Ottawa Pagan Picnic 2003 Commentary
(c) Fiona Hammond-Vincent 2003


This years Pagan Pride Day, aka the Ottawa Pagan Picnic, was a rousing success!

There were 142 people in attendance, not including vendors, organizers and all the musicians. 174 food items and $152 in funds were raised for the Ottawa Food Bank plus we raised $75 towards next years event.

The day dawned with perfect weather, despite the preceding weeks rain and everyone was all set up and ready to go by 11:00.

A large area was put aside for all the games for both child and adult. Who knew that Egg and Spoon could be so heart stopping or what contortions people could end up in during a Three-Legged race? The Mule Ski race went on with no broken legs at the end of it, so was a rousing success.

Off in another part of Cheryl’s wonderful land was a Children’s Craft area where they made beautiful masks, played games and had a fun messy time of it.

In yet another area a large BBQ had been set up and delicious hamburgers, hotdogs and sausages were available to all.

The musicans…, all of them voluntary, did an incredible job. The music of the day opened with Steve D’Annunzio and Andy in a dual guitar jam. Jay Pottie of Jiva Ju playing a wonderful acoustic set joined by Geoff Smith of Dr. Huxtable. After that, Aljee Guevremont led the JTs , consisting of Serge, Brad McFarlane and Adam entertained the crowd. They were joined on drums by Catriana of the Ottawa Pagan community and Steve D’Annunzio, as well as Rhiannon, the world’s smallest and cutest go-go dancer. After that came a set of songs from A Danger To Ourselves And Others, who were none other than Rob Hammond-Vincent on vocals and Geoff Smith, again on vocals and guitar, who were joined in their set by many of the musicians who had played during the day, including the ever adorable Rhiannon on drums. The last set was played by Colleen Schinge, who performed a set of jazz vocals backed up by Steve D’Annunzio and Andy. The day closed with the many musicians who had volunteered playing whatever songs came to mind, including the Joe Cocker classic “Feelin’ Alright” sung by Fiona Hammond-Vincent . But that would not be the end of the music … after the sun went down, the after-party was entertained by the soundscapes of Butterflies & Zebras, who played 2 dazzling sets of music and then jammed into the wee small hours with the musicians who had stayed late.

We would like to offer our heartfelt thanks to Cheryl for offering us her lovely land and for all the vast amounts of work she and her family put in to make this day the extremely fun success it was.

We highly recommend the following bands.....

Dr. Huxtable
Jiva Ju
Daisy Ella Mojo Crew
Ferris Wheeler
Butterflies and Zebras
Keep Yourself Good Company
Cafe Dekcuf

You can visit the Ottawa Pagan Pride website at Ottawa Pagan Picnic.

Please visit or join Pagan Pride Ottawa discussion list, for more information on future Ottawa events.

Cheryl's Note: Pictures will be posted soon......

 



This page was created December 16, 2003.