SEARSPORT — On Sunday, July 28 Astrig Koltookian Tanguay and her extended family will be hosting their fourth Armenian Summer Picnic at the Searsport Ocean Campground. This unique Maine event offers authentic Armenian food, music and folk dance and attracts locals, summer visitors and Armenians from across New England.
It also makes a dramatic impact on a remote corner of the Middle East.
The Armenian village of Berdavan, which sits close to the border with Azerbaijan, was once famous for its pottery. But the original village was destroyed after the Russian occupation, and its clay pits are booby trapped with land mines. As the village is slowly being rebuilt, a small community center is offering courses in music, dance and other traditional skills including an ambitious pottery program teaching almost 100 children and teenagers to work with clay, and make the unique vessels and other items the village was once known for. The $1,000 raised at the first Armenian picnic bought a whole year’s supply of clay for this pottery program and allowed the teacher to attend university to acquire more skills to benefit the community. All the proceeds from this year’s picnic will go to support and grow the program and buy books for the library.
Astrig and Steve say they could never have foreseen the impact these picnics would have both here in Maine, and in Berdavan. When the idea first occurred to them back in 2022, they were thinking about ways to bring people together after the stress and isolation of the pandemic.
Astrig, whose Armenian grandparents fled to New Hampshire in the early 20th century to escape religious persecution, had happy childhood memories of the wonderful Summer Picnics organized by the new American – Armenian communities as a way to celebrate Armenian culture, the outdoors, and to keep the ‘old’ customs and traditions alive. “Why not hold an Armenian style picnic in Searsport?,” she and her father Zaven Koltookian asked themselves. “Armenian culture is famous for its hospitality, wonderful food, unique music and folk dancing. It’s also a part of the Middle East that most people don’t know much about.”
Family, friends, and Armenian organizations in Maine and beyond all pitched in with enthusiasm, and a new tradition of bringing the Middle East to Maine came into being
At the same time, in addition to hosting a special local event, Astrig wanted to find an organization in Armenia that would benefit from a modest fundraising effort. “As is so often the way among Armenians,” says Astrig “through a friend of a friend we connected with Mariam Mughdusyan, the founder of the Masoor Art House and a contemporary leader/advocate for using art to better the lives of disabled women and children. Mariam and her sister were born in Berdavan but were moved to Yerevan by their mother in search of a more peaceful life. With every visit “home,” Mariam was reminded of how these children of a war torn border town (Berdavan is situated less than a mile from a disputed border with Azerbaijan) needed something creative to focus their attention. Recognizing the ancient tradition of self-sufficiency, Mariam remembered that each village once produced their own pottery for household use and sale at markets. Berdavan was once renowned for its clay pottery. Scraping together personal funds, Mariam made the initial purchase of clay, glaze and a kiln. To get the program off the ground she financed a young woman of the village to go to University explicitly to learn how to teach pottery to children. The Makers Guild of Maine, which celebrates all forms of hand making, had a clear path to support the Berdavan project with the proceeds from the Picnic.
But Astrig was not prepared for the impact this modest funding would have. This spring, inspired partly by the success of the picnics and their reconnection with New England’s thriving Armenian culture, Astrig and her father Zaven decided to make their first ever trip to Armenia. High on their bucket list was a visit to the Bervadan pottery village. It took them six hours to reach the village, which is situated in the Northeast Corner of Armenia, deep in a gorge and surrounded by snow covered mountains. And Astrig describes the visit as life changing. “The children’s passion for clay was palpable,” she says, “But the joy and gratitude our gift had brought to the village was beyond anything we could have imagined. Providing the funds for the pottery was important, indeed crucial, but what meant the most to everyone we talked with was that there were people in Maine who believed in their future and were excited to help them.” Our continued conversations through social media have pushed our journey along even further. As we endeavor to strengthen our partnership, we’ve collaborated with the Armenian Culture and History Association of Greater Maine and are looking to establish a connection between Maine Potters and Armenian Potters that will lead to a large-scale pottery sale and fund an exchange program between these potters who share the common language of clay.
To learn more about Astrig’s visit to Berdavan: https://makersguildmaine.org/berdavan-potter-project/.
To learn more about the 2024 Armenian Picnic hosted at Searsport Shores Ocean Campground:https://makersguildmaine.org/armenian-picnic/.
