Crowds roamed the National Mall to celebrate the first weekend of the Festival and Smithsonian Solstice Saturday, with activities inside and out of the museums into the late night.
Taking shelter in the shade of the trees, visitors enjoyed workshops, talkbacks, and demonstrations. We learned about mushrooms and foraging at an Earth Optimism Stories session and checked out mushroom arrangements. Local Motion Project led a dance workshop inspired by the Three Sisters Garden, and Festival Foodways celebrated UAE participant Aisha Alobadliy’s birthday! Wanderers learned about celestial navigation and smelled different fragrances along the Story Majlis. The night came to a close with a lively musical tribute to the beloved Puerto Rican musician Tito Matos.
Calligrapher Mohammed Mandi painted Arabic calligraphy on his wall in the Story Majlis. The calligraphy references the “thousand-mile journey” that has just started.
Photo by Josh Weilepp, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
Chef Iulian Fortu started his chanterelle dumplings by rolling out dough in the Festival Foodways kitchen.
Photo by Sonya Pencheva, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
Local artists from Soul & Ink shared their silk-screening skills in the Wavelength activity area, printing whale-inspired origami paper.
Photo by Phillip Lee, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
Pearl singers lifted the sails on their traditional boat.
Photo by Aaron Crabtree, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
Visitors learned about traditional tapestry weaving in the House of Creativity.
Photo by Aaron Crabtree, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
Panelists at the Earth Optimism × Folklife Studio session “Fiber and Fashion: Green Is the New Black” spoke to a crowd of visitors.
Photo by Sonya Pencheva, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
A visitor got caught up in a fishing net while learning about conservation at the Earth Optimism × Folklife tents.
Photo by Stanley Turk, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
Emiratis in the Maritime Crafts tent wove fishing net in the traditional style, although fishermen no longer use large nets, in an effort to responsibly sustain sea life.
Photo by Aaron Crabtree, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
During the tribute to plenero Tito Matos, the National Mall transformed into a dance floor for our largest evening concert crowd so far. Dancer Julia Gutiérrez-Rivera with Los Pleneros de la 21 led the way.
Photo by Josh Weilepp, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
Los Pleneros de la Cresta continued the dance party into dusk.
Photo by Josh Weilepp, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
The afternoon will close with a special preview performance of the 2023 Folklife Festival The Ozarks: Faces and Facets of a Region at 4 p.m. in the Folklife Studio.
Annabella Hoge is the 2022 Folklife Festival media intern, and Elisa Hough is the editor at the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. Together they are Team Top Ten.
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