Shown is the award-winning Sierra Mono Museum Indian Days float honoring basket weavers at the Mid-Sierra Loggers Jamboree Parade.
The Sierra Mono Museum and Cultural Center invites the community to the 54th annual Indian Fair Days and Pow Wow at the North Fork Recreation Center, Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 1-2.
The event is one of the longest running pow wows in California and a highly anticipated weekend for the community, featuring dance competitions, cultural displays, demonstrations and a variety of food and craft vendors.
This year’s gathering honors the Basket Weavers, niha wayaawi duwa-p ai-goomai-di.
Gates open at 9 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday with the Grand Entry held at noon. Tickets are available for $2 in advance or $5 at the entry gate. Children 10 and under get in free.
The celebration is an opportunity for native and non-native families to experience cultural traditions, music, displays and demonstrations of the Mono tribe.
MC Frankie Williams will be on hand along with arena director JR Manuel. American Indian Veterans Association will provide the Color Guard.
Indian Fair Days and Pow Wow celebrations are set for Aug. 1-2 in North Fork. Photo courtesy Visit Yosemite Madera County
Spirit Ground will host Northern Drum, Hummingbird Singers will host Southern Drum.
Head Man: Tso Yanez; Head Woman: Tson-telle Manuel; Head Teen Boy: Ne-esh Alverado; Head Teen Girl: Frannie Morris; Head Junior Boy: Steven Gonzales; Head Junior Girl: Willow Garfield; Tiny Tot Boy: Alessandro Sanchez; Tiny Tot Girl: Ember Sanchez.
The event will offer a clapper stick competition and hand game tournament on Saturday.
The weekend is drug and alcohol free.
Camping is available for $25/night on a first come-first served basis. All RVs must supply their own power without exception.
The North Fork Recreation Center is located at 33507 Recreation Road in North Fork.
Attendees at Indian Fair Days can browse native craft vendors throughout the weekend and a variety of food vendors will be serving crowd favorites including Indian tacos.
A pow wow, or cultural celebration, invites people to gather and sing, dance, make new friends and reconnect with old friends. These family events grew from the economic, social and cultural experiences of many Native American tribes to preserve and share traditional customs.
Indian Fair Days and Pow Wow is the principal fundraising event for the Sierra Mono Museum and Cultural Center, one of the few tribally owned and operated museums in California.
The museum houses a robust collection of Native American woven baskets, artifacts, art, animal dioramas and several short educational films. The Sierra Mono Museum is located at 33103 Road 228 in North Fork.
For more information call (559) 877-2115 or email monomuseum@gmail.com.
Responses (0)