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ImageOn Saturday, September 19th, the Peachtown Festival will return to the Wells College campus. The Festival, which celebrates Cayuga and Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) culture, features Native vendors, food, musicians, artists, dancers and a storyteller. This year, the Festival will be followed by a community picnic and social dance at the Cayuga/SHARE farm.

When the first Peachtown Festival was held in 1998, it was the first celebration of Native American culture in over 200 years. In May 1779, George Washington ordered Major General John Sullivan to effect “the total destruction and devastation” of Native American villages in the area. Cayuga crops and homes in the area of Aurora, Union Springs, and Cayuga were razed in September of that year—including a peach orchard of 1500 trees at Chonodote, where Aurora is today. The festival draws its name from those legendary orchards.

“The Peachtown Festival is important because offers us the chance to strengthen our bonds of community with the Cayuga, Haudenosaunee, and kindred peoples,” said Wells professor of anthropology and religion Ernie Olson. Additionally, said Olson, the Festival’s themes of displacement and cultural erosion on the one hand, and preservation and tolerance on the other, offer lessons with wide applications.

The Peachtown Festival begins at 10:30am on the front lawn of Main Building, with music, dancing and storytelling commencing at 11am. The Festival continues on campus until 5pm, when Wells College vans will provide transportation to the nearby Cayuga/SHARE farm.

The Festival, which is free, is co-sponsored by Wells College, the Cayuga/SHARE farm, Cornell University American Indian Program, and Ithaca College.

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