It’s summertime in the Old Pueblo again, the time of year in the Sonoran desert when the influence of the elements over our lives is at its peak, and that influence is surely being felt by many here now; along with the scorching heat that we are all accustomed to enduring, we also have some of the worst wild fires our state has ever seen. Let’s hope that other hallmark of our summer weather, the monsoon rains, will soon help relieve us of both heat and flame.
• As for the monsoons, the Dia de San Juan Fiesta –to be held this coming Friday night (June 24th) at the Mercado San Agustin– is indeed a festival of the summer rains that we so badly need. Traditionally a supplication to St. John the Baptist who is regarded among Native and Hispanic Catholics of the region as the bringer of the rains, the day has been celebrated by families on Tucson’s westside for over a century, and today’s festivities include a procession along the Santa Cruz River, a rodeo, mariachis and folkloricos, clowning and much more. Many Mouths One Stomach is joining with an array of partners to help produce this year’s event, including of course our friends who will provide the host site, the Mercado San Agustin, also the new host site of our All Souls Procession grand finale ceremony. For more details about El Dia de San Juan Fiesta, visit their webpage HERE!
• Many Mouths One Stomach is looking toward the future by building strong and lasting partnerships with other organizations to benefit our community here in Tucson, and in the last several months we’ve made some great new friends! In addition to the Gadsden Company/Mercado San Agustin who have provided us with a great new finale site for All Souls Procession, we’re partnering with the Ben’s Bells Project on Procession of Little Angels. Ben’s Bells is moving in to a new, expanded studio space in the Historic Brown House at 40 W. Broadway and have invited us to hold our kids Costuming Workshops there, which will be a great help to us! Jeannette Maré, founder of Ben’s Bells, is also taking on outreach directorship for the Children’s Altar Project with help from her assistant Colleen Conlin, and we think with their help the Altar will grow by leaps and bounds. We wish them the best toward this effort!
We’re also proud to announce our new partnership with the fantastic Tucson treasure, Valley of the Moon. We approached the Moon about holding our Spring Circus fundraiser for Procession of Little Angels there, and they were happy to have us. We were told by Moon board-members they’d been looking for a non-profit that shared common ground with them for a partnership of some kind, and as it turns out Many Mouths One Stomach fits the bill! We look forward to holding more events at Valley of the Moon in the future, possibly including circus arts intensives and of course next year’s Little Angels fundraiser.
• And speaking of the Little Angels fundraiser, Spring Circus was a total success! We made close to $1,200 with ticket and food sales plus a generous donation from Valley of the Moon, and another $1,000 contribution came our way from an individual donor who was in attendance at the event, had listened to the talks about our ongoing debt from last year’s Procession, and acted from the heart with great generosity. We want to thank all our friends who helped to make the event the success it turned out to be: The Wonderfools, New-Tang Acrobatics, Orbital Evolution, Jacob Devaney, Glenn Weyant, Cub Club Samba, Johanna Martinez, Mat Bevel, Krishna Bright, Tempest Alibi-Isama, Planet of the Crepes, Epic Cafe, and Valley of the Moon!!!
• With the monies made by Spring Circus and our Tucson Circus Arts summer Circus Camp sessions (10% of total gross revenues from Circus Camp go toward Many Mouths One Stomach), the debt on last year’s All Souls Procession will be paid and we can begin fundraising for All Souls Procession Weekend 2011! Please do participate in our fundraising drive; only $3 or $4 from the 20,000 + who attend Procession will pay the cost to produce it. Let’s pay our debt within the same event year for the first time ever in 2011! www.allsoulsprocession.org/donate
• The poster art for All Souls Procession Weekend 2011 by Michael Contreras is in, and the poster art competition for 2012 is on! Click HERE to learn more about how to participate in the poster art competition.
• This year’s All Souls Procession finale musicians will be the Roskruge Mariachi Band and Folklorico Dancers! Look forward to an interview with them to appear in The Mouth this fall.
• The ceremonial colors for the Urn and Spirit Group ensemble will be purple, and the inspiration for this year’s grand finale ceremony is the air and birds.
• There will also be a change of route at both start and finish for this year’s Procession, as 4th ave will be under reconstruction as well as to reach the new finale location further down Congress on the west side of I-10, and planning with all the various parties involved is still underway, so stay tuned for more information as it develops!
• Lastly, we should also take the opportunity to mention that we are now inviting families over for wing-making at the kids Costuming Workshops and other locations for Procession of Little Angels. Our volunteers can’t keep up with the demand as our amazing family event held the day before All Souls Procession continues to grow! So Little Angels families, please do come out for the Costuming Workshops at the Ben’s Bells studios and other opportunities to be announced for designing, cutting and whitewashing your child’s wings if they’d like to wear them on event day (we will still provide the cardboard, cutting tools, whitewash, and instruction!)