Rain won't stop Moundville festival activities
Tuscaloosa News
Moundville Native American Festival
Published: Wednesday, October 7, 2009 at 6:01 a.m.
Last Modified: Tuesday, October 6, 2009 at 11:44 p.m.
Last Modified: Tuesday, October 6, 2009 at 11:44 p.m.
MOUNDVILLE | Even though the day was gloomy with intermittent rain showers, Moundville Archaeological Park was a beehive of activity Tuesday in preparation for the 21st annual Moundville Native American Festival, which starts today.
IF YOU GO
What: Moundville Native American FestivalWhere: Moundville Archaeological Park
When: 10-3 p.m. today and Thursday; 9-5 p.m. Friday and Saturday
Info: 205-371-2234 or museums.ua.edu
Tent stakes were being driven into soggy ground, artists and vendors were setting up shop and a steady stream of RVs rolled into the campground area of the park, which 700 years ago was the site of one of the largest Native American settlements on the continent.
Today the park and the large ceremonial mounds that give it its name are under the auspices of the University of Alabama Museums.
And as some of more than 150 people expected to participate in the festival trickled in, park director Bill Bomar was keeping an optimistic eye on the weather.
'The best chance of rain is [
today], but there is a little chance Thursday and a bit more that last two days,' he said in his office at the park entrance. 'But we can deal with rain, we've done it before and we can do it again.'
Bomar said more than 10,000 people, including school groups and families from all over the state, are expected to attend the festival, which begins today and runs through Saturday. Over the next four days, the festival will celebrate and showcase Native American culture in many forms.
'We will have dance demonstrations, Native American songs from a variety of tribes, demonstration areas where people can watch spear points being made and lots of story telling,' he said. 'We'll have basket-making and beading demonstrations and all sorts of tools demonstrated.'
Bomar said his goal is to offer something new every year, and this year the festival is bringing in Michael Jacobs, a Cherokee acoustic guitarist who will perform at 1:15 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the music stage that has been set up at the park.
'He is a western Cherokee, from the Oklahoma tribe, and he has won several Native American music awards,' Bomar said. 'He used to play in rock bands and that sort of thing, but he says he went back to his native roots and has become very successful.'
Although the university opened the first museum at the park in 1929 and has conducted ongoing research at the site ever since, the outreach that the festival represents did not begin until the late 1980s.
'Betsy Irwin, who is now our education outreach coordinator, felt that we really needed to connect this ancient site to the descendants of the people who once lived here and to the greater community,' Bomar said. 'That's what the goal was — for people to not think of this place as a dead ancient civilization, but actually a place where culture can be celebrated.
'It started out very small, but we have had as many as 15,000 people attend as recently as 2004,' he said. 'It's hard to estimate in advance, but we've been having more than 10,000 on a regular basis for several years, and I expect that again.'
Irwin said she got the idea for the festival after working for the Chucalissa Museum and Archaeological Site in Tennessee overseen by the University of Memphis.
'They had a very good festival and when I came back here in 1986, I thought ‘Why not here?' ' she said
Tuesday. 'But Bill is right — that first festival only had about 15 Native Americans showing off their skills and crafts.
'This year we'll have more than 150 from tribes all over the nation.'
Bomar said the main aim of the festival is to educate people about Native American culture, but that plenty of items will be for sale at a large arts and crafts area.
On Tuesday, Laretta Weaver was setting up display cases of finely beaded items ranging from dream catchers to necklaces and wrist bands to cell-phone holders.
'I'm originally from Oklahoma, but I reside down at the Mowachoctow Choctaw reservation in south Alabama,' she said as she arranged the colorful items. 'Everything you see here is handmade by Native Americans.
'I am an instructor, and I teach through Mobile County, where I am a consultant on Native American affairs.'
Weaver, who said she is a 'certified Choctaw with the papers to prove it,' said she has been to nearly all of the previous 20 festivals at Moundville.
'This is one of the biggest and best gatherings in the country,' she said. 'And we'll be ready when the schoolchildren start showing up first thing in the morning.'
Hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day and admission is $9 for people age 17 and older, $7 for children 6 to 16, and free for children younger than 6.
For festival information, visit museums.ua.edu.
Reach Tommy Stevenson at tommy. stevenson@tuscaloosanews.com or 205-722-0194.
Today the park and the large ceremonial mounds that give it its name are under the auspices of the University of Alabama Museums.
And as some of more than 150 people expected to participate in the festival trickled in, park director Bill Bomar was keeping an optimistic eye on the weather.
'The best chance of rain is [
today], but there is a little chance Thursday and a bit more that last two days,' he said in his office at the park entrance. 'But we can deal with rain, we've done it before and we can do it again.'
Bomar said more than 10,000 people, including school groups and families from all over the state, are expected to attend the festival, which begins today and runs through Saturday. Over the next four days, the festival will celebrate and showcase Native American culture in many forms.
'We will have dance demonstrations, Native American songs from a variety of tribes, demonstration areas where people can watch spear points being made and lots of story telling,' he said. 'We'll have basket-making and beading demonstrations and all sorts of tools demonstrated.'
Bomar said his goal is to offer something new every year, and this year the festival is bringing in Michael Jacobs, a Cherokee acoustic guitarist who will perform at 1:15 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the music stage that has been set up at the park.
'He is a western Cherokee, from the Oklahoma tribe, and he has won several Native American music awards,' Bomar said. 'He used to play in rock bands and that sort of thing, but he says he went back to his native roots and has become very successful.'
Although the university opened the first museum at the park in 1929 and has conducted ongoing research at the site ever since, the outreach that the festival represents did not begin until the late 1980s.
'Betsy Irwin, who is now our education outreach coordinator, felt that we really needed to connect this ancient site to the descendants of the people who once lived here and to the greater community,' Bomar said. 'That's what the goal was — for people to not think of this place as a dead ancient civilization, but actually a place where culture can be celebrated.
'It started out very small, but we have had as many as 15,000 people attend as recently as 2004,' he said. 'It's hard to estimate in advance, but we've been having more than 10,000 on a regular basis for several years, and I expect that again.'
Irwin said she got the idea for the festival after working for the Chucalissa Museum and Archaeological Site in Tennessee overseen by the University of Memphis.
'They had a very good festival and when I came back here in 1986, I thought ‘Why not here?' ' she said
Tuesday. 'But Bill is right — that first festival only had about 15 Native Americans showing off their skills and crafts.
'This year we'll have more than 150 from tribes all over the nation.'
Bomar said the main aim of the festival is to educate people about Native American culture, but that plenty of items will be for sale at a large arts and crafts area.
On Tuesday, Laretta Weaver was setting up display cases of finely beaded items ranging from dream catchers to necklaces and wrist bands to cell-phone holders.
'I'm originally from Oklahoma, but I reside down at the Mowachoctow Choctaw reservation in south Alabama,' she said as she arranged the colorful items. 'Everything you see here is handmade by Native Americans.
'I am an instructor, and I teach through Mobile County, where I am a consultant on Native American affairs.'
Weaver, who said she is a 'certified Choctaw with the papers to prove it,' said she has been to nearly all of the previous 20 festivals at Moundville.
'This is one of the biggest and best gatherings in the country,' she said. 'And we'll be ready when the schoolchildren start showing up first thing in the morning.'
Hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day and admission is $9 for people age 17 and older, $7 for children 6 to 16, and free for children younger than 6.
For festival information, visit museums.ua.edu.
Reach Tommy Stevenson at tommy. stevenson@tuscaloosanews.com or 205-722-0194.
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