A Labor
Day Weekend celebration of Native American culture
Philipsburg Manor's ‘Green Corn Festival'
to feature traditional dance and storytelling
SLEEPY HOLLOW, NY (Aug. 12, 2008) - The Red Hawk
Dance Troupe will join renowned storyteller, musician, and actor Kenneth Little
Hawk to headline at Philipsburg Manor's "Green Corn Festival" held over Labor
Day Weekend. The historic site will be celebrating the Hudson River's Native American heritage Saturday through
Monday, Aug. 30-Sept. 1, from 10-5 each day.
The festival
features folk tales, songs, storytelling, and a participatory presentation of
traditional Native American dance, plus open-hearth cooking demonstrations,
games, and live music.
The Red Hawk Dance Troupe is a group of Native
American performing artists who teach the importance of Native cultural
traditions and encourage audience participation. They have performed
widely on network television and at major concert venues such as the 1994 and
1999 Woodstock festivals,
the Apollo Theatre, and the Dance Theater of Harlem.
Joining them
at the festival is the perennially popular Kenneth Little Hawk, who uses his
rich bounty of skills to bring Native American culture to life. He has
performed at Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, and the
White House.
For the first
time, tickets are available for this event online at www.hudsonvalley.org. Visitors who
purchase online using the promo code "maize" can save $2 per ticket.
Green Corn
festivals, harvest celebrations held by many tribes for generations, marked a
time to give thanks, to name children born since the mid-winter festival, and
to sing chants, dance, and enjoy a great feast.
Calling the
event both entertaining and educational, Philipsburg Manor Site Director Thom
Thacker said, "Our goal is to create a fun, enjoyable atmosphere as we
celebrate the influence Native Americans had on the development of colonial New York."
Other exhibitors
include Susan McLellan Plaisted of Heart-to-Hearth Cookery, who will
demonstrate Native American cooking and medicine making, and Arthur Kermss, who
will demonstrate wampum-making and treenware (wooden bowls and utensils). Joe
Taras will demonstrate bow and arrow making and Andrea and Richard Chrisjohn
will demonstrate Native American crafts.
Geordanes of Irvington
will provide picnic food.
Admission to Philipsburg Manor is $12 for adults; $10 for seniors; $6
for children 5-17; and free for children under 5 and Historic Hudson Valley members. Philipsburg Manor is at 381 North Broadway (Route 9) in
Sleepy Hollow. For information: 914-631-3992, www.hudsonvalley.org.
Historic Hudson Valley is a network of
six historic sites in Sleepy Hollow Country and the Great Estates region;
Washington Irving's Sunnyside; Kykuit, the Rockefeller estate, a historic site
of the National Trust; Philipsburg Manor; the Union Church of Pocantico Hills;
Van Cortlandt Manor; and Montgomery Place Historic Estate.
-30-
|
