SPRINGPORT — Donna Silversmith said the Cayuga/Share Farm Picnic has a simple goal: to unite people. The annual event featured music, vendors and more than 50 people gathered at the Springport farm on Saturday. The property is owned by the Cayuga Nation's traditional Council of Chiefs and Clan Mothers, and "Share" stands for Strengthening Haudenosaunee-American Relations through Education.
Silversmith, one of the organizers of the event, had a wide smile on her face as she gazed at the people out at the farm that afternoon. "The ideal behind our picnic here is just to actually bring our Haudenosaunee people, our Cayuga citizens and our friends together to have a day of fun because this is a way of us getting to know each other, it's a way of us to do information sharing, it's just a way (for) us to connect to one another and connect back to the land," she said. Cayuga/Share Farm caretaker Dan Hill speaks at a picnic there on Saturday.
The event also featured bands and talks by Silversmith, Jacqueline House, Jodi Baldwin and more. One subject of the talks was the land back movement, the subject of a change.org petition by Baldwin, that calls for giving the properties of Wells College to the Council of Chiefs.
One of the bands at the event was Mark Porter and Friends, who performed as audience members chatted nearby. Barb Silversmith, Donna's sister, and Jacqueline House got out of their seats to dance. Dan Hill, another organizer of the picnic and caretaker of the 70-acre fa.
