The sun came out this weekend in Sackville and we were freed from the burdens and the weight of heavy coats and tall boots. And as winter turns its last cold shoulder and departs we take another happy step toward our reconvening, our coming together in the "still surprisingly annual" gathering we call Sappyfest.
This is an important moment! This moment of making plans, of deciding to come together, here, in this way, with kind and open hearts: volunteers, organizers, participating artists, the full community of active listeners, those who cook and those who clothe and those who build. When so many things would keep us apart, we choose to come together; when so much of the world is defined by anger, we choose to welcome each other. To make a plan is to claim a hope for the future.
We have been making plans! This year we are are thrilled to welcome some of the most exciting and celebrated artists at work today. We welcome artists who moved us with their music at the first note, and for who celebration will surely come. We welcome poets and storytellers, thinkers and dancers. And of course we welcome back old friends, some who we haven’t seen in far too long a time, with new songs to sing, new stories to tell.
Sappyfest 13 will include musical performances from U.S Girls, Bonjay, Julie and The Wrong Guys, Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, Jeremy Dutcher, Jennifer Castle, The Burning Hell, Special Costello, Witch Prophet, Whoop-Szo, and BA Johnston, and a reading from poet and essayist (and former Sappy Times correspondent) Emma Healey. You can find out more about all these artists on our 2018 Line Up page.
And remember, this is just the start! We have so much more to tell you!
Sappyfest 13, August 3-5, 2018, Sackville, NB.