Dancing and playing drums on summer’s longest day heals the soul, says the creator of the Fourth Annual SolstiCelebration.
The free drum and dance festival is set for June 21-23 at White Rock Lake Park to raise funds for the park’s infrastructure. Entertainment includes a performance by the anthropology-rock band Ooga Booga, circle dance and drumming workshops and several speakers.
The event initially was held in a Deep Ellum club to celebrate the coming of summer with poetry and drums, says neighborhood resident and SolstiCelebration founder Amy Martin.
“I’ve always liked holidays that are life-affirming,” says Martin, who has worked as a Dallas-area freelance writer for 15 years.
This will be the second year the event is held at White Rock Lake. Last year, Martin says 3,000 people turned out for the occasion, more than seven times the prior year’s turnout, partly to celebrate the successful White Rock Lake bond issue.
“It was unofficially selected as the official victory party for the lake,” says Martin.
But the bond didn’t allot money to repair the park’s infrastructure, which caters to numerous annual charity races and events, so Martin decided proceeds from this year’s festival will benefit general upkeep of the lake.
“Making money was never my main objective, but now I’m making it into a fund-raiser,” Martin says.
An interesting element of the festival includes a dance where women and their newborns, along with pregnant women, dance on the stage “celebrating the bounty of life on earth,” Martin says.
“There was a real connectiveness between all of the people there,” says Alma Hedrick, a neighborhood artist who attended last year’s celebration.
“It is wonderful to have the solstices honored like that,” Hedrick says.
Businesses are contributing funds for the festival, with 50 percent of profits going to the Dallas Park & Recreation Department and 50 percent going to the White Rock Lake Foundation.
Among neighborhood business sponsors are Terilli’s restaurant, Splendor in the Grass, and Charles Lynn One-Hour Photo and Portrait Studio.
For more information, contact Amy Martin at 320-3851.
