The Great Moon Gathering started slowly with some visitors from surrounding communities arriving on Wednesday during the school day and most other people following that evening. By the next day there was luggage and sleeping bags crammed in corners, people filling hallways, and a constant supply of coffee coming from three separate locations. It stayed that way up until just a few hours ago. The gym was transformed more times than I thought possible, set for a social, breakfast, lunch, dinner, concert, breakfast, and lunch yet again.
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| Partially completed mocasins by yours truely |
There were booths along the main corridor offering everything from hand crafted cards and information, to wooden Tamarac birds and quilted sleepers for babies.
All workshops were well attended, there was very little confusion throughout and Peetabeck and Albany were represented with pride. The organizers did a wonderful job, everyone enjoyed themselves, learned a lot, and had many great opportunities to network. I actually bumped into one girl that I hadn't seen since teacher's college in Australia; small world. 
The keynote speaker for Thursday evening’s dinner was someone I’d been looking forward to, Joseph Boyden, a wonderful author and a very gifted speaker. Much of what he spoke of was either suffused with wisdom or designed to have the crowd laughing. On a few occasions he managed to achieve both simultaneously. The head organizer for this year’s GMG is close friends with him and invited him early on in the preparation. What I took as a joke earlier, I came to find out was true – Joseph Boyden is also friends with the Tragically Hip and was asked if he could get them to come up to provide the big entertainment for the event; which he did. 
The first act was Northern Revolution, a band consisting of four of our high school students and they were absolutely spectacular! Gord Downie came out for their last song, Stairway to Heaven and sang with them.
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| F.A.'s 'Godfather of Music' |
This was followed by another band, an Elder from the community who was introduced as `The Godfather’ of music in Fort Albany, a couple of ladies from Sudbury who have recently recorded their first CD and finally our own Grade 8 teacher who absolutely rocked out. They were all wonderful but I think there may just be a few groupies in the school after last night!
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| Peetabeck's Grade 8 Teacher |
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| Sudbury Ladies |
Obviously this culminated in a splendid concert performed by the Tragically Hip who introduced five new songs (I liked Drip, Drip, Drip but there were also a couple other pretty cool songs, one about canoeing and another about/against machines). Their lead singer was constantly talking to and joking with the crowd but seemed at a loss for words when at least a dozen people started goose calling in answer to one of his cracks. Haha!
I've been trying to upload a video of the band's last song and the crowd going crazy... but it's been two hours now and it's not uploaded so I'm not sure it's ever going to.
The Great Moon Gathering started slowly with some visitors from surrounding communities arriving on Wednesday during the school day and most other people following that evening. By the next day there was luggage and sleeping bags crammed in corners, people filling hallways, and a constant supply of coffee coming from three separate locations. It stayed that way up until just a few hours ago. The gym was transformed more times than I thought possible, set for a social, breakfast, lunch, dinner, concert, breakfast, and lunch yet again.
The keynote speaker for Thursday evening’s dinner was someone I’d been looking forward to, Joseph Boyden, a wonderful author and a very gifted speaker. Much of what he spoke of was either suffused with wisdom or designed to have the crowd laughing. On a few occasions he managed to achieve both simultaneously. The head organizer for this year’s GMG is close friends with him and invited him early on in the preparation. What I took as a joke earlier, I came to find out was true – Joseph Boyden is also friends with the Tragically Hip and was asked if he could get them to come up to provide the big entertainment for the event; which he did. 
The first act was Northern Revolution, a band consisting of four of our high school students and they were absolutely spectacular! Gord Downie came out for their last song, Stairway to Heaven and sang with them.
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