Isn’t it marvelous?! If you want your own version of our Fall Festival shirt, they can be purchased at the Merch Tent along with artists’ merchandise, festival stickers, & more!
Full Moon Moments
I was recently on a week-long vacation with my family. Perfect, right? Beautiful scenery, good food, surrounded by my favorite people, a week off from responsibilities. But I was having a hard time. I couldn’t…let go. It had taken some organizing to get away: figuring out who’d take care of the dog and cat, paying all the bills, packing up, checking all the things off the list. And then there’s what would happen when I got back! Work piling up, things to catch up on, replying to all the emails. Even during the vacation there was the planning: what was next? where were we going to eat? was everyone happy? were we spending too much money? – finally, by the second to last day, I stopped and realized – woah, I’m on vacation, I should be enjoying this!
As children, living in the moment is our specialty – we see only what is in front of us, enjoy what there is, not even knowing what the next activity or day will bring. When something upsets us, we cry and hate the world – and then the moment is gone. When we are happy, that’s all there is, pure joy. We are blissfully unaware of the weight on our parents’ shoulders and what responsibilities we will later have as age and adult worries take over.
Somehere along the way to adulthood, I seem to have lost that crucial ability to get lost in the moment! To let go and just…be. To open my eyes, look around and realize that right now, I truly have everything that I need to be in this moment and that, often – here especially – it’s a good one.
Even (especially) in the festival office, we can get so wrapped up in the planning, the details, making sure everything goes right and everyone else is happy, we forget to jump in and take what this whole thing is offering us! And it’s offering us so much!
There’s the music, such incredible artists sharing their gifts with us. There’s dancing our bodies to the beat, moving under the night sky in new ways. There’s family together time, amazing food, pitching tents and making new friends, campfire jams, reminiscing, new experiences and – somehow all of us come together, with everything we have to offer, and we create something. Together, we create the biggest, most beautiful moment!
So I’m challenging myself this fall, and I invite you to join me. Let’s jump into that moment! Let’s live in it!
For this moment we have created together – maybe it lasts four days, maybe only an afternoon – let’s recognize it for what it is, and leave that other stuff behind. Let’s invite that beautiful, full October moon and her sister stars to come down and dance with us! Happy Shakori, everyone!
Love & Peace,
Sara Waters Schwartz
Festival Co-coordinator
Community Corner: Growing Up At Shakori
Every festival we include a piece of writing from someone in our community about what Shakori Hills means to them. This fall, we want to thank Elaine Atwell for her beautiful thoughts on growing up at Shakori Hills…
You mark the age of a child in birthday candles, in drawings on the fridge, and for a lucky group of people, in Shakoris. I’ve been coming to Shakori Hills for nearly half of my thirty years and like a lot of people, I feel like I grew up here. I started (relatively) late, as a teenager, when I would keep safely to the edges of the dance tent, mumble my name when asked, and wonder why I had to be in a family that took such weird vacations. I stewed in awkwardness and resentment for years until, during one Shakori in my early twenties, I realized I didn’t feel that way anymore. I spoke up. I helped pitch tents and prepare food. I danced, and saw my family’s mouths open with surprise, and realized I had passed some sort of milestone since the last Shakori.
I’m old enough now to watch other children do the same thing, with Shakori functioning as a kind of time-lapse camera of maturity. The unborn child of a fall Shakori is the infant passed around the campsite in the spring, and a few festivals later, is an entire person full of will and energy and opinions (usually a passionate enthusiasm for mud). I’ve watched adolescents make the same journey I did: testing boundaries under the watchful eyes of a loving community, trying out new identities, taking that first brave step out to the center of the dance tent. It’s a breathtaking privilege to witness, and to be one of the adults who can help teach, play, and encourage.
Lately I have felt grown in some fundamental sense, in part because I feel an urgent protectiveness for what we have here at Shakori Hills. The teenager who took these precious days for granted is gone, and now I am committed to tending this fire so another generation of children can have the unique advantages of a Grassroots childhood. In a world that is frequently isolating and deeply cynical, kids at Shakori get gloriously dirty, reach beyond themselves to make new friends, and witness the incredible rarity of a true community, caring for itself and trying always to live up to its highest ideals. Perhaps most importantly, kids at Shakori get to see adults at play, and realize that it is possible to preserve the joy and wonder of childhood, even as you grow up.
Inspired by your Shakori Hills experience? We’d love to hear from you! We’ll be looking for a new community piece to include in the spring program. Submit yours to shakorihills@grassrootsfest.org and we will consider it for publication.
Photo by Val Waegerle.
Our Fall 2017 Poster!
We wanted to share our beautiful Fall 2017 Poster Design, lovingly created by Tanya Stephens Henderson (who also designs our programs). It’s theme is an homage to the fact that there will be a full moon on the Thursday night of the festival, and it harkens back to the total eclipse earlier this summer. Please feel free to share the image around and invite folks to come out to the festival this fall!
The 8th Annual NC Stars in the Round, August 26th, 2017!
Our annual starry tradition is happening again, a wonderful evening of music, food, beverages, and family fun! The evening’s highlight will be a singer-songwriter circle featuring some great local musicians and songwriters. Each artist will share his or her unique musical talents one song at a time, then pass the mic to the next. This year our songwriters will be Charly Lowry, Rebekah Todd, Tommy Edwards, Big Ron Hunter, and Ashley Heath!
Opening up the night will be Carolina Pine Cones, a youth bluegrass band (ages 14-18) that performs throughout Raleigh and the Triangle area. The group met through the summer Bluegrass Jam Camps and year-round Youth Jams offered by PineCone, the Piedmont Council of Traditional Music.
As our new tradition goes…closing out the show will be our great friends from, Dr. Bacon! Dr. Bacon is a genre defying “Appalachian Funk-Rock” band from Asheville, NC playing an infectiously danceable blend of funk, soul, jazz, rock, blues, folk, hip-hop and more. The band features diverse instrumentation including: guitars, resonator, harmonica, bass, tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone drums, trombone, kazoo and more.
We’ll have a nice roundup of local food trucks including Breakfast & Beyond and Ko Kyu, as well as Yee Haw Doughnuts. Our staff and volunteers will be serving up cold brews from Carolina Brewery, sangria from Fair Game Beverage Company, and cider from our new friends, Chatham Cider Works.
Bring the whole family (kids 12 and under get in free) and camp out under the stars! All profits from the event go directly to the Shakori Hills Community Arts Center to help advance our mission in the community.
NC Stars in the Round
Shakori Hills
1439 Henderson Tanyard Road
Pittsboro, NC 27312
Doors – 4pm, Music – 7pm
$12 in advance / $17 at gate (kids 12 and under free)
$10 to camp (up to 1 car and 2 tents)
Sponsors for the event include: Carolina Brewery, Fair Game Beverage Company, Griffin Contracting, Music Maker Relief Foundation, South of Cool Sound Productions, Shakori Hills Community Arts Center, Shakori Hills GrassRoots Festival of Music & Dance, and Universal Printing. If you are interested in becoming a sponsor of this event, please email shakorihills@grassrootfest.org or call 919-542-8142.
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Our Spring 2017 Poster!
We’re loving our sunny, beautiful poster design this spring! Please feel free to share this image wherever you think folks might need it!
Happy Solstice
(a note from the GrassRoots Team)
As we land on the shortest day of the year and winter officially begins we see 2016 coming to a close, we’re grateful and ready for a bright new year! As we contemplate this year and look inside our hearts we find our new year pledge to you – to create more beauty, more magic, more love, more community.
We want to assure all of you that we’re here for you, and in the midst of worldly challenge and change we’re going to keep doing what we do– celebrating the beauty in life, bringing amazing music to our stages, creating a space for connection, getting you outside among the big sky and the brilliant trees, putting down dance floors so you can shake it out, shake it off and remember what fuels you, what feeds you.
We couldn’t do what we do without you and we thank you, you inspire us, you keep us going and we want to help keep you going, keep you feeling the love, seeing the beauty and moving to the music. From the bottom of our hearts we wish you a very happy holiday and an inspiring new year, see you in 2017!
GrassRoots Needs You
Yesterday was one of the most hectic, nerve-racking, and yet most beautiful days I’ve ever seen at Shakori Hills! The morning began with a group of us in the main office deciding what the best plan of action would be to get our fesival-goers and ourselves through what Hurricane Matthew was going to throw at us. We’d been watching the weather, and could tell that we’d mostly just get wind and rain, but how much of each was unclear. We tightened the tents and went on the lookout for any danger that could occur. We thought about getting some generators, and we spoke to our scheduled bands. Once we saw that the conditions weren’t unlike some we’ve had in the past, we decided to move ahead with a schedule shift. We were still able to have most of the planned bands play.
As I left the office and joined the attendees outside, I saw an amazing group of folks still loving everything about the festival. Lots of folks still here, a good amount of them were families! I saw kids huddled on one side of the Coffee Barn making fairy wands and having a Craft Bazaar. On the other side, an old-time band had gathered and was growing in a cozy jam circle. Our food vendors were selling breakfast/lunch, and the coffee and cider were flowing. Folks were smiling, the festival joy was still there. My tension eased a bit, and I began to feel festival magic again.
Late afternoon in the Dance Tent, Darlingside (a band that’s never played with us before) didn’t let the rain get them down and sang enchanting harmonies to a packed house. Later, Béla Fleck and Abigail Washburn blew us all away with their banjo majesty, their patience, and the sweetness with which they lifted us all. Our Miami bands who braved the storm and drove up in its path to be here had great shows as well!
Friends, this has been a rough festival. It will take us all a while to get back on our feet after this fall. Many folks decided not to come (understandably) because of the storm’s possibilities, ticket sales were at an all-time low. Our crew came together yesterday in an amazing way to make it so the folks still here would get an experience they’d never forget. Now, we need to ask for your help. Here are three good and easy ways:
- Come join us today! It’s a beautiful fall day, and we have an amazing lineup! Everything is going forward like normal. The grounds are not super muddy, and should dry up as the sun warms them. Our vendors are selling yummy food and very cool crafts. Come, bring the family and friends, and support our community. GET SUNDAY TICKETS HERE.
- Give a tax deductible donation to the Shakori Hills Community Arts Center! Give in multiples of $10 (every little bit helps). The money will initially go directly toward Shakori Hills festival expenses. CHOOSE YOUR DONATION HERE.
- Get a Dream Team Membership! This, for the bargain price of $1000 gets you 10 4-day passes to any GrassRoots Festival; a Lifetime All-Access Lanyard for you and a friend to get backstage at all of the festivals, meet the bands, and enjoy backstage hospitality; and a $50 coupon to our GrassRoots Store (festival shirts, mugs, etc). These passes really help us get to the next festival and plan for more incredible music and moments for all of us to experience! GET YOUR DREAM TEAM MEMBERSHIP HERE.
Also, we did have a rough time here in NC, but one thing to really keep in mind is that there are always folks who are worse off who need our help. Haiti was hit straight-on by Matthew, many lost lives and the repair will take a long time. Think about sending help there as well. Here’s one way that we have found: The Lambi Fund of Haiti.
Thank you all from the bottom of our hearts. We have always needed you, but we need you now more than ever. We hope to stick around for as long as possible for moments like these, and for many more. Stay tuned for more opportunities to help.
UPDATE: We have a fundraising platform! Check out our FUNDRAZR! And thanks again.
Peace,
Sara
Sara Waters
Shakori Hills GrassRoots Festival Co-Coordinator
Fall Festival T-Shirts
Here’s a preview of our festival shirts for the fall! There will be more color available, in all sizes. Thanks to Alma, our designer, and Planet Love who printed them! Get ’em while we’ve got ’em in the Merch Tent in the Meadow!
What You Haven’t Heard – 7th Edition
What I love most about the festival is watching you. I love seeing the different folks that come to the festival; all ages, experienced veterans, festival babies, international music fans, couples, families, artists, teenagers – everyone here finding what they love. I love watching you meeting each other and sharing your time, your talents, your interests and helping each other out. I also love to watch you discover new music. The festival’s biggest goal – music-wise – is to make sure to stretch you and your tastes, to take you outside of the norm and remind you how much music and art is out there that’s not always available elsewhere. Here are some bands that I’m excited to watch you discover, mostly because I enjoyed discovering them, myself. I think you’ll enjoy…
Awalom Gebremariam
Our friends at Music Maker Relief Foundation introduced me to this singer and multi-instrumentalist from Eritrea. Gebremariam came to NC. after a lengthy journey from Eritrea to a refugee camp in Ethiopia. In 2007, before leaving his hometown, the Eritrean capital of Asmara, he recorded his album, Desdes. However, over the course of his long, complicated journey, he never received any of the money for his cassette and CD sales, and he never knew how much of a splash his music had made.
Through an interesting turn of events, a traveler friend of the label Awesome Tapes From Africa heard the album on a trip to Eritrea (where everyone was playing it), and told them about it. The label liked it so much, they posted a blog about it and a NC agency that aids asylum-seekers – and who knew Awalom – saw the post, and connected the label with the artist. Now they are working together to bring his music to the masses.
We’re looking forward to having him here and continuting the story. Sadly, I couldn’t find any live videos, but here’s something to give you a taste.
Awalom Gebremariam — Eritreana
Darlingside
At first I was calling these guys “our next Mumford & Sons,” but soon realized that while they have some of the folkiness from M&S’s first two albums, and the sweet, earnest lyrics, they are much closer to Simon and Garfunkel or Crosby, Still, Nash & Young. They have great harmonies, they’re what the band is built on, and their songs take you on a journey. You get lost in the a cappella blends, get swept away on a job interview with a sword fighting guy “who looks like Harrison Ford,” and wake up 3 minutes later feeling like a lot more just happened than a song. They’re young, and honestly pretty dorky, in a good, if-you-love-Frodo-Baggins kind of way. It’ll be a perfect way to bring Saturday daylight to a close.
Darlingside – Go Back
Mariachi Flor de Toloache
Latin Grammy Nominee Mariachi Flor de Toloache is the first and only established all female mariachi band in New York City. I first saw them in a Tiny Desk Concert video after they approached the festival about playing. Seemed perfect for us. Women-powered, culture-filled roots music, I was in!
As their website states: “They coalesce as would a band of sisters, with a grace and vibrant beauty that casts a spell over their audiences not unlike the legendary Toloache flower still being used in Mexico as a love potion. While working to preserve centuries old traditions of Mariachi, their melange of the traditional and the modern pushes the boundaries of the genre and brings Mariachi music to new audiences.”
So, you should probably just go see them in the Grove on Thursday night….
Mariachi Flor de Toloache – Guadalajara
Have so much fun, I hope to see you out there!
Love & Peace,
Sara Waters
Co-Coordinator
Shakori Hills GrassRoots Festival of Music & Dance
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