Beloveds!
Spring has sprung in the lush green mountains of Western North Carolina, and we are starting to prepare for a beautiful, wrenching, and sacred midsummer celebration of the life of Beatriz Carmen Mendoza. Once again, Bea’s incomparable spirit draws us together! A small team of friends and family is joining forces to create and hold this space with you all.
Bea’s Celebration of Life will happen on July 5-7th at Sparklebark Farm: 180 Stoney Knob Rd. Weaverville, NC 28787.
A note on tone:
let the beauty you love be what you do, there are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground
-rumi
We gather to grieve our beloved and celebrate, both. We expect that the weekend will be glorious and affecting; for many of us, it will undoubtedly be emotionally intense. Bea’s community, impact, and web of loves is broader and wider than we will ever know. And our relationships to her vary greatly. Many of us have known each other for ages and Bea her entire life, and many of us know her from various eras and may be meeting each other for the first time. For some she is our only link or commonality with each other. We are all surviving the loss of a beloved; for some of us, this loss has impacted everything in our daily lives and family. We want to encourage everyone to show up in your fullness for this gathering, and to make space for your own and each others’ sadness, grief, anger, and mourning as well as joy and celebration. Let’s take good care of ourselves and our own needs so we can be intentional and generous in how we show up for others.
program& CEREMON
Friiday Lunch: 12:30-2 pm
Friday Shabbat Dinner: Shabbat begins at 6 pm, Dinner will follow right after, around 6:45 pm
Friday Night Campfire: Around 8 pm. After Shabbat there will be a sing-a-long and story sharing. Bring a poem, song or story to share about our beloved, and a musical instrument if you have any!
Saturday Morning- 9:30am-10:30am- HIP HOP DANCE CLASS at DANCECLUB with instructor Ilyssa (Bea’s favorite)! This was Bea’s favorite exercise class and on this Saturday they will be playing some of Bea’s favorite songs.
Saturday Excursion: 11 am
Saturday Lunch: 12:30-2 pm
Saturday Ceremony: 4 pm. Please bring a sacred object of some type to offer to the altar. It can be something that reminds you of Beatriz or something that represents something that you love about her.
Saturday Dinner: to follow, around 6:30 pm
Saturday night: Around 8 pm. Dance Party with local brass band and Celebration of Life Under the Stars -- we encourage you all to dress up as you see fit in honor of our casually-fabulous, petticoat-loving friend!
Sunday Brunch: 11 am
Sunday Clean-Up: Begins at 1 pm
housing & TRANSPORTATION:
If you indicated on your registration form that you need a ride from the airport, housing assistance, or a place to camp at Sparklebark and haven’t yet heard from us, we may have inadvertently missed you! Please contact Shannon by June 28 @ szambricki@gmail.com.
parking
Parking at Sparklebark is VERY limited. A neighbor has generously agreed to lend us the use of a parking lot farther down Stoney Brook Road for the duration of the weekend. We’ve borrowed a van and will be shuttling people back and forth. We will send out the address for this lot the week of the gathering!
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KIDS space
We will have a comfy and fun kid and family drop-in and hang out corner, and will have a couple kid-competent folks there creating opportunities for kids to play. This isn’t formal childcare, but parents are welcome to find each other here and team up for kidcare support. If you’d like to offer supplies or time to the kidspace or have any questions about accessing it for your family, please email Juniper at junebugodell@gmail.com.
check in & volunteering
When you arrive, we will invite you to check in and let us know you’ve made it. If we haven’t already reached out to you with a specific volunteer request ahead of time, we’ll have a volunteer board so you can sign up for specific shifts in the kidspace, kitchen, shuttle van, decorating, art or grounds beautification teams. You can also post any offerings you’d like to make to others: for example, “Swimming hole trip Sunday morning! Sign up here if interested!” Your work, time and offerings will be critical to making this celebration possible. We’re counting on you! Any advance questions about volunteering, please email Arielle Narva at ariellenarva@gmail.com
art space
The art space will be open much of the time throughout the weekend. We’ll be making art using processes Bea loved, including dying fabric with natural materials and silkscreening images of her drawings onto fabric flags to decorate Sparklebark and send home with you at the end of the weekend. If you’d like to screen her drawings onto your clothes or other fabric, please bring them with you! 100% cotton works best. Please email Emily at emilymsimons@gmail.com, or text 207 756 9714 with any questions.kids space
financial contributionsMany of you have generously offered to contribute financially to this gathering. Thank you! To donate you can send money directly to Zac via Paypal (zacsinger@gmail.com) or bring a check or cash to the gathering! We’re also grateful for donations of food, drink, or loans of materials -- please see below.
we need some more goodies! PLEASE HELP!
Many of you have generously offered to contribute financially to this gathering. Thank you! To donate you can send money directly to Zac via Paypal (zacsinger@gmail.com) or bring a check or cash to the gathering! We’re also grateful for donations of food, drink, or loans of materials -- please see below.
We’re still looking to borrow the following items:
6-8 foot folding tables
Pop up tents!
Clean and dry coolers! And/or other food storage containers. The bigger the better :)
Beautiful tablecloths
Outdoor lighting (twinkle lights etc. -- in good working order)
Stuff for the kidspace
Extension cords!
Folding chairs / camp chairs
Nice sharp kitchen knives
We’d gratefully accept non-returnable donations of:
Old bedsheets or fabric for cutting up and printing on
Propane
Nice booze -- so we can make special fancy herbal cocktails!
Herbal donations welcome! Tulsi, Hibiscus, Mint, Lemongrass, Nettles, Dried Rose Petals!
Snacks, special yummy treats, Bea-style
What else ya got? Please reach out with offers!
If you can help us access or bring any of these materials, please contact Meshell at mossymapletree@gmail.com. We WILL put people’s names on items to ensure we can get them back to you!
PACKING LIST:
Summary of things you might want to bring:
100% cotton clothes to silkscreen on
Offerings for the Altar (including photos!)
A poem, song or story for the campfire
Your instrument(s)
Dress Up Clothes for the Party
Campchair or blanket for sitting on if you’re local or driving
Financial donations, made out to Zac Singer
Hey, it’s summer! Water bottle, Hat, Sunblock, bug spray/oil, cool clothes and warm layers for nighttime, raingear, towel & bathing suit, boots for mud/outdoors time, etc. etc.
Materials to donate or lend (see list above)
Don’t forget your camping gear!
Thank you for reading this far :) We look forward to being with you. And just a reminder: we ask explicitly that every one of us does our best to respect where folks are, practice warmth and directness with each other, expect some degree of messiness and imperfection, take space/breaks when we need them, and pitch in to make something beautiful together. Let’s be brave with each other! Let’s extend generosity! It’s another way we can honor our bad ass beloved Beatriz Carmen Mendoza.