The classic words by Bill Withers have inspired this year's theme. While we are and always will be rooted in our original theme of Down by the Riverside (read about that here), this year we have chosen another anthem to inspire our gathering.  

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In a time marked by relentless pressure on the most vulnerable among us, the need for healing, resourcing, and strengthening has become urgent. So we lean on one another, turning toward community inspired by the ways of the river waters. Water that moves, that carries, that remembers. Water that does not resist change, but makes a path through it. Water that cleanses—not by erasing what has been, but by holding it, softening it, and letting it pass. 

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We gather by the river, on the ancestral lands of the Schaghticoke, Mohican, and Munsee Lenape Peoples. We come together to strengthen our bonds—across distance, across difference, across time. At the river’s edge, we are invited to sit together, make with our hands, support each other, set down the weight of vigilance and the quiet accumulations of grief and exhaustion.

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Fiber becomes our companion in this process: absorbing, holding, carrying warmth. Like water, it moves between states—raw and spun, loose and structured—teaching us about transformation, resilience, and care. It connects us to the animals, to the land, and to each other, before, during, and long after we gather.

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So it is with joy and gratitude, that I invite you again to gather by the river to enjoy each other, to share our passion, to make together, to lean on each other.