South American folkloric musical group, SOLAZO, showcased at Inaugurual Freshwater Folk Festival, on October 1, 2005 at White Sulphur Springs National Fish Hatchery. Members include Pepe Aranda, from Chile, Kike Rodriguez, from Chile, Miguel Benitez from Argentina, and Janiah Allen, raised in Florida and Ecuador. Photographer, Catherine Gatenby.

SOLAZO members playing traditional South American musical insturments, at the Freshwater Folk Festival on October 1, 2005 at White Sulphur Springs National Fish Hatchery. Miguel Benitez is playing the charanga, traditionally fashioned from the body of an armadillo. Pepe is playing the trutruka, a long hose-like instrument that stems from the horn of an animal. Janiah is playing the Bombo Drum.

Pepe Aranda, SOLAZO's band leader, playing the rondadores, a flute-like instrument native to the Andes Mountains. SOLAZO played at the Freshwater Folk Festival on October 1, 2005 at White Sulphur Springs National Fish Hatchery. photographer, Catherine Gatenby.

Visitors enjoying South American music played by SOLAZO at the Freshwater Folk Festival on October 1, 2005 at the White Sulphur Springs National Fish Hatchery. Photographer, Ellen Broudy.

Friends of the White Sulphur Springs National Fish Hatchery (WSSNFH) hosted the Inaugural Freshwater Folk Festival, Saturday, October 1, 2005.  The event took place on the grounds of the National Fish Hatchery in WSS from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m, all activities were free.  Over 1000 visitors attended the event.

The White Sulphur Springs National Fish Hatchery (WSSNFH) is located in the heart of the Appalachian Mountains in Greenbrier County, West Virginia.  The hatchery was established in 1900 to produce fish for our nation’s waters.  Over the years the mission of the hatchery has expanded from rainbow trout production to aquatic ecosystem restoration.  In 2000, a rare and endangered species program commenced, focusing on freshwater mussels.  Mussels, the most endangered fauna in North America, are extremely important to the nation’s rivers and streams as they maintain water quality, improve habitats, and provide a healthy aquatic environment for fish to live and reproduce. 

In 2005, a Friends group was formed, to help support and enhance the WSSNFH’s role as a center for excellence in science, in stream restoration and endangered species restoration, in providing disease-free rainbow trout to millions of fishermen throughout the US, and in providing recreational opportunities for visitors and residents of Greenbrier County, WV.  Friends of the WSSNFH, therefore, launched the Inaugural Freshwater Folk Festival, providing a unique recreational, educational, and cultural experience for all to enjoy.  It was a beautiful blue-sky day in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, sunny with temperatures in the mid-70’s.  Approximately 1000 visitors paraded through the hatchery that day, enjoying festivities that the hatchery staff and Friends had planned for them. 

Visitors enjoyed South American sounds by SOLAZO hailing all the way from Argentina, Chile, and Ecuador.  In addition to mesmerizing listeners with their music, SOLAZO taught listeners about traditional South American musical instruments designed by native peoples to mimic the musical sounds of nature.  These instruments included the charanga, traditionally fashioned from the body of an armadillo; the trutruka, a long hose-like instrument that stems from the horn of an animal; the rondandores, a flute-like instrument; the cultrun drum and the Bombo drum; all traditional instruments of present and ancient cultures of the Andes Mountains.  Participants also enjoyed beautiful drumming and dance demonstrations by Red River, a Native American educational and drum group.  Festival-goers were entertained as well with old-time mountain music by the Jugbusters, traditional ballads by American Roots, Appalachian folk music by West Virginia’s own Kate Long, and fun swingin’ tunes by Footnotes and Friends. 

Expert biologists and research scientists provided interesting and informative lectures in the WSSNFH Visitor Center on “Our Nation’s Biodiversity”,  “Effects of Disturbances and Historical Landscapes on our Southern Appalachian Streams”, and “Rare and Endangered Fishes of Southwestern United States”.  Biologists from a number of natural resource agencies and non-profit organizations enthralled our children and adults with demonstrations on snakes, fishes, freshwater mussels, aquatic insects, and efforts to restore habitat along riparian stream corridors in West Virginia.  Attendees learned how to tie flies from the local Trout Unlimited chapter, proper fly-fishing techniques from a local fly-fishing enthusiast, and how to make a traditional fishing hook and pole by one of Red River’s Native American leaders.  Lastly, a wall of environmental poster art was displayed on the outside of one of our fish rearing buildings.  Over 100 posters were displayed from 5^th and 6^th graders in Greenbrier County, WV.  These posters represented the messages and images that the students wished to convey to their families and community on water quality and freshwater resources, based upon what they had learned from lectures delivered to them by hatchery staff at their schools.

A variety of food items were available for purchase, including traditional southern pulled barbecue pork, smoked onsite at the hatchery, traditional southern fried chicken, good old standbys such as hot dogs and chili, and lots of delicious homemade sweets and pies for dessert.  Visitors were treated to the beauty of natural history art sold by a variety of artists and craftsmen. 

The Festival was a huge success, and enjoyed by all who attended and worked to make it possible.  Thank you calls were received at the hatchery throughout the following week thanking Staff for hosting the festival, for the insightful tours, the educational lectures and hands-on demonstrations, and for bringing such beautiful music to White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.  Indeed, even the musicians from SOLAZO expressed their deep gratitude for being invited to such an event, where they too learned about riverine ecology.  They asked that they be invited back again, so that they could help carry the message to save our rivers, sharing songs and stories on rivers in Chile and Argentina.

Sponsors of the inaugural Freshwater Folk Festival were:

 Freshwater Champions US Fish and Wildlife Service, White Sulphur Springs Rotary Club, The Greenbrier Sporting Club and Gillespie’s Flowers & Productions.

Freshwater Partners Mr. and Mrs. Robert Q. Jones.

Freshwater Friends Hal and Clare Bredell, The Retreat, and MeadWestvaco;

Freshwater Companions George and Helen Aide, Drs. William and Judy Seifer, Dr. Colleen Merriweather, Mary Leb and Bob Foster, Sita’s Dragonfly Gallery, Dr. Frank and Mary Collins, Dr. Mark Kirk and Dr. Frank Collins.

Freshwater Contributors Sandy Neely, C.P.A.; Judge Tod Kaufman, Law Office of Rachel Hanna, Ronald and Jeanne Scobbo, Dr. Donald and Susan Rollins, Kerry Kleisner-Butchart and James Butchart; Shoshanna Schwimmer, Ellen Broudy, TAG and Annabelle Galyean.

Special thanks to Bill Turner and Sue Rosshirt, Marta Lemley, Barbara Elliott, Kitten’s Korner of WSS, the US Forest Service, National Park Service, West Virginia DNR, Friends of the Lower Greenbrier River, American Fisheries Society, Trout Unlimited, Jennifer Baker and family, Nikalee Foster and friends, Greenbrier River Watershed Association, and White Sulphur Springs Mainstreet Revitalization.         

For additional information, contact the National Fish Hatchery at (304) 536-1361.

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