Dozens of vendors turned out to share their wares alongside many cooperating and collocated environmental groups focused on protecting the environment and improving understanding of Greenbelters’ place within the local ecology, as part of the 14th Annual Green Man Festival held at Roosevelt Center on Saturday and Sunday, May 12 and 13. A community drum circle and opening ceremony kicked off the festival, with a parade led by the vinebedecked men of the Beloved Order of the Green Man.
Several musical groups performed on Saturday, including Kiva, Susan Jones and the Circadian Rhythm Section and Ayreheart. On Sunday, a light mist encouraged the musicians to move inside the New Deal Café in the afternoon, with acts including Katy Gaughan World Drums, the Homespun Ceilidh Band, Lea, the Bachelor and the Bad Actress, and Global Warming.
The many vendors included artisans working with glass, leather, cloth, pottery, food, wood, metal, beads and even a tatter who demonstrated the fine art of knotting string into intricate patterns. Volunteers with several Greenbelt environmental groups worked hard both days to share information with festival goers. The Greenbelt Forest Stewardship Project presented information about the maglev train, including a map of the proposed route that would threaten Greenbelt’s protected forest. The Zero Waste Initiative displayed different types of composting, including vermi- and hot composting. A beekeeper with live bees imparted knowledge to curious and cautious passersby. Children made fairy gardens, a fun craft that involves kids in getting their hands dirty with plants and soil. Inside the New Deal Café, the Green Man art show demonstrated the wealth of Greenbelt artists who were moved to create work inspired by this year’s Green Man theme: soil. Mike McMullin helped folks on Saturday work together to paint a large wooden peace symbol as a community site painting, which was hanging on the wall inside the Café by Sunday.
For more on this story, click here.