Save The Date: Hammo Fest Oct. 1st And 2nd (With Video)

By Donald Rankin, M.D.

 Friends of Hammonasset is gearing up for its biennial Hammonassett Festival, a celebration of nature, Native American Culture and the environment, set for Oct. 1 and 2 at Hammonasset Beach State Park from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days.

Dozens of exhibitors, performers, crafts people and environmental experts have reserved space at the festival, which draws approximately 8,000 to 10,000 visitors over the two-day event. 

“There is something for everyone,” said Dale Carson, a co-founder of the festival, and a Native American of Abenaki descent. “The performers that everyone is familiar with --- flutist Joseph Fire Crow and the Erin Meeches Dance Troupe --- will once again join the festival, but there are also some new exhibitors this year.”

One of those is the WOW Express, a mobile visitor center known as the Watershed On Wheels. The WOW Express includes a full immersion trailer that lets people experience plants and animals from habitats found in the Connecticut River Watershed. A second trailer contains several educational kiosks and interactive displays.

The WOW Express is a project of the Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge in Massachusetts that was established to conserve the abundance and diversity of native plants and animals and their habitats in the 7.2 million acre Connecticut River watershed in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont. 

“The festival is thrilled to include the WOW Express for the first time,” said Don Rankin. “It is in keeping with our mission to celebrate nature and inform children and adults about the environment.”

There will be lots of delicious food, including Native American offerings from Wampanoag chefs Sonya Avant-Sanders and Sherry Pocknett as well as a vendor selling Hummel hot dogs.

Other highlights include:

• Atlatl (an ancient tool and weapon) demonstration and competition
• A Place Called Hope, live birds of prey exhibit
• Ranger Russ from Meigs Point Nature Center with a live reptile demonstration
• Exotic animals from the Beardsley Zoo
• Ancient technologist Jim Dina demonstrating stone tool-making
• Yale Peabody Museum
• Trout Unlimited
• A premier collection of crafts and Native vendors

For more details and to receive updates about the Hammonassett Festival, become a fan of the Hammonassett Festival Facebook page.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Hammonassett-Festival/114270435046

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1ere6an-S4