| |
Southern Voice | April 22, 2005
The hills are alive.
Southern Womyn's Festival ready to rock North Georgia with a score of acts to set female empowerment to music.
Seeking refuge from the city? Want a little more fresh air than your 45-minute lunch allows?
Just a 90-minute drive delivers you from the evils of metro Atlanta traffic to the Enota Mountain Retreat Center & Sanctuary in the Chattahoochee National Forest in Hiawassee, Ga. The center plays host to 350 to 500 women at the sixth annual Southern Womyn's Festival, scheduled for April 28 to May 2.
More than 20 entertainers are slated to perform, including Bitch (formerly of Bitch & Animal), Sister Funk (five Connecticut-based women determined to make you dance), 100° Celsius: The Boiling Point (formerly known as the Jacksonville Kings) and the poetically and politically charged spoken word duo Athens Boys Choir.
Returning entertainers look forward to the bonding of women from all over the world. Vange Durst, guitarist and singer for Sister Funk, says last year's midnight drum circle was such a powerful experience that she was inspired to write a song.
100° Celsius touts itself as the most booked drag king show in the nation. This will be the group's second appearance at the festival. Manager Brenda Quayle says last year's festival-goers were very welcoming to the kings, and that they "have been looking forward to going back ever since."
Bitch offers a musical trio with self-proclaimed "electric medieval" melodies.
"What better way than to make an event of our joy and fill it with music and mother nature?" Bitch asks.
Sappho-like respect and sisterly love seems to be what Southern Womyn's Festival is all about, according to Pat Cobb, the festival's producer. "Everyone is amazed at the relaxed atmosphere," Cobb says. "Within 24 hours, you feel as though you are in a safe world within the world."
Women seeking women? "You find it very easy to meet others through the festival," Cobb says. "Many lasting friendships and relationships have started at the festival. It truly is an empowering experience."
Unique to Southern Womyn's Festival are workshops led by a variety of experts on an extremely wide range of topics. Ticket prices include opportunities to howl with McKenzie wolves; have your blood pressure checked; learn how to legalize relationships and protect partner rights; share prose and poetry with friendly listeners; meditate with crystals; take a guided tour of Enota's rare plant life and waterfalls; and attend a mass commitment ceremony officiated by a minister.
Female merchants are on tap with wares including T-shirts, sex toys, various music, jewelry and arts and crafts.
Dogs must remain on a leash, but are invited to enter the best-dressed contest led at one of the workshops. Children are also welcome, but Cobb warns that nudity is allowed at the festival. Children under 5 get in free.
Male attendees must either have four legs and a tail or be under eight years old to be allowed through the festival gates.
Slumbering options include cabins, RV sites, bunkhouses and plenty of land for tent-pitching. A shower house and restrooms are also available.
Alcohol is permitted and sold at Enota's general store, but daily AA meetings and an entirely sober area are available as well.
"We set aside a beautiful area down by one of the streams as clean-and-sober camping," Cobb says. "You do not need to reserve this space."
All attendees are asked to sign up and volunteer for a two-hour shift. Choices include monitoring parking, security, clean up and selling concessions.
Enota offers a small restaurant, and vendors will be selling food. But festival goers are welcome to bring their own meals.
A ticket for the entire four days runs $220 and includes all entertainment, workshops, membership to Enota and camping. An $80 fee allows entrance to the festival, a day's membership to Enota, all the day's workshops and entertainment.
If you plan on purchasing tickets at the festival, bring cash. Gates open at noon on April 28. For more information and a full schedule of events, call the festival hotline or visit its Web site.
Southern Womyn's Festival
April 28–May 2, 2005
904.725.8079 | womynsfestival.com
Enota Mountain Retreat Center & Sanctuary
1000 Highway 180
Hiawassee, GA 30546
706.896.9966 | enota.com
|
<< 
