First Peoples' Festival: Today!

Saturday, October 1, 2011
10am - 6pm
Dewitt Park, 300 N. Cayuga St. @ 100 E. Buffalo St.
In partnership with Ithaca's Apple Harvest Festival

The First Peoples' Festival is a celebration of  indigenous peoples of New York State with traditional music, crafts, displays and foods. It is an educational opportunity for the public to learn more about the traditions and unlearn the stereotypes connected with indigenous cultures.

Highlights of the festival will include:

• Singing by Theresa "Bear" Fox
• Young Spirit Dancers
• Stories by Tonia Loran Galban
• Arts & crafts, jewelry, baskets, face painting, silver, books and more!

There will be numerous children's activities featuring:

• Cornhusk Dolls: Marcella Kane will teach children how to make a cornhusk doll
• Home Depot: building a project to take home
• Balloon fun for children (only 11:30am-3:30pm)
• CU Professor Carl Batt: hands-on science fun (only 11am-4pm)

There will also be displays from:

• Cayuga Share Farm
• Colgate University Native Studies Program (tentative)
• Lehman Alternative Community School and Akwesasne Freedom School project: Check out the veggie van on display, powered by vegetable oil and featuring designs by the students and children of the Akwesasne Freedom School
• Green Guerrillas Youth Media Tech Collective: The Green Guerillas are a grassroots collective of youths working together to connect the dots between sustainability, pollution, prison and social change. Their biodiesel, solar powered, mobile media center will be parked at DeWitt Park on Buffalo Street, and they are listed as a stop on the CCETC Green Buildings Open House Tour. (tentative)
• Ithaca College Archeology Program
• Neighbors of the Onondaga Nation (NOON)
• Tompkins Cortland Community College Multicultural Affairs Program

The First Peoples' Festival is coordinated by the Multicultural Resource Center and co-sponsored by the American Indian Program at Cornell University, Cornell University, Cornell Cooperative Extension TC, Ithaca College, Tompkins Cortland Community College and Wells College. Hosted by Dewitt Park, Tompkins County, Downtown Ithaca Alliance and the City of Ithaca . This event is made possible with funding from our co-sponsors, Cornell University and grant support from the Community Arts Partnership

For more information, contact the Multicultural Resource Center at 272-2292, email ajc39@cornell.edu, or visit multicultural-resource.org.