Summer Solstice Indigenous Festival - June 21-June 23, 2024

You do not need to register to attend the festival unless you would like to purchase a workshop, culinary or EAL experience. Spaces are limited for these programs, so we recommend that you purchase your ticket well in advance. Tickets purchased for these programs are non-refundable.

There is NO PUBLIC PARKING on site during the weekend festival. We have free shuttles running from Algonquin College for the duration of the festival. You do not need to register for the shuttle. Alternatively, you can get dropped off at the gate or take a taxi to the festival grounds. Parking is NOT allowed on West Hunt Club Road.

For more information about the shuttles, visit our website; https://summersolsticefestivals.ca/festival-info/#transportation

Summer Solstice Indigenous Festival Workshops and Experiences

Friday June 21

1:00 & 6:00pm – Longtable Feast with Chef Tawnya Brant and special performance by Logan Staats. (Pre-registration, limited spaces.)

1:00 & 6:00pm - Algonquin Language Bingo (no pre-registration required.)

2:00 pm - Bougie Birch Dreamcatcher Workshop (Pre-registration, limited spaces.)

2:00pm & 5:00pm - EAL Experiences with Rhonda Snow & the Ojibwe Spirit Horses (Pre-registration, limited spaces.)

3:00pm - Pow Wow Live Drawing by National Art Centre (Pre-registration, limited spaces.)

4:00pm - Quillwork Workshop by National Gallery of Canada (Pre-registration, limited spaces.)

Saturday June 22

10:30 & 4:00 - EAL Experiences with Rhonda Snow & the Ojibwe Spirit Horses (Pre-registration, limited spaces.)

10:30 am - Blanket Exercise with Elaine Kicknosoway (Pre-registration, limited spaces.)

1:00 pm - Hair Pipe Beaded Bracelet by National Gallery of Canada (Pre-registration, limited spaces.)

2:00 & 4:30 pm - Cooking Workshop with Chef Trudy Metcalfe-Coe (Pre-registration, limited spaces.)

3:00 pm - Bougie Birch Dreamcatcher Workshop (Pre-registration, limited spaces.)

4:00pm - Beading Workshop

7:00 pm - Indigenous Trivia Night with National Art Centre (no pre-registration required.)

Sunday June 23

10:30 & 4:00 - EAL Experiences with Rhonda Snow & the Ojibwe Spirit Horses (Pre-registration, limited spaces.)

10:30 am - Blanket Exercise with Elaine Kicknosoway (Pre-registration, limited spaces.)

1:00 pm - Hair Pipe Beaded Bracelet by National Gallery of Canada (Pre-registration, limited spaces.)

2:00 & 4:30 pm - Cooking Workshop with Chef Tawnya Brant (Pre-registration, limited spaces.)

3:00 pm - Beading Workshop

4:00 pm Bougie Birch Dreamcatcher Workshop (Pre-registration, limited spaces.)

LONGTABLE FEAST by CHEF TAWNYA BRANT Featuring live performance by LOGAN STAATS

Two sessions are available, lunch at 1 PM and dinner at 6 PM. Registration required

You are invited to join us for an amazing Indigenous dining experience at Chef Tawnya Brant’s Long table feast Featuring a Live Performance by Logan Staats. Chef Tawnya Brant of Six Nations of the Grand River Territory competed on Season 10 of Top Chef Canada. Mohawk folk and soul musician Logan Staats began as a diamond in the rough on the streets of Brantford, Ontario, gaining commercial success and touring across North America and Europe. He’s making road trippin’ music for those travelling ‘the red road’; a path towards reconnecting and relearning indigenous ways.

The featured meal will include:

· Woodlands salad with blueberry sweetgrass vinaigrette

· Bluecorn Scone with forged greens compound butter

· Juniper & ramp braised bison with gravy, wild garlic two row Potato pave & sauteed seasoned asparagus & green beans

· Strawberry shortcake with a vanilla chantilly and strawberry gastric

· Served with Zibbins Nibi cedar infused waters, fresh strawberry juice, coffee & tea

Culinary Workshops Hosted by Indigenous Tourism Ontario

Join Indigenous chefs with your own culinary station to prepare fresh, family friendly Indigenous Foods. Registration required

All ages – ages under 8 require adult supervision.

1 hour, $100 per station/group (You can up to 4 people at your station/in your group at your personal station with no other guests)

Chef Trudy Metcalfe-Coe / Saturday at 2:00 & 4:30 pm

Chef Trudy Metcalfe Coe, is an award winning Inuk Chef, originally from Newfoundland and Labrador. In this interactive cooking workshop, Trudy will lead the group to prepare a popular meal from the North in new ways with blackened arctic char, pan fried potatoes and corn with a sage butter.

Chef Tawnya Brant / Sunday at 2:00 & 4:30 pm

Tawnya Brant is the chef and owner of Yawékon Foods, a restaurant in Ohsweken that provides Haudenosaunee fusion cuisine. Tawyna will led the group in preparing a traditional strawberry dessert.

Quillwork Workshop by The National Gallery of Canada with Christine Toulouse

Ages 12+, 1 hour, $40 includes material including birch bark & porcupine quills.Registration required

Join Christine Toulouse, a First Nations artist, for a one-hour quillwork workshop. You'll learn how to craft a one-of-a-kind keychain keepsake using seasonally hand-harvested birch bark and porcupine quills. Christine meticulously hand-harvests and processes natural materials, emphasizing the significance of quillwork as a transformative journey for learning, healing, growth, and sharing. Her work has garnered attention both locally and internationally.

Hair Pipe Beaded Bracelets by The National Gallery of Canada with Ashley-Rose Machendagoos

Ages 15+, 2 hours, $20 includes materials. Registration required

Hair-pipe beads are long cylinder-shaped beads typically made from bones. They have a long history with Indigenous people, as far back as the late 1800’s. These bone beads were first used as trading beads but as manufacturing them became easier and the beads were more readily available in bulk, Indigenous people began using them in their regalia’s, and examples of such are seen even today in both contemporary and traditional styles of beadwork.

Dreamcatcher Workshop with Bougie Birch

Ages 5+, 45 minutes-1 hour, $20 each. Registration required.

The Dreamcatcher Kit includes 18 glass crow beads, suede, a 4" metal ring, 18 real feathers, artificial sinew, and instructions for a unique, hands-on experience. It features a handmade center bead with the four sacred medicines and an information card to educate users about the cultural significance of dreamcatchers.

Pow Wow Live Drawing by The National Art Centre with Sarah Marie Lacy

2 hours, Free but registration required.

Come join us for this two-hour life-drawing session where you can capture the dynamic beauty of powwow dances and their regalia on your own paper. Participants will bring their own material and work with art facilitators to create drawings that capture both the movement of the dancers and their regalia.

Suitable intermediate to advanced artists. Bring your favourite materials along to participate or supplies will be offered to those that do not have any on hand.

EAL Experiences with Rhonda Snow & the Ojibwe Spirit Horses

Ages 5+, 1 hour, $20 per person. Registration required.

Join Rhonda Snow for an interactive EAL experience with the Ojibwe spirit ponies. Rhonda is not only a certified EAL facilitator, but a knowledge keeper and renowned artist bringing the stories of this rare and endangered breed of pony to life. During this experience, you will learn about the powerful stallion “Tony the Rainy Lake Pony” who lived on the island and in the bush for 40 plus years. Come and learn what it was like for these ponies long ago and share a story of resilience as you travel the “trail” together with your pony and imagine what it felt like to fight off wolves and listen to the loons and learn when all things wild are connected.

Algonquin Language Bingo with Samantha Tenasco

Free no registration required.

A fun game for all ages where participants follow along with the host, learning Algonquin language for all the letters and numbers to call out BINGO! One hour of fun Bingo games with many winners with choice of prizes.

Blanket Exercise with Elaine Kicknosoway

Ages 15+, 1 hour, Free Registration required.

The Blanket Exercise is based on Indigenous methodologies and the goal is to build understanding about our shared history as Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in Canada by walking through pre-contact, treaty-making, colonization and resistance. Everyone is actively involved as they step onto blankets that represent the land, and into the role of First Nations, Inuit and later Métis peoples. By engaging on an emotional and intellectual level, the Blanket Exercise effectively educates and increases empathy.

Indigenous Trivia Night with Host- Janelle Niles

Free, no registration required.

Test your knowledge of Indigenous in a fun and interactive way with Trivia Night! Fun for all ages and great prizes.

* Tickets and donations are non-refundable or changeable as we have to pay a non-refundable transaction fee to Eventbrite for all tickets purchased.

Host or Publisher Indigenous Experiences - Mādahòkì Farm