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Music Fest Signals Summer In Wakefield

Regional bands and vendors bring good vibes Memorial Day weekend

A new tradition is coming to South County this Memorial Day weekend. The Wakefield Music Festival, coinciding with the first RiverFire of the season, will feature the best local music, costumed characters for the kids, an air guitar competition, barbecue with a Jamaican twist, local brews, and more.

PHIL’S Main Street Grill and the outdoor stage at the Contemporary Theater Company will host the event. “Credit goes to the original downtown merchants who held block parties 20 years ago,” says Chris Simpson, executive director of the Contemporary Theater Company. “We’re honored to carry on the tradition and celebrate all the natural, cultural, and historic beauty downtown Wakefield has to o er.”

The festival’s goal is to bring the community outdoors to enjoy the bike path, the Saugatucket River, downtown Wakefield shops, and a range of entertainment. Artisans and vendors will be selling their wares along the river and PHIL’S will serve barbeque, wine, South Kingstown-based Whalers and Shaidzon beers, and more.

The Talking Dreads, a popular reggae act from southern Connecticut, headline the festival, taking the stage at 8pm. Led by Tom Tom Club veteran Mystic Bowie, the band blends rhythms from his native Jamaica with Talking Heads songs, including hits “Psycho Killer” and “Burning Down the House.” Local bands James and the Giants and Guess Method will also play, with music for kids and families beginning at 2pm with Keith Munslow & Friends.

The Wakefield Music Festival takes place May 27, with rain date May 28. Tickets are $10, and kids under 10, active-duty military personnel, and veterans are welcome at no charge. Wakefield, ContemporaryTheaterCompany.com

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By Ken Abrams

Strength in Numbers

A support and empowerment group brings together women entrepreneurs in Westerly

Every budding entrepreneur starts their journey with a sparkling vision and eye on the prize –plus an understanding of the slew of challenges before them. While networking options are available, Ashley Bowne noticed that support groups are harder to come by, leaving many new business owners feeling like they’re on their own. So she decided to start her own group, specifically geared toward women in and around Westerly, called Entrepreneur Co ee.

“I wanted the opportunity to collaborate with other business owners in the area, be able to swap ideas, and have that support and camaraderie that you want in business,” Bowne says. As a realtor servicing Rhode Island and Connecticut, she knows first-hand the difficulties that face entrepreneurial women. She took the leap into real estate in 2013, and after getting her license, worked on building her business while simultaneously growing a family. The juggling act was no easy feat, and Bowne found herself seeking a support system of others who could understand and relate to what she was going through.

Entrepreneur Coffee poured its first proverbial cup in the fall of 2021 with a simple Facebook post to measure interest. When she received more positive responses than she expected, she scheduled a meet-up, and the group was born.

Now, members spanning a range of industries meet once a month in an encouraging space where they can share experiences, celebrate wins, discuss challenges, and float strategies, along with hosting more directed conversations on topics like advertising, streamlining processes, and balancing family life with work. “It’s not a networking group,” Bowne says, emphasizing the focus is on support. “But naturally, networking is a byproduct – there’s been a tremendous amount of collaboration within the group.”

Through the help of sponsors and donations, Bowne also organizes creative quarterly events to help give new entrepreneurs a leg up – through, for instance, a mini-photoshoot for business branding – or just to boost morale and de-stress with a beach party or outing. Entrepreneur Coffee has also hosted two drives benefiting the Jonnycake Center of Westerly. “My goal is always to bring something of value, serve the community, or celebrate each other and have fun together,” Bowne says, and to grow in numbers – any woman who owns a business or is considering starting her own is encouraged to join. “We are welcoming, we want you here, we’re inclusive.”

Moving forward, Bowne says, “I just want to see all of us continue to come together, support each other, be able to serve our community in bigger and better ways as we all get more established, collaborate with each other, and become a force to be reckoned with.” After all, she says, “We’re all stronger and better together.” To learn more or join the group, visit Facebook: Entrepreneur Co ee or email Bowne at AshleyBowneRealtor@gmail.com.

RI James Beard Award Semifinalist Serves Up Indigenous Foods and Stories in Charlestown

The James Beard Foundation has nominated three Rhode Island chefs as semifinalists for the honor of best chef in the Northeast region. Among them is Sherry Pocknett, a member of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe whose cooking showcases the ingredients and traditions of local indigenous cuisine, with a focus on comfort foods.

A couple years ago, chef Sherry Pocknett was driving through Charlestown after a ceremony at the Narragansett Indian Tribe reservation, looking for a gas station. She came across a small, red building at a fork in the road, surrounded mostly by woods and a few homes. A sign said the space was available for lease.

“I said, ‘Oh, that’s a cute little place,’” Pocknett said. “And I came back and wrote the number down and called, and we were in here the next month, I think. Took a while to open up. It doesn’t happen overnight. But we did it. Now we’re going on our third year.”

Pocknett’s restaurant is called Sly Fox Den Too. In the few years it’s been open, the restaurant has gotten a lot of attention and praise. It draws in regulars, summer vacationers, and foodies who’ve seen the restaurant featured in media coverage.

The menu features everything from spicy firecracker shrimp and grits, to bison bratwurst over Indian fry bread with peppers and onions, to a vegan bowl with corn cakes and three sisters rice.

Seafood is prominent on the menu. Depending on the season, you might find smoked salmon, soft shell crab, seared bluefish, quahogs, scallops, littleneck clams, mussels, and more. On a recent visit, Pocknett reflected on her career and cooked a recipe for black sea bass.

“They’re a New England fish, and they’re delicious,” she said. “They’re the most flavorful fish, I think. My favorite. They’re more meaty than cod fish. They’re more flavorful than haddock. And it’s a white fish, and people like white fish. And I like to personally stu these babies.”

Pocknett began by cutting off the fins and clearing the cavities where she’ll fill the bass she bought from a local fish market. She left the heads on and scored the meaty part of the fish with a knife to make it easier to eat when it’s done.

Pocknett then heated up a pan on the stove for chopped celery, peppers, onions, and a slab of butter. She added in thick-cut chunks of cooked lobster meat, and when that was done cooking, she mixed in crushed Ritz crackers.

As she cooked, Pocknett described her path to becoming a chef.

“I grew up on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. I’m a part of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe,” she said. “And we love fish. I grew up in the bay. My dad was a fisherman. My brothers –all fishermen. And we just really loved fish.”

Pocknett said she began cooking around eight years old after she got a Suzy Homemaker [toy oven] as a gift.

“I got it for Christmas and stole everything out of my mother’s refrigerator: deer meat, quahogs, rabbit, whatever it was my father caught,” she said.

Pocknett cooked up meals and gave them to her brothers. “They ate everything,” she said.

Pocknett said you can taste the influence of her Wampanoag background in the seafood dishes at Sly Fox Den Too, and in the inclusion of indigenous, seasonal ingredients.

“Indigenous, meaning right from here,” she said. “Right now, I wouldn’t serve asparagus even though you see asparagus served everywhere. It grows somewhere. But I only do asparagus at asparagus season, in April to May.”

Pocknett filled the black sea bass with lobster and slid the fish into a 400-degree oven. After about 15 minutes or so, she pulled out the pan with stu ed bass for tasting.

“Isn’t it yummy?” she said. “Yummy, yummy.”

When asked what she loves about cooking, Pocknett said, “I love feeding people.”

“It makes them happy. It educates them,” she said. “If someone hasn’t had deer meat before, you know, deer’s indigenous. It was the meat [we ate]. We didn’t have pigs. We didn’t have chickens, or we didn’t have cows before the Mayflower got here. And for us to teach people about what was here and how we cooked, it’s a great joy for someone to say, ‘Oh, wow, really? I didn’t know that.’”

“And that’s just like educating people, so that they’re going to end up educating other people and telling other people the story,” Pocknett said. “And it’s just a great way to do it, through food and stories.”

Pocknett learned much of what she knows about cooking from her mom and grandmother. She didn’t go to culinary school. She worked in her uncle’s kitchen when she was younger and learned by watching cooking shows on TV.

Pocknett has cooked for powwows and run a catering business for years. Before opening her own restaurant, she worked at the Pequot Cafe at the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe’s museum in Connecticut, helping transform the menu to include dishes like frog legs, corn chowder, and turtle soup.

When she found out she was a regional James Beard Award semifinalist, the news was unexpected.

“Somebody called me and said, ‘You got nominated for the James Beard.’ I was like, ‘I did?’” Pocknett said. “I was shocked. Honestly, I was shocked. I mean, I’m just a smalltime girl. You know, I’m just a small-time girl that loves cooking by the seasons.”

Pocknett said the nomination has brought in new visitors who want to try Sly Fox Den Too. But even with the success and recognition, she said running the restaurant has come with challenges.

“It’s very hard. And this is a small restaurant, and it’s hard to keep afloat, because you have your ups and your downs. We’re getting popular, though. And we’re getting more busy,” she said.

“Right now I have cancer. I have breast cancer. So I’m not even cooking, my daughter’s cooking. And I’m lucky that they learned everything from [when they were] little kids, because we’ve been on the road for different powwows, and they’ve been catering with me their whole life, since they were eight years old. And they’re really, really good at it. So I’m lucky that I have them to, you know, run this restaurant while I get better. And then that’s upward from there, we hope.”

Pocknett has a big project ahead of her. She’s working to open another restaurant in Preston, CT – a plan that’s been in the works since before opening Sly Fox Den Too. It will be much larger than the small, diner-style space in Charlestown. The total capacity is nearly 200 people.

“My youngest daughter and I will be over there. We’ll have to hire, of course, a big, big crew to go in there. But we got a lot of work to do before we can open,” Pocknett said. “We’re hoping to open within the next six months.”

“But I love cooking, and I love what I do. And I think my kids love it too, or else I don’t think they’d be here,” she said. “And they both are really good cooks. I’m extremely happy and proud of them.”

NOTE: On March 29, the James Beard Foundation announced that chef Pocknett is one of the five finalists for the regional award. This is one of three stories on the Rhode Island semifinalists for the James Beard award for best chef in the Northeast region. Find stories on Milena Pagán of Little Sister, and Rob Andreozzi of Pizza Marvin at ThePublicsRadio.org. This article was originally posted on March 13, 2023. Alex Nunes can be reached at ANunes@ThePublicsRadio.org

To submit your Rhody Gem, please email Elyse@ProvidenceOnline.com

Shaun Rock Art Gallery

Art Gallery

We’re on the hunt for Rhody Gems! Every neighborhood has that secret, hidden, cool and unusual, or hole-in-the-wall spot that locals love. Email or tag us on social media using #RhodyGem to suggest yours, and we might just feature it!

What it is: A fine art gallery

Where to find it: Across from South Kingstown Town Beach, next to the Matunuck Laundromat.

What makes it a Rhody Gem?

Since 2017, the Shaun Rock Art Gallery has not only been a beacon of original art for patrons who flock to Matunuck each summer, but also a magnet for local jazz musicians like the Jazzomats, the gallery’s house band named for the business next door. Shaun Rock, a professional artist and arts educator, and his wife Barbara are sole proprietors of the space, which displays his oil and watercolor paintings, most notably his landscapes inspired by the surrounding environment. “The Gallery has also galvanized a group of local landscape artists, who have become known as the Matunuck Art League, focused on plein air (outdoor) painting to capture the beauty and heritage of South County’s unique landscape,” says Rock. In addition to classes and workshops, Beyond the Beach: Interpretations of South County’s Coastal Environment and Communities by the Matunuck Art League starts next month with an opening reception on Saturday, June 3, 4-8 pm. Works by Thomas Ardito, Lorraine Bromley, Ted Foster, Robert Nardi, Sheila Newquist, and Rock will be featured. Adds Rock, “with music by the Jazzomats!”

Shaun Rock Art Gallery

706 Matunuck Beach Road, South Kingstown MatunuckArt.weebly.com

Facebook: Shaun Rock Art Gallery

Rhody Pets of the Month

Looking to welcome a new furry friend into your home? Adopt, don’t shop! Shelters around South County and the state have dogs and cats ready to find their forever homes. Here are three pets ready to meet you, or reach out to the shelters to learn about even more adoptees.

If you have been thinking of adopting or if you know of an animal in need, please contact Karen directly at animaltalk1920@gmail.com.

Stretch And Slinky

This bonded pair of dashing twoyear-old Doberman mix dogs, Stretch (male, pictured left) and Slinky (female, right), must be adopted together. Their dream home would include a large private fenced-in yard where they can run freely and play. Though friendly, these pups do like to bark. They’re excited to meet a family they can call their own – give the shelter a call to schedule a visit.

Exeter Animal Shelter 294-2754

If you’re seeking a devoted canine friend, Mabel is the perfect match –she loves everyone she meets! A threeyear-old shepherd/hound mix with the most beautiful eyes and the best smile, Mabel is playful, loyal, and will make an amazing companion. While she likes other dogs, she’d rather have a home all to herself so she gets all of your love and attention.

Save One Soul Animal Rescue League Wakefield

Info@sosarl.org

• SOSARL.org

Jenny is just one of three special needs kitties currently available at the Warwick Animal Shelter. They all came in together needing medical attention and unfortunately Jenny had to have one of her eyes removed. That hasn’t stopped this fouryear-old Calico from being an infectiously sweet, happy, and playful cat, though she’s a little shy. Jenny is looking for a loving home where she gets all of the attention she so deserves.

Warwick Animal Shelter 468-4377

Greener Gardening

The sight of flowers blooming, branches budding new leaves, and songbirds singing this season inspires many to take up a trowel and carve out their own outdoor oases, but despite the aesthetic appeal of greenery, green gardening practices don’t always go hand in hand with the vistas we’re used to viewing.

“I’ve become more aware of the environmental value of various plants and the destructiveness of others over time,” shares Sally Johnson, phoning from her tenth-of-anacre yard she’s transformed to host more than 200 species of flora and fauna. She interrupts her train of thought every so often to describe the quarreling swans and geese she’s observing or a cardinal on the feeder. “Increasingly people want to do the right thing.”

A master gardener and founder of Ecoastal Design based in Riverside, Johnson performs site consultations with a focus on native plants, stormwater challenges, and climate change resiliency. “If they’re coming to me, it’s generally because they’re interested in increasing the environmental value of their property while maintaining something that’s also attractive to look at.” Her work extends to public spaces, too, like a project planting a native pollinator garden at Vintner Playground along the East Bay Bike Path, transforming an area infested with invasive species into a thriving (and beautiful) habitat.

Sustainable growing embodies a range of practices both simple and transformative, from the basic acts of not using chemical-based fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides to re-landscaping lawns into native plant habitats. Heather Evans, a former marketing executive who launched the Dear Avant Gardener blog, shares a surprising fact: “5 percent of all of the pollution in the country, according to the EPA, is from lawn mowers” and other garden equipment.

Frustrated by the abundance of online advice promoting trends damaging to the environment, the Bristol resident channeled her research and writing skills into Dear Avant Gardener , offering guidance for rewilding yards and greenspaces.

Rewild Your Yard

Ask your local nursery about native plant species, and mark May 13 and June 3 on your calendar for Rhode Island Wild Plant Society’s Native Plant Sales at Casey Farm in Saunderstown and the URI Botanical Gardens in Kingston, respectively. Pro-tip from RIWPS: Grow in multi-layered landscapes of trees, shrubs (like the pollinator-friendly Red Columbine), perennials, and ground covers (think Wild Strawberry), and aim for biodiversity that benefits wildlife.

Find these native species at Blue Moon Farm

Perennials in Wakefield:

GOLDEN ALEXANDERS: Yellow flowers bloom early season and are hosts to Black Swallowtail butterflies.

CLUSTERED MOUNTAIN MINT: Mid-season bloomers with small white flowers attracting a wide assortment of pollinators.

ASTERS AND GOLDENROD: Both bloom late season and provide white, blue, and yellow hues to a fall garden.

“Ecological gardening is about establishing and managing a plant community that thrives naturally in an area and once established, it requires relatively little work and inputs,” says Evans, whereas traditional American horticulture stems from colonialism, when European settlers brought over ornamental species, but often to the detriment of wild, ecologically valuable species once abundant in the region.

Sowing The Seed

The movement toward prioritizing native plants naturally starts with the seeds. The RI Wild Plant Society recently launched their five-year ReSeeding Rhode Island plan to make wild seeds native to Ecoregion 59 (the Northeastern Coastal Zone encompassing our state) more available, though the work of harvesting native seeds has been culminating since 2010 when field botanist Hope

Checking for seed

Leeson coordinated RI Natural History Survey’s biodiversity e ort Rhody Native.

“Genetically native plants are local to a specific ecoregion. The seeds of these plants are wild collected and contain the representative genes present in the wild populations of the region,” explains Leeson. “The first propagated generation of the collected seed is used for habitat restoration or diversification in order to maintain as

Find Your Green Thumb

URI Master Gardener programming seeks to make sustainable practices accessible for any level of gardener. Here’s a few things to consider when plotting your posies this season.

Start With Soil

In addition to keeping food scraps out of landfills, composting has soil benefits. “You’re helping recycle wasted food, which avoids methane emissions and saves space in our landfill, which is set to close in 2040 with no viable alternative. In turn, the compost serves as a soil amendment, which helps soil retain moisture, sequester carbon, and retain nutrients,” says URI’s Venturini.

Clean Waterways

“Everything you apply in the yard or garden can impact our waterways. By diagnosing plant problems instead of reaching for the chemicals, we can ensure our water stays clean,” says Venturini. Leaving grass clippings on the ground reduces the need for fertilizer, and “plants add texture to the landscape and slow down runo before it reaches waterways, allowing it to infiltrate back into the groundwater aquifer.”

Take A Class

Find workshops and resources via the URI Cooperative Extension, plus events like a Native Plant Talk in June, Gardening with the Masters Tours, and more. For inspiration, visit Kettle Pond or Trustom Pond in Charlestown to see native plant habitats maintained by volunteers. Web. URI.edu/coopext/events much of that genetic diversity as possible.”

The phenotypes expressed in these plants –such as physical traits and flowering times – ensure optimum adaptive potential and that other native organisms, such as pollinator bees, are able to interact with the new plants propagated from wild seeds.

The Rhody Native initiative created a local model for reintroducing genetically native plants in habitat restoration and garden diversification. “There is much more awareness now of the importance of native plants for ecological reasons, as well as an understanding of the value of genetically diverse seeds,” says Leeson.

URI Master Gardeners programming also leads with the broader ecosystem in mind. “Native plants serve as the basis of the food web,” says state program leader Vanessa Venturini. “There are countless examples of the interconnectedness of nature. By selecting species of plants that are native to our ecoregion, we can help improve the survival of the other living things around us.”

Beyond The Hedgerow

Sustainable landscaping isn’t just about native flora and home gardens; when it comes to city greenspaces, Providence-based Groundwork RI employs a many-pronged approach to equitable public spaces and creating job opportunities in the environmental services sector.

“The landscaping we do is not the usual ‘mow and blow’ lawn care people typically think of. It isn’t keeping a lawn perfectly manicured and green year-round to try and look like the English countryside,” says executive director Amelia Rose. Partnering with local experts in the field, they uplift practices like planting that fights erosion, keeping green infrastructure installations in good condition, stormwater management, incorporating native species, and low-input agriculture.

Through job training funded by EPA Brownfields Job Training Grant, Groundwork RI collaborates with other agencies to work with unemployed or underemployed adults, justice system-impacted workers, and anyone seeking new opportunities – and many who graduate from the program are hired by Groundwork RI to continue the work.

In the same way that eco-gardening supports insect life – which Evans of Dear Avant Gardener emphasizes is the basis of our terrestrial ecosystem – sustainably built environments serve as essential human habitats. “Creating and preserving green space is really an act of community-building,” says Rose. “It helps people feel glad to live in the community they’re in, creates places for people to gather and socialize,

Resources

Blue Moon Farm Perennials BlueMoonFarmPerennials.com

Dear Avant Gardener DearAvantGardener.com

Ecoastal Design EcoastalDesign.com

Homegrown HomegrownPVD.com

Groundwork Rhode Island GroundWorkRI.org

Prickly Ed’s Cactus Patch and Native Plant Emporium PricklyEds.com

Rhode Island Natural History Survey RINHS.org

Rhode Island Wild Plant Society RIWPS.org

URI Master Gardener Program Web.URI.edu/mastergardener and to cool off in hot summer months.”

Echoing the rewards of rewilding, Evans shares that on an aesthetic level, the eye becomes attuned to the more authentic look of wild plants over time. “Abandon what you’re doing to force your yard to be perfect. Mow less. Leave leaves on your garden beds, stop using pesticides and fertilizer,” she says. “I think an important part of the aesthetic experience of an ecological landscape is that it’s alive; the buzzing bees, butterflies, and birds are all part of it.”