The festival opened at 10:00 a.m. Saturday morning with a traditional address and blessing from local resident and tribal
member Ron Lincoln, followed by MC Mickey the Clown kicking off the
festivities. Back on August 13th, 1983, during the very first Blackberry Festival, it was recorded that mid-afternoon, billowing dark clouds filled the sky, followed quickly by a downpour that soaked
the visitors and activities. Soon, however, the rain passed. It was not the rain, but the hard work of many volunteers, and the sweet flavor of scrumptious blackberries that carried the day. History did repeat itself this past Saturday as it curiously had last year, both instances being the single day of significant rain that Round Valley
experienced all summer long. However, rain didn't dampen anyone's spirits for long at this annual celebratory gathering that not only unites the community in late summer fun, but also draws visitors and former residents who returned to mark the occasion by visiting with friends and family.
I spoke with attendees to learn what makes the Blackberry Festival special, and what keeps them coming back year after year.
All right, I'm here at the 41st annual Blackberry Festival with Lovely Dau, a participant and Round Valley resident. Lovely, what do you love
about the Blackberry Festival?
LD: what I love about the Blackberry
Festival is coming out and just seeing the smiling faces and the sense of community and togetherness in the community. It's very exciting and
the music is amazing.
JP: How long have you been coming to the BlackBerry Festival?
LD: I've been coming to the Blackberry Festival for. Oh gosh, I don't know.10 years. Yeah, I've been out for about 10 years. It's great.
I'm here with Mary Lou Mileck, one of the organizers of the Blackberry Festival.
Mary Lou, it's, I'm sure such a big undertaking to put this together every year. How long have you been organizing the BlackBerry
Festival for?
ML: I've been involved with the Blackberry Festival for around 40 years. This is the 41st festival and uh that takes a lot of work and uh we have a great group of dedicated volunteers to make it
happen every year and.
Yeah, we're very happy to see the community come together. We see, I see people every year that I only see once a year and people really make an effort to make it up here for the festival.
All right, I'm here with Michelle Peñaloza, a participant, a vendor here and a community member. Michelle, what do you love about the
BlackBerry Festival?
MP: You know, I love that you can always count on continuity. It's very sweet that there are the same folks playing their music and really enjoying themselves and kind of having their time of that year and there's always some dessert to try. People come out and have a nice time.