The Water is Life Festival is an annual event that celebrates our connection to the water and builds power through community so we can work towards living in a holistic way with the water and protect it from those who seek to exploit or endanger it. The festival is held the Saturday before Labor Day in Mackinaw City, MI. Indigenous women are at the heart of planning and executing the Water is Life Festival because, traditionally, Indigenous women are protectors of water. This is a deeply-seated spiritual and functional responsibility.