Dar Williams, pollinators and kids

Anya Tikka
Posted 9/30/09

“The Woodstock Festival that happened here had a lot of dreamers,” said Dar Williams, a Hudson Valley singer and songwriter, at the start of her educational program for kids about the importance …

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Dar Williams, pollinators and kids

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“The Woodstock Festival that happened here had a lot of dreamers,” said Dar Williams, a Hudson Valley singer and songwriter, at the start of her educational program for kids about the importance of helping bees and other pollinators at Bethel Woods Conservatory on August 14, before the 45th Woodstock anniversary weekend. She continued that first-you-have-to-dream-and-then-make-it-happen philosophy, singing “Wake Up and Move Your Body Around” and getting the kids who were attending a summer camp up dancing.

Her show, “Give Bees a Camp,” included songs, dancing and little stories to get through to kids her mission about the importance of protecting the environment and especially pollinators that are threatened by disease the world over. “There are 4,000 different kinds of bees around, and that’s not even including the bats, wasps and butterflies, all kinds of different pollinators. They are all wonderful. They don’t want to sting you—but don’t drink soda outdoors because they love it,” she told the kids.

Kids who took part in the program were asked to sign a ‘Pollinator Pledge’ to protect bees by looking after them, by growing flowers for them, by not using a lot of chemicals, and by spreading the word to friends.

“Protecting them is just protecting the flowers, and looking after them is spreading the word to our friends,” Williams reiterated.

At the end of her program, packets of seeds were passed to the kids, and they were asked to plant them in a patch somewhere. “Everywhere you plant them, there will be another patch, and there will be a string of plants from Canada all the way to Mexico,” Dar explained, referring to the program she’s done all over America. “Maybe tell your parents,” she also said, “as part of planting the seeds of change.”

The conservatory planted a specially designed pollinator garden for the event. Devin Jardine, a landscape architecture student said, “The majority of the plants there bring pollinators in, and include black-eyed Susans, blueberries, strawberries, cucumbers, chick seed, bee balm and butterfly weed.”

Grounds superintendant, Greg Lotorto commented, “The idea is not just a pretty garden; it’s a functional garden. And to bring it to the kids as an educational tool.”

“There are some things I think kids are meant to do. They go home and they tell their parents. They love flowers and they bring that message home to their parents. It’s a better message even than we should recycle, a more fun thing for them to bring home from the camps,” Williams said after her show.

“Usually where you have camps it’s already beautiful surroundings with a lot of flowers, places that are safe for kids. I go and play music for kids. If it’s a sleepover camp, I’ll play a concert at night, we hang around, and next morning, we get up and plant a garden together,” she continued.

“It was fun,” and “I like the garden,” said Cameron, 10, and Jordan Stamford, 7, from Smallwood, who took part in the program. “ I’m going to plant something,” Cameron added.

“It was a natural fit with the Bethel Woods mission of inspiring, educating and empowering individuals through the arts and humanities, as we feel that the arts is really just an extension of nature,” said Liz McKay the external affairs coordinator at Bethel Woods in an email.

Williams concluded, “I always feel the power of Woodstock when I’m at Bethel Woods. I think it’s the Woodstock Generation that helped give me the impulse to bring together music, caring about the planet and all of these beautiful colors together.”

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