Parade with us! The Wake Up the Earth Festival Parade is back! All are welcome!
Meet up in the parking lot of the Egleston Square YMCA next to the side entrance to Greater Egleston High School.We will proceed down Washington through Egleston, make a left down Atherton Street, cross Lamartine Street to Mozart Street, turn first right to Chestnut Ave, turn right to Center Street and turn right to Lamartine Street to Stony Brook Station.
(Rain date: May 8, 2022)
Festival Performance Schedules
Sun Stage (New Minton Street):
12PM Deep C Divers
1:10PM Brave Light
1:30PM Mike Weidenfeller
1:45PM Foundation Movement & hi-fi Monk
3:00PM Lovewhip
4:15PM Chicomania
Moon Stage (Stony Brook Station):
1:00 PM Isaura Oliveira – Power of Skirts (Afro Brazilian Dance with Live Drumming)
1:15 PM BOMBAntillana – Bomba (Boriken/PR) – Participatory & performance based live drumming, singing and dancing
2:05 PM Ellison Parks Elementary Room 206 Dance performance
2:20 PM ZUMBA! with Nancy!
2:55 PM Emily Bloomenthal – Dance performance
3:00 PM Ritmo En Accion – Dance performance
3:10 PM Jitterbugs & Boston Lindy Bomb Squad
3:45 PM Dance party with MetaMovements (mini lessons, games & follow alongs)
4:30 PM A Trike Called Funk! Boogaloo/Funk/Locking
History: The Wake Up the Earth Festival
The first Wake Up the Earth Festival took place in 1979 on land that had been cleared for the Highway (I-95) during the late sixties but which fortunately was stopped by a strong grassroots movement embodied in the South-West Corridor Coalition. Close to Jackson Square along Lamartine Street, a community garden and greenhouse (The Farm) were built on the rubble left by the demolition that had already started and the Festival served as a celebration of the defeat of the highway. It was an attempt to bring together the different communities that lived on both sides of the (then) wall and railroad tracks, in celebration of spring and an appreciation of the piece of earth that was saved. The music, performances, banners, parades, and celebrations spring from the diversity of Roxbury and Jamaica Plain.
(From Spontaneous Celebrations)