Save the Date for the 18th Annual Gila River Festival September 22 - 25, 2022
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 31, 2022
Contact: Allyson Siwik, Executive Director, Gila Conservation Coalition
575.590.7619 cell; info@gilaconservation.org
Save the Date for the 18th Annual Gila River Festival September 22 - 25, 2022
Save the date for the 18th annual Gila River Festival - One Water, Many Currents - September 22 - 25, 2022 in Silver City, the Gila National Forest and along the Gila River.
The festival will explore the many ways in which water connects us and is the common thread weaving together the Gila River watershed's human and ecological communities of the past, present and into the future.
The hybrid (in-person and virtual) event will examine how the Gila River brings us together, investigate human relationships with the Gila River through our many uses of water and cultural perspectives related to water, and facilitate understanding of the ecological systems of the Gila River watershed and human dependence on these systems.
Joining us for this year's festival is keynote speaker, Nuevomexicana writer and biologist Leeanna Torres who will share her personal narrative through the thread of the great Gila.
A panel discussion focused on the indigenous connections to the Gila River from its headwaters in New Mexico to the Great Bend of the Gila in southwest Arizona includes Archaeology Southwest's Tribal Outreach Fellow Skylar Begay, Gila River Indian Community historic preservation officer Barnaby Lewis, Fort Sill Apache Tribe Chairwoman Lori Gooday Ware (invited) and moderated by Diné anthropologist Alex Mares.
The festival will also offer guided hikes and field trips on birding, wildflowers, archaeology, hydrology, riparian restoration, butterflies, and fishing, as well as the Dance of the Mountain Spirits with the Fort Sill Apache Fire Dancers with the Gooday Family.
Established in 2005, the Gila River Festival is an annual event that celebrates New Mexico’s last free-flowing river and its important role as the centerpiece in our region’s natural and cultural heritage. The festival provides a diversity of opportunities for participants to experience and learn about the natural and cultural history of the area through the arts, humanities and natural sciences.
Online registration opens August 1, 2022 at www.gilariverfestival.org
If you would like to sponsor this year’s festival, visit www.gilariverfestival.org/sponsordonate
If you would like to volunteer, please sign up at www.gilariverfestival.org/volunteer