12th Annual Pocumtuck Homelands Festival:

August 2 and 3, 12th Annual Pocumtuck Homelands Festival: A Celebration of Native American Art, Music, and Cultures, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. In the spirit of the Pocumtuck whose homelands we occupy, we created this intertribal event at what was once called Great Falls to echo the spirit of past gatherings. For millennia people from all over the Northeast gathered at the falls annually to share the prolific harvests of fish runs, and to trade, share technology, find spouses, celebrate, and more. All disputes were left behind and this was a place of truce, cooperation, diplomacy, and reciprocity. This year we will welcome Mohawk Elder Tom Porter, Nipmuck flute player Hawk Henries, Mohawk singer Theresa Bear Fox, Abenaki singer-songwriter Bryan Blanchette, Wampanoag artist and performer Annawon Weeden to lead social dancing, the intertribal Iron River Singers, and Pua Aliʻi ʻIlima o Nuioka, a wonderful Hawaiian dance ensemble, on Sunday only. We have about 40 outstanding Indigenous artists in a colorful and diverse marketplace that extends the full length of the riverside bike path on both sides.  Among our food vendors will be Sherry Pocknett, Mashpee Wampanoag James Beard prize-winning chef. Kitty Hendricks-Miller, a Mashpee Wampanoag educator who appeared as herself in PBS’s “Molly From Denali” will have a special children’s craft activity at her tent. We will have history talks and children's activities. We attract about 6000 people of all ages and backgrounds. It is a wonderful, uplifting event people look forward to every year.