FAIR EARTH BAZAAR 2008
Activity and Entertainment schedule
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2008
10:00 am til 3:00 pm Mercy Center Café Bazaar
Enjoy wholesome, homemade goodies—baked goods, soups, salads and more—created by Mercy Center’s own professional chefs!
11:00 am til 1:00pm Oil Drum Art with Susan Rosano 
(TBC)
The Fair Earth Bazaar will make a statement about our environment by presenting this program. Children and their families can create designs and paint oil drums with the theme of cultural diversity and ecology. Oil drums will be used by Mercy Center as containers to store items for recycling. Colors of the Bazaar will be transferred on to the oil drum and participants can add to and paint the designs. Thanks to Young Audiences Arts for Learning Connecticut and the Connecticut Commission for Culture & Tourism for sponsoring this unique event!
10:00 am Mindfulness Walk
Gently walk the land at Mercy Center with Bob Kuchta. Observe the richness and beauty of the place and its people. Reflect and listen to the energy and spirit of nature. Take time to smell, touch, and connect to a multitude of habitats including the beach, wetland and woods.
11:00 am Live Performance by Surcari - Music with a Latin Beat
The audience will learn interactive games and songs in Spanish, based on the musical styles and traditions of the Andes, Central and South America, Spain and Mexico. A wide variety of authentic percussion instruments will be displayed and explained for all to discover. Young people who attend the performances will also play the instruments and dance as they explore different carnival traditions. 
Volunteers will create a rainforest soundscape and play along with Surcari in this performance.
This performance is brought to you by Young Audiences Arts for Learning Connecticut and the Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism.
12:00 noon Meet the Vendors – Hear Their Stories
Ever wonder how Fair Trade really works? Come and meet just a few of the local vendors Mercy Center uses to purchase the goods sold at the Bazaar. Hear their inspirational stories of how your buying choices are directly benefiting artisans and communities in developing nations. Liv Pikul, Originals from Africa, Suzy Burke, Alegria Imports, Sr. Ruth Rosenbaum, CREA (Hartford) and Peter Buck, Equal Exchange will be on hand to inform, discuss and inspire.
1:00 pm Mercy Center Labyrinth Walk for Peace
A labyrinth is an ancient pattern found in many cultures around the world that offers one, circuitous path to the center. Following the labyrinth path is a walking meditation that promotes peace within, with nature and neighbors, and among nations. Join Sr. Florence Trahan and Joan Linley of our Program Department, for a guided walk of Mercy Center’s 7-circuit outdoor labyrinth and cultivate peace. Can’t make the formal Labyrinth Walk for Peace? Self-guided labyrinth walks are available throughout the day.
2:00 pm West African Drumming with Che' Cartafalsa
Che' Cartafalsa is a professional musician, instrument maker and educator. While living in Africa, Che' learned from the percussion masters and a multitude of authentic instruments are utilized in this performance featuring traditional rhythms from Mali, Guinea, and Nigeria. Che' will emphasize instrumental technique and the building of multi-layered rhythms in percussion. Audience members will be invited to play a wide variety of percussion instruments native to the countries of Africa. Thanks to Young Audiences Arts for Learning Connecticut and the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism for sponsoring this unique event!
3:00 pm Tour of Mercy Center
One of last year’s most popular events, this tour of Mercy Center at Madison by Executive Director Jim Emswiler will include the historic 18-room summer estate of retail chain store magnate W.T. Grant (originally home to Marie Oakes Hotchkiss, the daughter of a Long Wharf shipping merchant); the story of SeaScape, a gracious home donated to Mercy Center by two Hollywood stars and
moved to Mercy Center in the 1990s; and more.
All Day Baskets and Masks – A Celebration of African Craft
Visit the Mary C. Daly, RSM Art Gallery to view an extraordinary selection of museum quality, hand woven baskets from Botswana supplied by Originals from Africa and culturally profound African masks created by artist Johnny Mikiki Bombenza.
Originals from Africa: The most famous of all the craft products of Botswana, South Africa is the hand woven basket. As an integral part of the Botswana agricultural culture, baskets have been made and used for thousands of years. Today, the baskets of Botswana are equal to the world’s finest art forms and are considered to be collectors items. The main producers of baskets are the women of the Bayei and Hambukushu tribes in northwestern Botswana. The baskets displayed here are created by the 24 women of Etsha Weavers Group and take six weeks to complete. This complicated art form has been passed down from generation to generation and pieces are truly one-of-a-kind.
Johnny Mikiki Bombenza is a gifted artist from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central Africa who has devoted his career to creating beautiful and culturally profound African masks. Apparent in each mask is not only a ‘story’ but the significance of spiritual belief. Each mask has “a reality that is not tangible”or other worldly. His masks talk of war, marriage, death, hunting, baptism, widow’s grief, the sun’s blistering heat, and the lineage of the village chief. These masks are spoken to, celebrated and ceremonial. They are not just works of art; they serve a very important role in the Congolese culture. They embody the spirits of loved ones who have passed away, sages who warn of danger and of good hunting and fishing. They are meant to be spoken to and they speak back. They are the voices from within each of us.
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