George provided outdoor music for the Brighton Creek Art Festival at the Baha'i Conference Center over the Labor Day weekend. He has done this every year for about four years now, providing a backdrop of music outside. While people are visiting craft booths and participating in dance workshops or other activities, his music is in the background.The Brighton Creek festival celebrates with drum circles, poetry readings, musical presentations in the main hall, story-telling, and Persian entertainment. Kids have a lot of fun here with workshops in a variety of projects, like beadmaking.
Brighton Creek runs through a mountainous area, out in the country, near the town of McKenna. It is about a 40 minute drive from Tacoma.
I went over on Monday for the salmon bake, and when we drove into the con- ference center the aroma of the salmon had drifted through the forest into the trees. It was so rich, mixed with the sound of people laughing and talking.Some years I've camped here with the family during the Labor Day weekend, attending the drum circles and storytelling in the evenings.
It is the last weekend of the summer, when a lot of the Baha'is from surrounding communities like to get together. It builds a sense of extended family, and really feels like that. We look forward to seeing old friends.Everyone helps, caring for the children, getting acquainted over meals in the dining room and making new friends.
This is Nuri, an artist who has spent the last 20 years in the Caribbean. She had about 25 paintings laying on the grass along the walkway.
I photographed quite a few of her paintings, this one being my favorite. As you can see, she now focuses on Northwest Indians. She and I chatted for a long time, and she said she is interested in moving to Tacoma.
Vic builds his own drums. His ancestry is Blackfoot-Souix. He found this wooden stump floating in the Columbia River, fixed it up, got the buffalo hide, and stretched it to cover the top of the stump. He's got bands of fiber inside the drum that are attached to the hide, and he twists them to tighten up the hide covering. This makes a better sound.
This is Vic's friend Billy, a Blackfoot Indian. He says there are several different tribes of Blackfood, depending on where they originated from. Most are from Canada, and are made up of the Blood, the Piegan, and the Siksika Blackfeet. He said that the bands wintered separately, scattered, but when the summer came, they would hold a Sun Dance, much like our festival at Brighton Creek. They came together to consult about important affairs, which protected their lifestyle and spiritual ceremonies. 
I noticed this same quality during the day at Brighton Creek. People were sitting around visiting, sharing their stories, and, like these men, enjoying a board game. I was delighted to see the diversity - people of diverse backgrounds and heritage.
I enjoyed the salmon bake, it is always very flavorful, served with a tossed- green salad, broccoli, rice pilaf, macaroni salad, and this mouth-watering fry-bread, served hot with strawberry jam....this is my favorite.
