Sunday, April 14, 2013

Maps and Lists at our DSWAC Festivals

Rocktoberfest 2007

For nearly a decade we have run our annual Dry Stone Wall Festival here in Canada. There are plenty of posts on this blog about several of those festivals which you can find by using the Search button.




Originally named the 'Northumberland Dry Stone Wall Festival', when we held it in Port Hope Ontario, this event got much bigger and we moved the venue further afield and it morphed into 'Canadian Dry Stone Wall Festival' and then 'Rocktoberfest'. Last year the 'Festival of Stone', as it is now called, was held near Montreal. The festival draws stone artists, skilled masons and professional wallers from all over the world.


Rocktoberfest 2009

As in previous years, Rocktoberfest 2009 not only had several special walling projects continuously on the go, it also had live music, great food, special presentations, art displays, kids events and several trade booths . One of the booths showcased (with maps and printed articles) most of the Canadian wallers we were aware of at that time. Participants at the event were invited to leave their portfolios and show photos of their work. Dry Stone Walling Across Canada promoted these men and women not only based on their skill but their ability to get along with others and their eagerness to advance the cause of walling in Canada in a noncompetitive way.





This year the Festival of Stone will NOT be held, as has been for the last nine years on our Canadian Thanksgiving in October. Instead it will be held in June. 

The event is being organized and run by a newly incorporated  dry stone walling group here in Canada which has an elected board and is comprised of wallers and enthusiasts who still share the same vision of cooperation.

I support their effort and hope to be there myself running a tiny-hands-on walling project with some of the children attending the festival with their parents.

Check back here soon for news of where and when the festival will be held.