of slavery and the disenfranchisement of women. Ensconced into the face of Mt. Greylock is the distinct profile of a Native American which legend holds is that of an Abenaki Missisquoi known as Chief Gray Lock, who from a cave on the side of the mountain fought to protect the surrounding lands from the intrusion of European settlers.
Thus, much like steel which draws its strength from the forging together of diverse elements under intense heat, it seems appropriate that a Pow Wow - - which will bring together the best of multiple and at times divergent cultures - - should occur on the flat, fertile, flood plain of the Hoosic River in Adams under the enduring massive that is Mount Greylock. - contributed by William F. Kolis, Jr. of Adams