A community festival celebrating the contributions of migrant farmworkers to New Haven and Addison County will be held on the New Haven Town Green on Saturday, October 1, from 11 AM to 3 PM. The festival is centered around the Vermont Humanities Vermont Reads book for 2022-23 "The Most Costly Journey-Stories from Migrant Farmworkers in Vermont Drawn by New England Cartoonists". The book is a series of stories about journey and survival as told by migrant workers at the local Open Door clinic in Middlebury.
The festival will begin on the New Haven Town Green with traditional Mexican music by Rodrigo Placencias, Latin American food for purchase from Viva El Sabor, a cartooning exercise with New Haven resident and book contributor, Kevin Kite, crafts, stories and games for the kids and information booths by the Open Door Clinic, Migrant Justice, Addison Allies, the New Haven Congregational Church, and the New Haven Library. There will also be handwoven baskets from San Jose Monteverde in Oaxaca, Mexico for sale to support that community's water supply.
At 12:15 PM, the Congregational Church (across from the Town Green) will host a bi-lingual panel discussion "Stories of Travel, Stories of Home", facilitated by Bristol resident Chris Urban. This conversation with local migrant workers is designed to help educate the community about worker's lives in both their home countries and on farms throughout Addison County. The Vermont Folklife exhibition "Invisible Odysseys: Art by and About Mexican Farm Workers in Vermont", will be on display during the festival at the church and then at the New Haven Community Library until the middle of October.
There will be a planting dedication on the green following the panel and a blessing by church pastor Abigail Diehl-Noble to acknowledge the community's gratitude for the contribution of its migrant farmworker neighbors. Following the dedication, a friendly soccer game with Mt. Abe's Varsity soccer teams and the farmworker league will take place on the field at Beeman Elementary. Food by Viva El Sabor will also be available for purchase at the field and everyone is welcome to attend this fun and community building event. Parking is available behind the town hall and the church.
Later in the month there will be a cartooning workshop at the library, activities by the students at Beeman Elementary and a community read of "The Most Costly Journey". Books are available for community residents at the New Haven Library. Please join us!
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