Erie Canal Songfest
This page is growing and will soon include additional information, artist bios and links for the artists, references, further notes, resources, and video of the concert.
A Canal Bicentennial folk concert performed by Colin Aberdeen, Donna Dennihy, Merlyn Fuller, Colleen Kattau, Jack Manno, Jon Peterson, and Michael Messina-Yauchzy including favorite Erie Canal tunes & original songs by the artists and featuring the premiere of “An Erie Canal Trilogy” & “Crystal of a City,” new historical folk compositions by Michael Messina-Yauchzy recognizing the indigenous Onondaga Nation people and land in our shared history. The free concert was held on July 30, 2025. Your donation can support current post-production on a professional video by Ben Cleeton. Please donate at eriecanalmuseum.org and put “Songfest” in the comment box.
This project is made possible through the CNY Arts Grants for Regional Arts and Cultural Engagement regrant program thanks to a New York State Senate Initiative supported by the NYS Legislature, the Office of the Governor and administered by the New York State Council on the Arts and with support from the NYS Canalway Corporation and the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor.
Songfest Links
“AN ERIE CANAL TRILOGY”
1. “Erie, So Fair to See”
“Morning, So Fair to See”–Inspiration for and original melody of “Erie, So Fair to See”
2. “The Day We Filled the Erie Canal (Erie Canal Blues)”
Sources include:
Jake Haiwhagai’i Edwards of the Onondaga Nation and Dr. Philip P. Arnold of Syracuse University and the Indigenous Values Initiative in the Erie Canal Museum video, Sacred Waters: The Trauma of the Erie Canal, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4yystxtIoM.
Renée Barry & Lemir Teron (2023): “Visualising Heritage: a critical discourse analysis of place, race, and nationhood along the Erie Canal,” Local Environment, https://doi.org/10.1080/13549839.2023.2173731.
Expanding Narratives: The Erie Canal and Beyond, a webinar organized and moderated by Renée Barry for the Preservation League of New York State. https://www.preservenys.org/blog/expanding-narratives-the-erie-canal-and-beyond.
The Onondaga Nation, www.onondaganation.org
“Thousands partied in the streets as Syracuse filled in the Erie Canal, which ‘severed’ the city,” by Jonathan Croyle, Syracuse Post-Standard/Syracuse.com, updated Jan. 25, 2024. https://www.syracuse.com/living/2022/02/thousands-partied-in-the-streets-as-syracuse-filled-in-the-erie-canal-which-severed-the-city-photos.html?outputType=amp.
3. “Floating Ideas”
Inspired, in part, by the WCNY/PBS documentary “Floating Ideas: How the Erie Canal Helped Shape America.”
https://www.pbs.org/video/floating-ideas-how-the-erie-canal-helped-shape-america-4tivd9/
KEY RESOURCES
Brighten the Chain
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=rjhe3BCmPHI
Crystal of a City
Original demo recording of “Crystal of a City,” written and performed by Michael Messina-Yauchzy and accompanied by Jon Peterson on guitar.