(5.14) The 9th annual Urban Parks Procession kicks off Saturday at 6pm from Roosevelt Lake behind the Casino at Roger Williams Park. The Tomaquag Museum provides this year’s theme as musicians, nature-lovers, historians, and area residents and students parade along the city’s chain of ponds.
Because Mashapaug Pond was a settlement site for Indigenous People for centuries and many still recognize it as an important ancestral site, we have been working with Loren Spears, Director of the Tomaquag Museum, to prepare for this year’s theme “Indigenous Cultures and Urban Waterways.”
Organizers ask that you not park at the RW Park start point; they have provided a shuttle. They also have stops for joining in along the route for those don’t want to walk the entire 1.5 miles.
Please park at JT Owens Park on Niantic Avenue. From there, we offer a shuttle service to the Procession’s start at Roosevelt Lake in Roger Williams Park. The shuttle runs from 5:30pm to 6:15pm. Make sure to be at Roosevelt Lake at 6pm, when we will leave. Finale from 8pm till 9pm at JT Owens Park.
Finale — 8pm at JT Owens Park on Niantic Avenue.
Prepare for a variety show featuring student projects created to explore Mashapaug Pond’s cultural and environmental history.
We will end the finale with the presentation of Holly Ewald’s floating sculpture that doubles as a film screen Full Circle: Art As Reflection. The sculpture — fabricated by The Steel Yard — will be transformed into a floating film screen and the documentary on contemporary Indigenous Cultures created by Alvarez High School students, will debut right after sunset.
Tim Lehnert has more at “Urban ponds are RI’s Hidden Treasure.” (ProJo 5.7.16)
Urban Pond Procession, 6pm to 9pm, Saturday, May 14, (rain date Sunday, May 15)