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MUDDY WATER MUSIC FESTIVAL
P.O. Box 258
Tel: (807) 774-3421
Sandy Lake, Ontario
P0V 1V0
Fax: (807) 774-1040

Information Sheet

The Muddy Water Music Festival will be held on July 18, 19, 20 & 21, 2001 in Sandy Lake First Nation.

Sandy Lake is located in North-western Ontario approximately 65 miles east of the Ontario-Manitoba border and 216 miles northwest of Sioux Lookout, Ontario. Our community is an isolated reserve with only fly-in transportation year round.

Sandy Lake has a population of 2034 people.

The annual event started in 1983. It was started by a group of young people to establish inspiration and self-esteem. The first annual event was held at a location called “Paradise Valley” in Sandy Lake. It was held there for a few years before being moved to another location by the old school that had the “Fort” at the time. It was also held there for a few years before it was moved again to its present location called Ghost Point. The Ghost Point site is a great location for this annual event, because it has a very nice scenery and away from the general public. The Ghost Point site is also used during treaty days.

It is our opportunity for inspiring musician to show their talents. Young, inexperienced musicians get to share the same stage with the same equipment as professional bands. Spectators of all ages get to enjoy and appreciate a kaleidoscope of music. The festival will help to continue to develop and strengthen community and inter-community relationships with our participating communities.

The Muddy Water Music Festival Event has always had a host band from the reserve. Some of the host bands in the past are “Who Cares”, “Rathouse Band”, “Bear Paws” and “Jam Shack”. This year’s host band will be the MUSKEWABO BAND.

The summer of 2001 will be the eighteenth anniversary of Sandy Lake First Nation’s annual celebration of the Muddy Water Music Festival. The event of this kind is the only major regional musical event in an isolated reserve, north of Sioux Lookout, Ontario.

The Muddy Water Music Festival itself runs entirely about eighty volunteers. Most or all of the volunteers are young people who arrange everything from setting up the accommodations to nailing down plywood to being M.C.’s for the event.

We all expect, as usual, plane loads of fans from other Nishnawbe-Aski Nation communities creating a population boom at Sandy Lake First Nation. Our relatives, friends and associates also come from across the border from Winnipeg, Wassagamach, St. Theresa Point, Red Sucker Lake and Garden Hill, Manitoba.

It is in this time all the communities who participate that they become one, united and see what we can accomplish through our international language of music.

The Chiefs of Keewaytinook Okimakanak endorsed the application to proceed with gathering data for a sustainable forest license on Friday, June 8. The area in consideration is located south of McDowell Lake. This is one step of many that the chiefs will be undertaking to become economically self-sufficient.

With Peggy Kennedy as our guest speaker, ministering the word of God this summer.

For more Info Write to:
New Life Campmeeting 2001
c/o Pastor Colin Kanate
Weagamow Lake, Ontario
POV-2YO

Or you can email me @ james.benson@knet.on.ca and I'll send you more Info.

Keewaytinook Okimakanak staff and leaders are learning about Fort Severn and the people here by participating in various events. On Monday, June 4, Fort Severn families celebrated their annual spring feast out on the land in a clearing about 15 km northwest of the community. Pictures from the feast and along the Severn provide a small window into the actual event. (for some additional pictures)

On Tuesday, June 5, local Fort Severn band members, Angus Miles and Christine Thomas lead a group of Keewaytinook Okimakanak staff on another wilderness adventure. The experience provided everyone with a greater appreciation for the land and the people who live in this special and unique part of the country. Pictures from this experience show some of the parts of the trip and the awe-inspiring land and environment. (for some additional pictures)

That evening, Angus took a small group of hardy adventurers across the river to the Fort Severn goose camp for an overnight camping experience. Everyone said it was beautiful out there, BUT COLD!!Check out the pictures

Wednesday, June 6 was election day in Fort Severn. Angus took a group of KO staff up river to the first set of falls for exploring and fishing. Check out the pictures

After the results of the community election for chief and council were announced on the community TV channel, a square dance was held in the school gym (on our last evening in Fort Severn and Phyllis' birthday). Check out the pictures

Port Alberni students made it home, but they're sad. Most of us are planning on going back because we had so much fun over there. But we hated the bugs. Most of us came back with bites or wind burn; our parents barley recognized us. LOL.

We talk about stuff that happened on the trip every day. We all loved it there, but the weather was kind of cold. Most of us got our pictures back. Mine turned out perfect. I'm thinking about building a web page so you guys can see how they turned out. But every single one of us loved it there. That's all I have to say. Thanks to all the chaperones for helping us when we were over there. This trip was a big success thanks to Gina. thank you Gina.

by Sidney Dick

Keewaytinook Okimakanak staff travelled to Fort Severn First Nation on Sunday, June 3 for meetings and to participate in the community's spring feast. Check out the Pictures

The usage for the K-Net web site is on an increase with 1,201,050 hits recorded in the month of May. Visitors from all over the world are coming to K-Net to see the different services being developed in the KO First Nations. To see the actual statistics follow these steps: From the K-Net Homepage (http://knet.on.ca) click on the KO Network icon to get to the Kuh-ke-nah Network Operations. Then under Directory, click on Monitoring (http://tech.knet.on.ca/tech/monitoring) and then select "webalizer" and the "knet" folder to see the Usage Statistics for knet.on.ca For more details about each month's activities, just click on the month.

The week of May 28 was Career Fair Week at the elementary school in Keewaywin First Nation. Guests arrived all week long and were invited into each of the classrooms in the school. The students and teachers worked hard to prepare a warm welcome for everyone who was able to attend the Career Week.

Congratulations to everyone in Keewaywin School involved in making this Career Week such a successful experience for everyone.

Check out the pictures

On Thursday May 31, 2001, the new airplane owned by Weagamow Air will be arriving to serve our community. Weagamow has now bought a nine seater plane. Everyone in Weagamow is talking about what they will use the plane for when it arrives ... ..God Bless You all......... ....James.Benson@Weagamow

This baseball tournament is in memory of the late Allan(champion) Crowe whom many of you knew was a very active sportsperson and the late Andy (magic) Day who played with the Punch baseball team (Sandy Lake). They will never be forgotten through their game.

The championship prize is $10,000 and the championship runners up is $5,000. The consolation prize will be $3,000 and consolation runners up is $2,000. Thats why we dubbed it "THE BIG ONE".

If you would like more information on this please call (807) 774-5124 or 774-4583.
Please come and play with us this July 11,12,13,&14.