[caption id="attachment_22372" align="alignleft" width="300"] Margo Mullein and "Darlene" performing a water blessing of Schoharie Creek, Sat., Aug. 25, 2012. Photo by Jess Puglisi.[/caption]

WGXC's Jess Puglisi reports Prattsville's MudFest began Saturday afternoon with a preview version of "Water Water Everywhere," intended to be a youth theater production, which will debut later this year, or early next. The subject is the reaction to and aftermath of Prattsville's travails from Irene's flooding. Three youth and three adults participated. Margo Mullein directed and coordinated, and Andy Reed, tour guide at the Zadock Pratt Museum, also participated. The performance took place at Young's Agway in Prattsville, and attendance was in excess of 50, close to 100. At the conclusion, Mullein invited members of the public to make flags from sticks and fabric, arrayed on a table. The flags would be offerings during the water blessings ceremony, which began at 5 p.m. in the town square. Most of the audience of the play, plus more people, joined in the square while the auxiliary tent prepared a barbeque. A "multi-indigenous" group of representatives gathered, and introduced their spiritual traditions to the onlookers. A procession formed, and about two dozen people walked down Route 23 to the Schoharie Creek, near the popular swim hole, and blessed the water in the manner dictated by their various traditions. Click here to listen to Jess Puglisi's audio report on the day's events in Prattsville, nearly one year after the floods of the storms associated with Tropical Storm Irene ravaged the town.
PLAY JESS PUGLISI'S NEWS REPORT FROM PRATTSVILLE 11:06