Crafters and dancers join in American Indian festival

BAR HARBOR – The largest gathering of American Indian artisans in Maine will present the 13th annual Native American Festival and Maine Indian Basketmakers Market on Saturday, July 6, at the College of the Atlantic.

The event begins at 10 a.m. and concludes at 4 p.m. Organizers expect an even greater turnout of crafters and dancers than last year.

The festival is a joint effort by the Abbe Museum, the Maine Indian Basketmakers Alliance and the college.

“It tends to get larger every year, so I think people can expect to see more variety,” Sharon Broom Abbe, development director for the museum, said Friday.

Abbe said upward of 2,000 people attended last year’s festival, which is open to the public at no charge.

According to organizers, the festival represents the cultural heritage of the four American Indian tribes that have lived in Maine for 12,000 years: the Penobscot, Passamaquoddy, Micmac and Maliseet tribes that are known collectively as the Wabanaki, or “People of the Dawn Land.”

The festival also reflects the tradition of Maine American Indians in the 19th century when they traveled to Bar Harbor to sell their baskets and wares.

In addition to being able to view and purchase baskets, Indian artists will demonstrate and sell traditional crafts, including root clubs and other wood carvings, birch-bark containers, beadwork, dolls and jewelry.

Storytelling, drumming, dancing and singing also will highlight the annual event. American Indian food will be on sale throughout the day.

“Visitors will see the finest achievements of master basketmakers, the high-quality work of their apprentices and even well-made pieces by children who will be the next generation of masters,” said Theresa Secord Hoffman, director of the Maine Indian Basketmakers Alliance in Old Town.

The College of the Atlantic is located on Route 3 in Bar Harbor at 105 Eden St. Organizers hope festival-goers will take free shuttle buses to the event from the Conners-Emerson School parking lot, since parking is so limited in Bar Harbor.

The school is located at the intersection of Eden Street and Eagle Lake Road, where Routes 3 and 233 meet.

Visitors also may use the free Island Explorer bus service to get to the festival. For more information, call the museum at 288-3519 or the alliance at 827-0391.