Is it just me or is the humidity a bit less? Kids are heading back to school and geese south, so it must mean that we are wrapping up another
summer on Ocracoke Island. Here is what happened over the past few months, and
what we are looking forward to this fall.
Get Ready to Set Sail for the 3rd Annual Skipjack Wilma Lee Labor Day Gala, Sunday, Sept 4th!
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| Artwork by Mark Brown |
Ocracoke Alive invites visitors and community members alike to step aboard our flagship vessel, to enjoy a beautiful afternoon and hear about our latest developments in our educational programming. Donors who contribute $100 or more are also invited to bring a guest on board for a special sunset cruise at 6:30 PM. If you are planning to attend, please let us know at www.ocracokealive.org or by calling 252-921-0260. The sail has limited spaces. See you there!
Educational Programs to Grow Aboard the Wilma Lee
Free September offerings to feature test programs "Anatomy of a Sailboat" and “Nautical Charts and Navigation"
Ocracoke Alive has announced the recent hiring of Laura McClain to serve as part-time Educational Program Coordinator. According to David Tweedie, Ocracoke Alive's Executive Director, McClain's initial focus will be on creating and marketing educational programming to take place aboard the organization's historic sailing vessel, the Skipjack Wilma Lee.
“In the long term, Ocracoke Alive is aiming to grow our
educational mission,” Tweedie explained.
“We see that mission involving not just the Wilma Lee and not just
school-age learners, but all ages and many areas of learning.”
Initially the organization will work to develop a series of
educational programs which will take place around and aboard the Wilma Lee and
which will be geared toward middle school students. A book of lesson plans that was developed for Ocracoke Alive
by LEARN NC (a spinoff of the UNC School of Education) will serve as a key
guide in that process.
Ocracoke Alive hopes to be able to offer half day and then full
day programming to both private and public schools around the state, and, of
course, to students and teachers on the island.
“The first step in that development is to create a few 90
minute trial lesson plans and offer them for free to local students as Saturday
programs,” McClain explained.
“We are taking small steps, beginning our programs, but we
have plans to expand the content and offerings. Having an outdoor classroom
aboard a historic boat will give us a platform for so many learning experiences
and possibilities,” said McClain.
Besides the two programs they are offering next month,
McClain described other possible lessons, including a program highlighting the
Wilma Lee’s past as an oystering boat.
“That's next in the pipeline,” she explained, “but we have a lot of work
to do and we have some great on-island experts who we are working with to
create a collaborative program.”
Ocracoke Alive's initial educational programs will take
place Saturday mornings during September.
The programs will be hands-on experiences, designed to entertain and
educate all ages. Kids (and anyone
interested) will gather at the Wilma Lee at the Community Square dock. Programs begin at 9:30 and run for 90
minutes.
"Anatomy of a Sailboat." During this program, students will come to understand the
differences between sail boats and other kinds of boats. They will get to tour deep into the
structure of the boat. They will
examine and take home “scantling drawings” of the skipjack. Students will learn sailing terminology
and classic knot tying. They may
even get to take a ride up the mast in a "bosun's chair." (Sept 10
and Sept 24)
"BUOY Bingo
- Nautical Charts and Navigation" During this program, students
will learn the fundamentals in reading nautical charts, using longitude and
latitude hydrographic maps to determining location in degrees, minutes and
seconds, reading compasses and learning about nautical symbols. Students will make their own compasses
and investigate the variations in magnetic north as well as play a game that
will allow them to locate different maritime and historical features in and
around Ocracoke Inlet. (Sept 17 and Oct 1)
Please note:
for both of these two programs, the Wilma Lee will remain tied up at the
dock. Future programs will involve
sailing trips in the sound. Interested in participating, please let us know by
emailing info@ocracokealive.org or calling 252-921-0260.
Fall into the Deep…Deepwater Theater that is!
While summer comes to a close, that doesn’t mean the fun at
Ocracoke Alive’s Deepwater Theater has to! We’ve extended the run of each of
our shows into September. This means if you’ve been busy like the rest of the
island all summer and haven’t been able to make it to a show, or you’d like to
get one more night in with Blackbeard, Molasses Creek, the Island Historian or
the Pastor Poet, you can order your tickets online today. There are only a few
weeks left!
Here are the remaining dates. For more show info, click on the links. Thanks!
Ocracoke School of Performing Arts will be starting up their
fall classes in Deepwater Theater the week of September 12th with acting,
dance, musical theater and private voice lessons. Information on these classes
can be found at www.facebook.com/OcracokeDance or by emailing
ocracokeschoolofperformingarts@gmail.com.
Ocracoke Alive proudly presents, the 1st Annual Festival Latino de Ocracoke on November 12th
If you have visited Ocracoke over the past twenty years, you
have probably noticed the growing Latino population that has become part of our
island community. Some of these
residents have their own businesses that you know and love (Eduardo’s Taco
comes to mind . . . one moment, I need to run and pick up an order. . . Okay,
I’m back!), and others you may have seen working at various jobs throughout the
island. From the Ocracoke School to the fire department, the grocery stores to
the restaurants and motels, Ocracoke depends upon these friends and neighbors
who have come to call our remote island home.
Ocracoke Alive is very excited this year to be partnering
with members of the Latino Community to assist them in creating the very first
Festival Latino de Ocracoke on Saturday, November 12th at the Ocracoke School
and Community Center. The festival
organizers, Freddy Contreras, Adrian Espanosa, Gloria Perez, Eduardo Chavez,
Cira Badillo, and David Tweedie have been hard at work creating a day filled
with traditional games, dances, music, and food, that will be great fun for
everyone. Special guests presentations include dance demonstrations by the
Ballet Folklorico Guadalupano, and music by Fantasia Huasteca.
Daytime activities will take place at Ocracoke School from
11-5 PM, with an evening performance at the school gym from 7-9 PM (and a movie
for the kids at Deepwater Theater). From 9 PM until midnight, the action will
move to the Ocracoke Community Center for more dancing and fun.
In addition, during the week leading up to the festival,
Ocracoke School students will have an opportunity to learn about Latino
Culture, try their hand at piñata making, cooking, traditional dancing, and
practicing their skills at games like raiguela, cintas, and much more.
If
you are interested in helping sponsor the event, please contact David Tweedie at info@ocracokealive.org or 252-921-0260. Hope that you can join
us! For more information and to keep up to date with plans, visit our Latino
Festival page at www.ocracokealive.org.
Ocrafolk Festival Memories, June 3-5, 2016
It’s hard to believe that it is almost Labor Day. It seems
like just yesterday we were celebrating Memorial Day and enjoying another
amazing Ocrafolk Festival! Nestled between two tropical storms, we had quite a
team working to pump out the lake that was the festival grounds Friday morning,
while another group did highly effective rain dances to hold off the next storm
until our three days of fun had concluded (which it did).
So with a muddy beginning, the weekend turned beautifully.
This year we had many firsts including music beginning Friday afternoon and
Friday night’s “Taste of Ocracoke” with the introduction of “Ocrabucks.” Read
Annelise Straw’s review on the Ocracoke Current at www.ocracokecurrent.com/137714.
While there are some first year kinks to be worked out with
A Taste of Ocracoke, the food was great and many restaurants were happy about
the business brought by Ocrabuck toting festival attendees! Our first 50/50
auction went well with stunning pieces donated by so many talented artists.
With this new format under our belts next year’s auction promises to be even
better. If you are an artist
interested in having your work in the 50/50 art auction, join our Ocracoke
Alive e-news list at www.ocracokealive.org/blog.html. After the turn of
2017, we will send out a note letting you know that it is time to sign up!
The new musicians and bands fit right in to the mix of much
loved returning artists. Fresh faces included Lipbone Redding, the Bucket
Brothers, De Tierra Caliente, the Oak Grove String Band, Michael Stanwood, and
the Madame Presidents. For our returning performers, each group had grown more,
had more to share, and provided a unique and special element to the festival.
With music from Friday afternoon through early Sunday evening, this was
certainly our longest festival, yet it always seems to pass by too fast! Our
artisans had such lovely collections of art, jewelry, and folk pieces that it
was difficult not to walk away with one of everything. Paddy’s Hollar at the
Magic Bean had much appreciated adult refreshments provided by Zillie’s, and
local restaurants and cooks provided a variety of delicious lunch and dinner
options.
Our Admiralty Cruise was a fantastic fundraising event that
featured festival artists aboard the Skipjack Wilma Lee with wine, beer, hors
d’oeuvres, and a sunset sail for certain levels of sponsors and those who had
purchased tickets. If you haven’t spent time on this amazing vessel, you should
try it our next year, it’s a pretty special treat! Saturday evening concluded
with more intimate shows at Deepwater Theater dancing in the Community Square
and the Community Center.
From puppet parades and kid’s fun, to workshops and all-star
jams, new faces and old favorites…this was a year to remember! We are so
thankful to everyone who came out to the festival this year. Thank you to our
outstanding sponsors, proud button wearers, INCREDIBLE volunteers, inspiring
musicians and storytellers, mud-dancers, water-pumpers, artisans, food vendors,
and the truly special island of Ocracoke that allows this wonderful festival to
take over this tiny village every year. To read more and see more pictures from
this year’s festival check out the Ocracoke Observers article “Ocrafolk
Festival: Like a Family Reunion” at
https://ocracokeobserver.com/2016/06/08/ocrafolk-festival-like-a-family-reunion/
Next year’s Ocrafolk Festival will be June 2-4, 2017. Keep
up on all the festival news at www.ocracokealive.org.
Ocracoke Fig Festival Unleashes a Fruity Frenzy
While only in it’s third year, the Fig Festival in August is
decadently delicious! The growing event featured two days of fig competitions (cake & preserves), performances by Molasses Creek, and Martin Garrish and friends, an Ocracoke square dance led by Philip Howard, fun booths selling fig related items, and an open house on the Skipjack Wilma Lee.
This year Ocracoke Alive had a booth at the festival and
sold our (rather appropriate) Ocracoke Alive t-shirts with the fig leaf on the front and the fig cake recipe on the back. Didn’t
get yours? Just shoot us an email and let us know what sizes and colors you are
looking for and we can see what we have left. We will be restocking for 2017
before the next season begins!
Here is a tutorial on making Fig Muffins, produced by Gary
Mitchell and David Tweedie.
That's all for now! Look forward to seeing you off the island!
