Louis Campbell: The Gathering
Children brought in the harvest of local fruit, vegetables and eggs. Children and families played, danced and were unafraid and accepting of others who are different. All ages, races and sexes, disabled and well, all dancing in circle. Stunned by the exquisite. They beheld an elevated state of Thanksgiving and humanity. Each trading post vendor and living history exhibitor had to to incorporate a teachable moment into their booths. Storytellers. Authors. Fishing. Swimming. Life-sustaining. Lifesaving. Homesteading. Fair Trade. Flint napping. Soil. Hides. Bee honey. Natural medicine. Survival. “Community came together,” said René Locklear White executive director for The Gathering. “The entire event became an educational fantasia.” Among the first to Let the Spirit of The Gathering catch them was Kim Ragland.
Indian fry-bread was a must! Local restaurant owner Kim Ragland owner of Boyd’s Nest Family Restaurant in Berryville, and hobby food anthropologist, not only volunteered to learn how to prepare Indian fry-bread, she went the extra mile to plant the seed to grow the food to feed the people. She studied and perfected three sisters stew of corn, beans and squash flavored with indigenous sun chokes and served it up with homemade smoked turkey & salmon tacos.
Individuals and organizations adopted Indian dancers. Local residents opened their homes to dancers and attendees, people they did not know. Close to 5,000 people of all colors, races, religions, economic backgrounds attended.
More than $25,000 of the money raised was given forward to dancers and singers for gas, food and hotels, to first responders, volunteers and sound recording. The event audio is recorded for the next seven generations.
“The power of what we can create becomes unlimited. Because we came together. Believed,” said Sue Peoples elder’s council member and co-education director for Kidz Harvest Fest. “The Gathering is a colorful tapestry of unity. Great things happened. And can happen again.” Grassroots Community Organizations across the Nation like Sanctuary on the Trail, encourage others to embrace Native American Indian People like Louis Campbell& participate in new Possibilities within your community, like the Gathering, the homecoming in Humanity Individuals interested in investing in the vibrant work being done in communities by Sanctuary on the Trail™ can give forward. Contact is info4TheGathering@Gmail.com HarvestGathering.org, SanctuaryontheTrail.org and vlgs.org.
The Sanctuary on the Trail is a non-profit 501(c)3 Native American Church of Virginia and the Virginia Lovers’ Gourd Society (VLGS) is an educational non-profit & delta chapter of the American Gourd Society.
There are 26 chapters of the American Gourd Society in the United States.
