GILA RIVER EXTRAVAGANZA
Saturday, September 24, 3:00 pm – 10:00 pm
Yankie & Texas Streets, Downtown Silver City
FREE
Featuring:
Dance of the Mountain Spirits by Fort Sill Apache Fire Dancers with the Gooday Family
Spoken Word Poetry by Hakim Bellamy, Colin Diles Hazelbaker, Sam Castello, A. Billi Free & Tony Russ
Music by The Average Cadaver, Bayou Seco & The Roadrunners
Parade and Fun by Monsoon Puppet Theater and Fort Sill Apache Fire Dancers
Murray Hotel Video Projections by Chris Theulen
Kick off the Gila River Extravaganza with a special Monsoon Puppet Theater parade featuring the Fort Sill Apache Fire Dancers and Monsoon Puppets.
To help you get in the spirit, we’ll do face painting, and mask and puppet making with all materials provided at 3:00 at Bikeworks on the corner of College and Bullard.
At 4:00, we’ll line up at Bikeworks for the parade down Bullard Street. Show off your painted faces, puppets, and masks!
When the parade ends at Yankie and Texas, the party continues with more kid- and family-centered fun in the street from 4:30-10:00. Food vendors and light refreshments provided by the Silver City Food Co-op and Gila Conservation Coalition will be available.
Dance to live music by Silver City’s own great musicians: The Average Cadaver, Bayou Seco, and The Roadrunners. We’ll teach simple folk dances for Bayou Seco’s music, and you’re on your own for the other bands!
Wait until dark for a visual and aural feast for the senses. Beginning about 8:00, listen to inspiring spoken word performances by Hakim Bellamy, Albuquerque’s inaugural poet laureate, accompanied by Albuquerque musician and producer Colin Diles Hazelbaker. Local poets, Sam Castello, Tony Russ, and A Billi Free will add their amazing verse and voices to the mix.
Complementing the performances, projected on the Murray Hotel will be striking images and videos from a number of local videographers and photographers and produced by filmmaker Chris Theulen.
DANCE OF THE MOUNTAIN SPIRITS
Fort Sill Apache Fire Dancers with the Gooday Family
Saturday, September 24, 9 pm FREE
Yankie & Texas Streets, Downtown Silver City
The Gila Extravaganza closes with the Dance of the Mountain Spirits performed by the Fort Sill Apache Fire Dancers with the Gooday Family. This dance is performed by the Fort Sill Apache Tribe annually and at sacred occasions to drive away sickness and evil and bring good health and good fortune. The Fire Dancers are a traditional group and rarely perform for the public.