A Night of Cacao & Ecstatic Dance

So, about a month ago now, Sierra DeAngelo and I first sparked the conversation about bringing a Cacao & Ecstatic Dance event to The Gauger House, and this Thursday, that event will unfold. This event is innately very special and connective but since the initial inception of this idea the importance of this night has deepened for me. Last Sunday I lost a close friend of mine, Matthew Holsinger, to cancer after a two and a half year journey where he battled and lived with it. The last time I physically saw Matthew, I visited him in his hospital room at Roswell in Buffalo, and we chatted about how important music and ecstatic dance was to him and about how he was looking forward to leaving that room so that he could get out and move his body around. He had made hundreds of playlists on his Spotify account and after chatting it over with the team, we’ve decided to incorporate music from his playlists into Thursday night’s Dance in tribute. You can read more about some of my memories with Matthew here.

If you’re interested in joining us for this special evening, you can register for the 6-7:30pm Cacao Ceremony portion here. The 7:30-9:30pm Ecstatic Dance part of the night is FREE and open to the public. We will be accepting donation $5 - $10 - $25. For more info, you can visit the FB event page here.

In other news, We have made some updates to Dad Rock,

We are pleased to welcome THE MOVERS as the night’s headliner for Saturday, May 13th.

We’ve also added in a Cacao & Ecstatic Dance at the Lodge to open up the whole thang and we’ve written in the closing of Art Show which is currently on display at The Gauger House: Mischteknik by Sadie & stephe. Also, not listed on this updated poster will be the showing of a film in the Courtyard of The Gauger House (we can’t announce which one just yet due to licensing) as part of our new series, Cult Classics in the Courtyard - Concession to be provided by the super fresh, new exotic snack store that just opened in Oswego, SNAX Enterprises.

Project Lists for Dad Rock!

Painting & Staining/Protecting some newly built structures
This project will span across both properties. We’re having some pre-primed new siding put on an existing addition over at The Gauger House and we need to get those boards painted! It’s a large area and we can use all the hands we can get! We also need to stain/protect a few things at the Lodge that have been built in the last few years with fresh lumber, the Wagon Stage, the Ticket Booth & the General Store/Shack. (I still haven’t decided what product to use for this as I need to do some research, open to suggestions)
We will be accepting brushes, rollers, painters tape, paint (ask me to get specifics), stain/exterior wood protectant & monetary donations for this project.
Building out camping platforms at The Gauger House
As we prepare to welcome work travelers for the duration of the summer, we want to make sure they have a nice DRY area to make camp. We intend to build 4 wooden platforms by our pond behind The Gauger House for this purpose. Jeremiah has already mapped out a material list for me and so we have an idea of how we want to approach this. We could use a handful of folks that are pretty handy around some power tools and strong to help out with this.
We will be accepting lumber, screws, concrete & monetary donations for this project - please contact me if you need specifics
Installing the new 20 x 40 party tent
I am purchasing a new 20 x 40 party tent to be used for our new Country Dining for a Cause, Farm-to-Table Dining Series at The Gauger House. It will also be used for Cult Classic movie night, ecstatic dance events and MORE as we move through the season. We need approximately 6 able-bodied folks to help erect this baby in the Courtyard.
We will be accepting monetary donations for this project.
Finishing up the Wagon Stage Deck!
As many of you have noticed, there been an unfinished deck framed out over to the left of the Wagon Stage for YEARS now and WELL, the time has finally come and we are slapping some pressure treated deck boards on that baby. Prepare for another whole place to hang out and enjoy the music.
We will be accepting screws and monetary donations for this project. (Lumber already acquired!)
Flower Farming on saturdays!
Join Sean & Anna out back of The Gauger House each Saturday of Dad Rock to get your hands dirty planting the seeds of what will be Fay Flower Farm! They’ve asked for 6-10 volunteers each of these days.
General groundskeeping and annual lodge maintenance
There are certain “smaller” tasks we must tackle each spring which include, putting out the lawn furniture and fire pits, raking out the volleyball court, putting up the pool, weeding the gardens, planting veggies and fresh flowers and general cleanup - gathering of fallen branches, tree maintenance, raking of leaves, etc. We will also be organizing the raw material are by the ticket booth and pulling any dead wood to be burned. We also hope to spruce up the communal kitchen. Give it a nice coat of paint, clean up the cabinets and make sure they’re stocked with useful items for everyone to use!
We will be accepting kitchen tools for the communal kitchen, veggie plants for the gardens, flowering plants for around the property and anything else you’d like to add!
Landscaping at The Gauger House
We need to cut down two trees in the front yard of the house and rip out the old, rusty flag pole. This will expose a nice garden bed we have there that could be planted with flowers. We would also like to plant some citronella around our front decks to help keep those pesky skeeters away.
We will be accepting citronella plants and flowers for this project.
And if we magically somehow complete all of these tasks! We’d like to completely pull out and clean the big garage at The Gauger House.
We are planning to build out a flower shop and café to accompany the new flower farm and we could use a little help getting this space under a bit more control.

If you’d like to volunteer your time, materials, monetary donations, or MEALS or some other way that you think will be beneficial, please give me a call or shoot me a text (Gabi) 315.879.0776 - I hope you will join us :)

One last thing I’d like to touch on here,

I’m happy to share that we had a very engaging first art opening here at The Gauger House this past weekend. I’m the worst about taking pics during the actual event or prior to a renovation but here are a few I snapped that night, a handful more I snapped of their art just now and a couple more contributed by the lovely Anna. Bummed you missed the opening? Don’t worry, join us for the closing May 20th, more info on it here.