Native American culture highlighted

Kimberley McGee

Friday, April 5, 2002 | 10 a.m.

When: 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., today through Sunday.

Where: Clark County Museum, 1830 S. Boulder Highway in Henderson.

Tickets: $3; $2 for seniors and children.

Information: 455-7955.

The scent of bread baking on large, round stones and the haunting sounds of centuries-old love songs played on a thin flute will drift with desert breezes this weekend.

The 13th Invitational Native American Festival takes place today through Sunday at Clark County Museum in Henderson.

The three-day festival will feature an outdoor craft market, Native American food, works by southwest-region artists and performances by traditional Hopi and Navajo dancers.

"There's so much to see here that only comes around once a year," Christie Leavitt, Clark County Museum curator of education, said.

The internationally known Maricopa-Dakota flutist, storyteller and educator Robert Tree Cody will host the festival as master of ceremonies.

Shoshoni bead and leatherwork artist Shawn Collins will offer tips and lessons on the craft. Everett Pikyavit, a Southern Paiute and Goshute basketry artist, will show his cone-shaped baskets, hats and other types of coiled baskets.

Collectors of Native American art and baskets travel across the country to attend the festival each year, Leavitt said.

"This gives (Native Americans) an opportunity to discuss art and their tradition with the people who come out to the festival," Leavitt said.

An art raffle will be held each day of the festival. Proceeds benefit the museum's efforts to preserve Southern Nevada's heritage.

"We want people to understand the past and to see what other cultures are about," Leavitt said. "There's a lot of history here."

Las Vegas resident and Oto-Missouri/Delaware tribe traditional dancer Jim Big John will perform sign language set to music.

The McCabe family from Las Vegas will perform the Fancy Shawl dance, a movement that showcases hand-beaded shawls, and the Grass Dance, a traditional men's dance.

The "Powwow: Native American Celebration" exhibit, featuring large, color photographs by Scottish photograher Andrew Hogarth, is on display at the museum throughout the festival.

"What we are really doing is a cultural festival where people can come and learn about each other's cultures," Leavitt said.

Native American food, such as fry bread, buffalo-meat stew and chili, Hopi-piki bread (a thin cornmeal batter that is spread across a hot stone to make paper-thin pancakes) and roasted corn will be sold and the recipes shared.

Music programs are performed by Native Americans to keep the tradition alive. Many of the soft, elaborate flute songs were created centuries ago by men to court their future brides.

"Music is very important to them culturally," Leavitt said. "In many Native American cultures, music is still an important part of religious practice and courtship."

More than 8,000 people attended the festival to feast and wander the aisles of Native American wares at the festival last year.

"It's a great opportunity for education, which is the museum's major mission," Leavitt said. "Every year there is something new."