The ThunderBlogs

From a block away you could see orange balloons bobbing over the heads of guests at the Renfrew Ravine Moon Festival this past Saturday held at Slocan Park. Kids scurried around the playground with the balloons secured to their wrists while adults lounged next to the stage watching the rotating 20-minute performances.

There were kids on stilts with wigs and headpieces resembling jellyfish, tentacles streaming as they sauntered, waving rainbow coloured flags. Anthropomorphic vegetables were on display as part of the Harvest Fair, for example, tomatoes with faces drawn on in black marker. Next to the tomatoes was a flyer announcing a Harvest Fair competition, including categories for craziest carrot and ugliest gardening shoes.

The Moon Festival has been held annually since 2003, and is a melding of the traditional Chinese Moon Festival; the Harvest Fest, supported by the Renfrew Collingwood Food Security Institute; and the Still Moon Arts Society.

Carmen Rosen, artistic director and founder of the Still Moon Arts Society described the event as an “environmental festival without bashing people over the heads,” when talking about celebrating the natural beauty of the Renfrew Ravine.

And she acknowledged the Asian moon fest ties when speaking about the lantern making workshop and the large percentage of people with Chinese ancestry in the area, calling the event a “blend of different harvest traditions.”

The stage performances began with a First Nations drum circle, followed by music from Latin America and then a clown and puppet show. The “Renfrew Chinese Seniors Dance” and the “Renfrew Mandarin Choir” prompted the mainly elderly Chinese audience to erupt in spontaneous applause during those performances.

Chance Stewart, who described himself as the “Master of Ceremony” entertained the kids and kids at heart between performances dressed in a homemade hat made to look like a bird’s beak, completing the bird costume with tights and boots. “I’m getting tired of standing on one leg,”  he joked to the audience, which by the look of the blank faces in the crowd, seemed to confuse them more than amuse.

After three hours of stage acts, local politicians Don Davies, MP, and Adrian Dix, MLA, announced winners of the best tables at the Festival for categories like creativity and best overall. A few of the tables were represented by the Collingwood Neighbourhood House, the Renfrew Collingwood Multicultural Artist Network and Community Action for Seniors’ Independence.

To end the festivities at Slocan Park the crowd followed a marching band to the Renfrew Ravine where lanterns had been placed. Fireworks were expected and another successful year of the Moon Fest.