Celebrating Right Up to the Exact Moment

This year, the exact moment of the summer solstice in Brookhaven is 5:44pm EDT on June 20. And when you join us for our free virtual event, Celebrating Summer Solstice the Native Way!, you’ll connect with the entire CEED community and people from all over Long Island to welcome the summer.

We’ve assembled a fun line-up of meet & greets, nature tours, LIVE animals, and family-friendly music, hosted by CEED Co-founder & Wildlife Biologist, Ranger Eric Powers and Native American Storyteller, Ferdinand “Uaian” Bruno. They’ll guide us and amuse us as we live-cast, right up to the moment of the Solstice. You can register to join the Zoom event below.

4:00-4:20pm: Introduction & Welcome to the Solstice Celebration – Eric and Uaian introduce us to the singing and dancing of the Shinnecock Cultural Performers and some surprise Animal Ambassadors.

4:20-4:45pm: Meet Native Raptors & Native American Storytelling – Naturalists from the Quogue Wildlife Refuge will introduce us to impressive native birds of prey, and Uaian will share a Native American story from the Taino Nation.

4:45-5:10pm: Virtual Tour of Native Plants – Educators from the Long Island Explorium will show off their native plant garden and rain garden, and celebrated native gardener Anthony Marinello explains how to create your own native gardens to foster native plants and animals, and help prevent run-off. Also, amazing music from The New Students, a Long Island-based band blending folk, roots, bluegrass and Americana traditions.

5:10-5:40pm: The Return of the River Otter and More – More incredible music from The New Students. More native Raptors (Birds of Prey) from the educators at Quogue Wildlife Refuge. And citizen scientist, Kevin Walsh tells us the wonderful story of how river otters have found their way back to Long Island! We will also discuss doing conservation projects at home and how to get involved with citizen science.

5:40-5:50pm: Native American Blessing for the Solstice – Chief Harry Wallace of the Unkechaug Nation gives us a special Summer Solstice Blessing, and The New Students provide a musical send-off for this cosmic phenomenon that marks the longest day of the year and the changing of the seasons. 

We hope this special event draws together people from all over Long Island. Welcome the arrival of summer by honoring the culture of Long Island’s Indigenous Peoples and celebrating Summer Solstice customs that highlight native plants and animals. Please join us for all or any part of this special free event, sponsored, in part, with generous funding from Suffolk County. 

We look forward to sharing with you the exact moment of solstice!