Red tide has been deadly for marine wildlife. This festival will pay them tribute
The Day of the Dead, also known as the Festival of Skeletons, is about celebrating the lives of loved ones who have passed, and sometimes that includes our beloved fur babies.
But what about fish?
Celebrating a life that meant something to someone is at the heart of the annual festival in Village of the Arts. The devastating death of fish and other wildlife due to the Karenia brevis organism that creates the toxins associated with red tide has not only created a sense of loss to a community of nature lovers, but other closer-to-home losses as well.
“I was thinking about all the damage it caused,” said Mark Burrows, owner of Art Junkies, who came up with the concept for this year’s Day of the Dead community shrine in the Village. “We could even smell the stench here and we didn’t see the foreign tourists this year. I know people in Cortez who have to put away their boats and shut down. “
The community shrine will be built by village artists at the corner of 12th Street West and 11th Avenue West, but it’s called a community shrine for a reason. The public is encouraged when attending the festival to add to the shrine’s memory wall their own tribute, whether it be a photo, artwork, or even a letter or poem of what red tide has meant to you.
“I just thought this was a way to honor the loss of the manatees, dolphins and fish and the impact to people because the Gulf is everyone’s livelihood who lives here, in one way or another,” Burrows said.
It’s not the first time the village has devoted the festival’s community shrine to marine life. Last year’s theme was devoted to the memory of Snooty, who died in July of 2017 on his 69th birthday weekend. Snooty gained access to a maintenance tunnel when the hatch fell off, swam in, was unable to turn around and drowned.
Last year’s festival proved to be one of the biggest turnouts in the 14-year history of the festival.
This year’s event will feature food trucks, village restaurants, music and fire dancer Alexander FireLion, who performs Friday night. The event runs from 5:30 to 11 p.m. Friday and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.
The festival will feature a sand sculpture of sea life across from the shrine by Jim Shipley and many of the artists will have personalized shrines devoted to their own loved ones within their galleries for viewing. The primary shrine display will be at Divine Excess Folk Art Gallery, at 1125 12th St. W., featuring a tribute to the late Mexican female artist Frida Kahlo.
“I knew a lot of her story,” Burrows said, who contributed to Kahlo’s shrine with tequila, cigarettes and a giant uni-brow that Kahlo was known for.
“I covered a lot of her really bad vices. She refused to wax, loved her tequila and smoked heavily. She was a twisted little monkey and I like that.”
JoEllen Gorris, one of the village’s original artists, agreed Kahlo was a fun choice.
“She had a strong personality that still affects people today,’ Gorris said. “I had fun doing mine. I thought about it a long time and it was fun trying to get into her head.”
More than 400 students from across Manatee County are participating in this year’s festival by building a sugar skull sculpture. The students designed and made their own small sculptures that will be pieced together to make one large sculpture. Entertainment over the weekend includes Koko Ray and the Keepers, Wild Root, State College of Florida jazz band and more.
Admission is free, but coolers are not allowed.
This story was originally published October 31, 2018 at 2:38 PM.