Festival of Native Peoples, Cherokee Indian Art Market, Powwow

July 16-17, 2010: The Festival of Native Peoples and Cherokee Indian Art Market is held in Cherokee, North Carolina, near Asheville, in mid July each year. The annual gathering of tribes from throughout the Americas takes its rightful place as the finest showcase of native dance, art, and culture in the southeast.

Indigenous tribes from across the Americas gather for the Festival of Native Peoples. Considered the finest showcase of native dance, song and art in the southeast, the event honors the collective history, customs and wisdom of some of the oldest documented tribes.

Among the dancing, singing, prayers and art exhibited, highlights of the festival include the Halau Palaihiwa O Kaipuwai group's ancient Hawaiian hula and drum dances, once a mainstay of Hawaii's ancient temples. The Totonac pole flyers of Mexico are back and will once again fly from a ninety-foot pole in a spectacle of swirling color in honor of the sun and Totonac calendar. Additional performers include the Inca Son band, playing the centuries-old music of the Peruvian Andes, the Cellicion Traditional Zuni Dancers of New Mexico, Git Hoan Dancers of northern British Columbia, the Apache Crown Dancers of Arizona, as well as the Cherokee Warriors of AniKituhwa and Raven Rock Dancers.

The festival will also play host to one of the southeast’s largest Native American art markets. The Cherokee Indian Art Market will feature over fifty nationally recognized, juried craftspeople and artisans from around the country displaying and selling their handmade traditional and contemporary works of art ranging in price from $10 to tens of thousands of dollars. Artists will also demonstrate techniques passed down from generation to generation.

Arts and crafts on display include traditional Cherokee white oak and river cane baskets, black and traditional pottery, wood and stone carvings, paintings, silver and turquoise jewelry, and much more. The market will present the work of such esteemed artists as Darrin Bark, John Grant, Jeanean Hornbuckle, Mary James, Nikki Nations, Joel Queen, Bud Smith, and Mattie Welch Wildcat, Shan Goshorn, Ramona Lossie, Lori Reed, Lucille Lossiah, Betty Maney and Louise Goings, to name just a few.

Gates open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily with performances throughout the day. Art market opens at 9 a.m. Adult admission $10; children six and under are free. For Discount Ticket Packages or more information, call 800.438.1601. www.cherokee-nc.com

The Cherokee Indian Fair Grounds is at 745 Tsali Blvd., off U.S. 441 in Cherokee.

Cherokee is just 52 miles from Asheville via I-40 West to Exit 27, then U.S. 19 to U.S. 441 in Cherokee (Just over an hour's drive).
Download a PDF map of Cherokee.