More Than a Festival: Dawnland is a Gathering of Hearts, Art, Stories, and Ideas
The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by The Witham Family Hotels Charitable Fund.
BAR HARBOR—Corinna Francis traveled approximately three hours to attend the Dawnland Festival of Arts and Ideas.
The cost to attend a festival and sell her jewelry is a lot when it’s a multi-day event. The artist, like Francis, has to pay for gas, a hotel room, food, and tolls if there are any. Then they worry—will it be worth it? Will people come?
This weekend, Francis said, it was definitely worth it.
She made everything on the table herself. Every bead placed, every wire wound. All the jewelry made with precision and care.
“Everything?”
“Everything.”
It’s so much work and craft and art and skill all combined.
The festival is a celebration of that skill, exemplified in the artisans like Francis, in the performers and tellers of narratives, in the presenters discussing the world and our places within it.
In the performance portion of the big tent, Cipelahq Ehpicik (Wabanaki) drummed and sang. When asked to, people who could stood out of respect. Legs moved, cheers followed.
According to the Abbe, “Cipelahq Ehpicik drum and sing for the people as a way to heal and a way to stay connected to their ancestors. Barbara Paul, the lead for the group says, ‘The drum is the heartbeat of our people.’”
Outside a girl who had been playing tripped on a tree root, fell flat, arms splayed, and wailed for her mother, who came quickly from the tent and lifted her little girl into her arms.
“What happened?” her mother cooed.
When she was able to stop sobbing, she said, “I tripped on a root. On a root. I tripped.”
“It’s okay. You’re okay.”
A little boy watched, taking it all in, before heading toward a white birch. He stared up into its limbs toward the blue sky.
The festival is about the performances and the arts and the ideas, but it’s also about moments where people interact, where they witness, and where they connect.
Inside the tent, someone bought jewelry. Inside the tent, someone kissed a puppy. Inside the tent, Acadia National Park rangers talked to Eldon Hanning (Mi’kmaq Nation) before they headed to a panel. Hanning turned to someone else who’d been waiting.
“Here,” Hanning said, quickly whittling a piece of ash. “This is for you.”
“For me?”
“I don’t have a credit card. I—”
“For free.”
And he demonstrated how to use it, whacking it against his hand. The sound echoed and quieted, loud and then soft. Where you hit, how hard you hit, it made a different music.
“You’re going to make me cry.”
“Why?”
“Because you are kind.”
He scoffed.
People gathered around tables or sat on the grass; they meandered through the aisles between the artists. They exclaimed over babies, kissed the heads of dogs, and even gave gentle hugs. Sometimes they hugged strangers.
Volunteers pointed to children in the back row during a performance by Ty Defoe (Ojibwe + Oneida Nation). They were completely involved, hollering on cue, wiggling with the music, feet tapping on the grass. Enraptured.
Behind them, another volunteer smiled and put a hand on their heart. In front of them, Defoe wowed, but the children’s reactions? That wowed, too.
At the festival this past weekend, stories were told, but stories were also made. Ideas exchanged, craft exclaimed over, people wowed.
The Abbe Museum’s mission is “to illuminate and advance greater understanding of and support for Wabanaki Nations’ heritage, living cultures, and homelands.”
That’s done through a combination of events, exhibits within its museum on Mount Desert Street, and moments like these at an annual festival. Moments make stories and make lifetimes. And the moments? They matter.
Photos: Carrie Jones/Shaun Farrar/Bar Harbor Story
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