Indigenous artisans, local organizations, performers, food vendors, and community members filled the Everson Museum of Art on Sunday to celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day.
The event offered a full day of activities, including art for kids, musical performances, raffles, studio tours, and artist demonstrations.
Food vendors sold food outside on the patio with seating for guests. Attendees could buy items like corn soup, hotdogs, coffee or roast beef meals.
Many of the artisans use these events as a way to share and sell their handcrafted work with the community.
Three local crafters — Virgil Braverock (Blackfeet Nation in Montana), Kelly Gibson (Onondaga Nation) and Jennifer Powless (Beaver Clan of Onondaga Nation) — have spent years creating accessories representative of their Indigenous cultures and identities. Gibson owns East Meets West.
“When you talk about authenticity, we’ve created all this stuff. It’s all our creation. A lot of it is based on our traditional values and what we believe in,” Braverock said. “When we make stuff they’re all from our own hands, these are not store bought items. By creating them it shows that we still have that skill of creating our own crafts, which is a part of our culture. A lot of culture is displayed in our artwork.”
Braverock makes and sells satchels, belts, earrings, and pouches with bright colors. Many of his items have teepees, which he said is symbolic of the nomadic Blackfeet Clan.
He and Gibson use their crafts as therapeutic forms of self expression, they said.
Gibson designs dresses and headwear, and makes jewelry (made from dentalium shells, produced in the Pacific coast).
Haudenosaunee Singers and Dancers showcased six social dances including a welcome dance, women’s dance, stomp dance, fish dance, Cherokee stomp dance, and smoke dance competition.
Artists sell jewelry during the Indigenous PeoplesÕ Day Community Festival at the Everson Museum Sunday. Photo by Michelle Gabel |Central Current 
Kenny Benedict, 5, of the Onondaga Nation and the Haudenosaunee Singers and Dancers, during the Indigenous PeoplesÕ Day Community Festival at the Everson Museum Sunday, October 8. Photo by Michelle Gabel | Central Current 
The Haudenosaunee Singers and Dancers perform during the Indigenous PeoplesÕ Day Community Festival at the Everson Museum. Photo by Michelle Gabel | Central Current 
Cousins Alexandra Campbell and Kenny Benedict, 5, of the Onondaga Nation and the Haudenosaunee Singers and Dancers perform. Photo by Michelle Gabel | Central Current 
The Haudenosaunee Singers and Dancers perform during the Indigenous PeoplesÕ Day Community Festival at the Everson Museum Sunday, October 8. Photo by Michelle Gabel | Central Current 
Sherry Waterman-Hopper, founder of the Haudenosaunee Singers and Dancers, introduces the group Sunday during the Indigenous PeoplesÕ Day Community Festival. Photo by Michelle Gabel | Central Current 
Monique Powless, of the Onondaga Nation and the Haudenosaunee Singers and Dancers, holds Selena Thompson, 18 months, during the festival. Photo by Michelle Gabel | Central Current 
Kenny Benedict, 5, and Pierce Smith, both of the Onondaga Nation and the Haudenosaunee Singers and Dancers, perform during the festival. Photo by Michelle Gabel | Central Current 
Joss Willsbrough, of Syracuse, buys a pair of earrings from jewelry artist Virgil Braverock, of the Blackfeet Tribe, Montana, Sunday. Photo by Michelle Gabel | Central Current 
Sherry Waterman-Hopper, founder of the Haudenosaunee Singers and Dancers, hugs her friend Vivian Moore, of Manlius, during the festival. Photo by Michelle Gabel | Central Current 
Participants make corn husk dolls at the festival. Photo by Michelle Gabel | Central Current 
Indigenous PeoplesÕ Day Community Festival at the Everson Museum Sunday. Photo by Michelle Gabel | Central Current 
Visitors listen as Jake Edwards of the Onondaga Nation delivers the Thanksgiving address during the Indigenous PeoplesÕ Day Community Festival at the Everson Museum Sunday. Photo by Michelle Gabel | Central Current 
Jake Edwards of the Onondaga Nation delivers the Thanksgiving address during the Indigenous PeoplesÕ Day Community Festival at the Everson Museum Sunday. Photo by Michelle Gabel | Central Current 
Robin Lazore, a Mohawk from Akwesasne, gives an artist talk about weaving baskets using sweetgrass and ash. Photo by Michelle Gabel |Central Current 
Robin Lazore, a Mohawk from Akwesasne, talks with visitors about weaving baskets using sweetgrass and ash. Photo by Michelle Gabel |Central Current 
Seneca/Cayuga stone sculptor Tom Huff gives an artist talk during the festival. Photo by Michelle Gabel | Central Current 
Seneca/Cayuga stone sculptor Tom Huff talks about his sculpture, Tsunami. Photo by Michelle Gabel | Central Current 
Seneca/Cayuga stone sculptor Tom Huff puts a small sculpture next to his face, describing the feel of the stone. Photo by Michelle Gabel | Central Current 
Kai Royal, 10, and Kiara Royal, of Syracuse, talk with Everson Museum Learning and Engagement Coordinator Shari Merten, left, after making corn husk dolls. Photo by Michelle Gabel | Central Current 
The Haudenosaunee Singers and Dancers invite the audience to dance. Photo by Michelle Gabel | Central Current 
Melodi Lazore, her granddaughter Selena Thompson, 18 months, and daughter Melody Lacayo, all Mohawk of the Onondaga Nation, attend painter Brandon LazoreÕs artist talk. Brandon is MelodiÕs nephew. Photo by Michelle Gabel | Central Current 
Audience members listen to a presentation by wooden lacrosse stick maker Travis Gabriel, of Kanesatake, near Montreal. Photo by Michelle Gabel | Central Current 
Wooden lacrosse stick maker Travis Gabriel, of Kanesatake, west of Montreal, talks with a visitor. Photo by Michelle Gabel | Central Current 
Wooden lacrosse stick maker Travis Gabriel, of Kanesatake, west of Montreal, Mohawk Nation, gives a demonstration. Photo by Michelle Gabel |Central Current
The dance styles represented the Six Nations of the Haudenosaunee: Seneca, Onondaga, Oneida, Mohawk, Cayuga, and Tuscarora.
“We’re dancing for all people, in particular giving recognition to Indigenous peoples’ from all over,” said Sherri Waterman-Hopper, the founder of Haudenosaunee Singers and Dancers.
The performers wore traditional garments with headdresses and deer hoof rattles to enhance the sound of the dancers’ movements. For instruments, the performers incorporated skin hand drums (a western-style drum), traditional water drums, and horn rattles to carry out the melody and lyrics.
Families joined in, following the lead of the Indigenous performers — moving, stomping, and freely swaying, as the performers sang acapella-style in their native dialect.
Many of the dance styles performed were acquired through travels and from other nations and are performed at birthdays, weddings and other social gatherings, Waterman-Hopper said.
An education center at the event featured a variety of demos presented by artisans. The center included stone sculptures by Tom Huff, mural-making with Brandon Lazore, wooden stick-making with Travis Gabriel, basket-making with Robin Lazore, beadwork with Karenlyne and ceramic firing with Natasha Smoke Santiago.
Robin Lazore, of the Mohawk Nation, started basket weaving at age 16. Her table was filled with displays of her intricately designed baskets and bookmarks – designed by her granddaughters – all made from sweetgrass. For Lazore, the baskets can take up to a week to complete. The multi-step process includes cutting, stripping, dying, and molding the baskets.
Lazore explained the baskets can be used as storage or decorative pieces.
A number of local groups helped put on the event. Women of Italian and Syracuse Heritage (WISH) and Neighbors of Onondaga Nation (NOON) each sponsored the event.
WISH has pushed for the removal of the Christopher Columbus monument while NOON has helped advocate for Onondaga Nation, said Andy Mager, a volunteer organizer with NOON.
“We try to make redress for the illegal taking of their land and efforts to destroy their culture,” Mager said. “Some of that is things like this, where we provide opportunities for people in Central New York to come and learn, to participate in the dancing, the music, and learn the history about the culture.”
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