51³Ô¹ÏÍø’s annual Native American Arts and Culture Festival will be held at the Sanford Field House on Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
This festival kicks off the celebration of Native American Heritage Month with a daylong celebration including music, dance, storytelling, art demonstrations and vendors selling unique Native American objects.
The festival is free and open to the public. Door prizes will be offered hourly beginning at 10:30 a.m.
Musical performances will be given by Corn Bred, a 2007 Native American Music Award winner for best Blues recording, and Inca Son, noted for their traditional Andean music and dance and elaborate indigenous costumes.
The Haudenosaunee Singers and Dancers, a troupe of many young dancers, will be performing fast-paced Smoke Dances and Plains Indian style hoop dances, as well as traditional Iroquois social dances in which the audience is invited to participate.
Throughout the day, Native American artisans will demonstrate their crafts, which include bead working, silversmithing, stone sculpting, lacrosse-stick making, antler-carving, and pottery.
Mayan Indian weavers from Guatemala will also demonstrate traditional back-strap weaving techniques and sell colorful hand-woven clothing, bags, shawls and other objects.
Vendors from many Native American communities will offer a wide array of unique craft items for sale, including exquisite jewelry, pottery, baskets, leatherwork, dolls, and musical instruments. Artists will offer sculpture in stone, antler, and clay, as well as prints and paintings.
Native American music CDs and books on Native American topics will also be for sale. Purchases from the Native American artists support their efforts to keep their crafts alive, as well as providing years of enjoyment for the buyer.
While visitors browse and chat with the artists and performers, they may also sample traditional Iroquois corn soup, fry bread, and other foods, as well as assembled-to-order Indian tacos, all of which will be available for purchase throughout the day.
Children will especially enjoy the interactive dancing, storytelling, storybook readings, and coloring, as well as the opportunity to make traditional cornhusk dolls, paper canoes, and bead bracelets with 51³Ô¹ÏÍø students.
The Native American Art and Culture Festival is organized by 51³Ô¹ÏÍø’s Longyear Museum of Anthropology and Native American Studies Program in association with the Native American Student Association.
All are welcome and families are especially encouraged to attend. Follow the signs to the Sanford Field House on Rte. 12B in Hamilton. For more information contact Carol Ann Lorenz of the Longyear Museum at (315) 228-7184.