Dogwood Alliance’s 2nd Annual Woods & Wilds Storytelling and Music Festival at the Salvage Station was magical!
Storytellers, musicians, artists, performers, and people from around the region showed up to celebrate and to protect our Southern forests.
The beautiful decorations from Flora set the scene for us to be transported to the wild places inside ourselves.
Storytellers like Lianna Costantino of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma moved us. She told us of the birth of disease and medicine, of the trauma of the Cherokee people past down across the generations, and of her experience walking the Trail of Tears with an Elder.
To ground and center us, we took outdoor yoga classes with Inner Wild Yoga and Inspired Change Yoga.
Our partners from LEAF Community Arts infused the festival with an artistic spirit by working with kids and adults alike to create.
Our friends at WNC Nature Center brought along their Ambassa-Tortoise and shared their knowledge and experiences of the creatures who inhabit our Southern forests.
We built up quite an appetite and munched on the cookies made from foraged acorns that Glorious Forest provided free of charge.
The Faerie Kin with their stiltwalkers, winged creatures, and music makers brought the magic of the forest to life with their performance!
We enjoyed the beautiful weather and each other’s company for many hours.
We also got down with unforgettable live music! The bluegrass, Americana band Sherri Lynn & Mountain Friends kicked off the performances.
The ensemble band Dub Kartel added a festive reggae flavor to the night.
Then The Threadbare Skivvies alternately crooned to us with soulful lyrics and got us stomping and clapping with their banjo playing and funky beats.
The Get Right Band got us to our feet with their rock-infused, catchy harmonies.
LYRIC closed out the night with their powerful performance and their reminder to us that together we can make a difference in the world, if we stand together.
A big thank you to all our sponsors!
We couldn’t have had such an amazing day without: RISC Networks, Terrapin Beer Co, Asheville Grit, Diamond Brand Outdoors, Larry’s Coffee, Earth Equity Advisors, Asheville T-Shirt Company, Foot RX, Inner Wild Yoga, and French Broad Chocolates!
A big thank you to all our partners!
WNC Nature Center, LEAF Community Arts, Inspired Change Yoga, Asheville Farmstead School, Glorious Forest, The Block Off Biltmore, 350 Asheville, Flora, WNC Renewables Coalition, Keep Knoxville Beautiful, Sierra Club of WNC, Indivisible WNC, Community Roots, and Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League: we so admire everything you do and all the work they put into this festival
And lastly a big thank you to everyone who came out!
You are the heart and soul of the forest protection movement. You inspire us each and every day to keep standing with our forests and standing with the people of the South!