ORONO – The Hudson Museum at the University of Maine will hold its 11th annual Maine Indian Basket Makers Sale and Demonstration from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 10.

The day is a celebration of the traditional arts and cultures of the Penobscot, Maliseet, Micmac and Passamaquoddy people of Maine.

More than 30 basket makers, selling hand-made, one-of-a-kind, ash splint and sweet grass basketry, come from all corners of the state to display and sell authentic crafts, baskets and artwork. With friends and family members often joining them, the annual sale and demonstration at the Hudson Museum is one of the largest Native American gatherings in the state and a rare opportunity to see the work of members of all four of Maine’s Indian tribes.

The event draws hundreds of visitors and basket collectors from throughout New England, who come to the Orono campus each year to buy work baskets, such as creels, pack and potato baskets, and fancy baskets, like strawberry and blueberry shaped-baskets. Other items for sale include curly bowls, quill jewelry, woodcarvings, birch bark work, paintings, photography and native jewelry made during the year by members of the Wabanaki tribes.

The day also features traditional foods, music, a children’s workshop and demonstrations of brown ash-pounding and basket making.

Allen Sockabasin, author of “Thanks to the Animals,” a book based on a story told to him as a child by his mother Molly Zoo Sap, will be on hand for a book signing.

Passamaquoddy basket maker Jeremy Frey will demonstrate his technique. One of Frey’s baskets will be offered in a special Hudson Museum Friends Maine Indian basket raffle.

The event is free. Early bird shopping for $10 will be held 9-10 a.m. For information, call 207-581-1901 or visit www.umaine.edu/hudsonmuseum.

The schedule is:

. Early bird shopping, 9-10 a.m.

. Opening welcome by the Penobscot Nation, the event’s host tribe and the Maine Indian Basketmakers Alliance, 10 a.m.

. Brown ash pounding and work basket demonstration, Eldon Hanning, Micmac, 10:30-11 a.m.

. Fancy basket demonstration, Jeremy Frey, Passamaquoddy, 11-11:30 a.m.

. Traditional foods, Bodwell Lounge area, with hull corn soup, fry bread and blueberry desserts, 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Food sales benefit the Penobscot Nation Boys and Girls Club.

. Children’s workshop with Pam Cunningham, Penobscot, making candy baskets, noon-1 p.m., for ages 6 and up, limited to 16 children, preregistration required. A $15 charge covers materials for a child for one activity. Call 581-1901 to register.

. Book signing with Allen Sockabasin, Passamaquoddy storyteller and author of “Thanks to the Animals,” 1-2 p.m.

. Burnurwurbskek Singers, drumming, singing and dancing, 1:30-2:30 p.m.

Highlights of the day include a Hudson Museum Friends Maine Indian basket raffle for an original Passamaquoddy fancy basket made by Jeremy Frey. The drawing will be held during the sale and demonstration at the Hudson Museum. Raffle tickets are $5 each and are on sale at the museum shop.

Frey draws on his family’s tradition of basket making through his grandfather, Fred Moore, as well as traditions passed on to his mother, Gal Frey, by Sylvia Gabriel, a master Passamaquoddy basket maker. Frey harvests his own basket making materials, going into the woods to harvest brown ash trees, pounding the logs to separate the growth rings to produce splints for baskets. He weaves baskets from the brown ash he prepares.

Frey is best-known for his intricate fancy baskets, featuring braided ash weaves, very fine splint work, porcupine quill decorative treatments and the use of porcupine and curly weaves. He has demonstrated his craft in museums and at festivals and he shows his work at the Native American Festival in Bar Harbor, the Hudson Museum Holiday Show and the Common Ground Fair. His work is among the collections of the National Museum of the American Indian.

Allen Sockabasin’s new book “Thanks to the Animals” comes from a story that his mother Molly Zoo Sap told him as a child. It’s a family story set around 1900, in which Little Zoo Sap and his family are traveling to their winter home when Zoo Sap falls off the sled unnoticed. The forest animals hear his cries and keep him safe until his father comes back to find him.

Sockabasin was born in 1944 at the Passamaquoddy village of Peter Dana Point, the 10th of 11 children. He was tribal chief for more than four years and has served as the director of child welfare, a substance abuse counselor, a builder, logger, landscaper, heath educator and activist. For the past 25 years, he has taught and promoted the Passamaquoddy language to keep it alive in his tribe.