CULTURAL CELEBRATION
Saratoga Native American Festival to return this weekend
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. >> The Saratoga Native American Festival returns this weekend with a new location at historic Congress Park.
Presented by the Ndakinna Education Center, in cooperation with Saratoga Arts and the Saratoga Peace Fair, the event will be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 22 throughout Congress Park in Saratoga Springs. Admission to the festival is free, though donations are accepted.
Featuring music, dance, storytelling, crafts and more, “It’s a true celebration of Native American culture,” said Eric Jenks, associate director of the Ndakinna Education Center, which is an affiliate of the Greenfield Review Literary Center.
Based at the Marion F. Bowman Bruchac Memorial Nature Preserve in Greenfield Center, The Ndakinna Education Center is a nonprofit and charitable organization offering programs, performances, camps, field trips, and special events focusing on regional Native American understandings, Adirondack culture, martial arts, wilderness skills and awareness of the natural world.
The Saratoga Native American Festival is one of the center’s largest annual events.
Founded in 2006, the Saratoga Native American Festival was previously held at different locations within the Saratoga Spa State Park, most recently at the National Museum of Dance and Hall of Fame.
Now moving to a new site, “We are especially pleased to be able to offer our event in Congress Park,” a press release from event organizers stated. “For decades, Congress Park was the site of an annual Native American summer encampment where Iroquois and Abenaki craftspeople sold their handmade wares. The fact that a Native American presence is returning after more than 100 years is truly worthy of note. We are grateful to the Saratoga Springs Department of Public Works for their wonderful support.”
This year’s festival will begin with a traditional Opening Address delivered in Mohawk and English by Tom Sakokwenionkwas Porter, a member of the Mohawk Nation Council of Chiefs and the spokesman and spiritual leader of the Mohawk community of Kanatsiohareke. Porter will also give a Closing Address at the end of the day.
Featured storytellers and musicians who will perform throughout the day include the Bruchac family, Kay Olan, Perry Ground, Brian Blanchett and Grammy award winning singer Joanne Shenandoah, one of Native America’s most celebrated musicians.
Chief Don Stevens of the Nulhegan Band of the Coosuk-Abenaki Nation will be honored at the event.
The dance program for the festival includes performances by the Haudenosaunee Singers and Dancers as well as several Championship pow-dancers. One of the highlights of the day will be the Smoke Dance Competition. Drum groups set to perform are Black River Drum, Nulhegan Drum and Old Soul Drum. The event’s emcee and smoke dance singer will once again be Sheldon Sundown.
More than 30 Native American artists and craftspeople, nearly all from the Native American nations of the northeast, will display and sell their own work at the festival. Moccasins, flutes, silver jewelry, wood, bone, stone and antler carving, beadwork, sweetgrass, elm bark and ash splint baskets, herbs, deerskin clothing, drums, pottery, print, white birch furniture and other items will be for sale.
The children’s area, with a wide range of hands-on activities for young people, will be located downstairs in the Saratoga Arts building.
A variety of Native American foods will be available for purchase as well, offered by Iroquois Eatery and MeMe’s Snack Shack.
Saratoga Arts helped make this program possible with a Community Arts Grant funded by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature as well as support from Stewarts Shops, The Adirondack Trust Company, Druthers Brewing and others.
More information about The Saratoga Native American Festival is available online at www.saratoganativefestival.com.