22 June 2012

Who's the SummerFaire-est of them All?

This Saturday, June 23, from 9am-2pm Portland Revels will be holding a special free performance at the southend of the PSU Market, plus processions through the market at 9am and 1:20pm. Portland Revels celebrates the seasons through song, dance, story and ritual of the past and present, creating community across generations and cultures. Their SummerFaire celebration at the market this weekend will be in honor of the Summer Solstice.

Event details courtesy of Portland Revels:

The revelry

Portland Revels’ new free public event in honor of the Summer Solstice will bookend our successful Christmas Revels performances honoring the Winter Solstice now in their 18th year in Portland. We’ll be at the PSU Farmer’s Market from 9am to 2pm on Saturday, June 23rd, the closest Saturday to the June 21 Summer Solstice.

Our mission is to celebrate the seasons in community with traditions and the performing arts, so we’ve invited some wonderful performers to grace our main stage, and we’ll have smaller acts “on the green,” as well as cultural groups, storytelling, and kids activities on the block next to – and in – the lively public venue of the PSU Farmer’s Market. Since many of the seasonal folk arts traditions that Revels preserves and showcases arose in the context of the agricultural cycle of planting and harvesting and small village life, basing this new celebration in the Farmer’s Market seems like coming home.

At 9:00am we’ll sally forth with banners flying and voices lifted in our opening procession to greet the morning. Then folks can enjoy performances on the mainstage and on the green until our 1:20pm closing procession.

Main stage guest performers include:

ViVoce Singers
The Oregon Chorale
Indonesian Performing Arts of Oregon.
The Portland Peace Choir
Yiddish Republik
Original Practice Shakespeare
Bollywood Movez
Inspirational Sounds from Latin America
NW Conservatory of Dance
The Tir Eoghain Dancers

On the green we’ll enjoy:

Renegade Rose Morris team
Maldon Meehan and her Sean Nos Irish Dancers
The Wild Rose Garland Dancers
Costumed rustics
Storytellers from the Portland Storytellers Guild

A happy reveler

We’ll have volunteer hosts offering hands-on fun workshops about the solstice, the seasons, and arts and folk traditions to engage and educate for children and families. And we are hosting cultural and ethnic organizations from around the world to share their home traditions about the Solstice, the sun, and the seasons.  Please join us!