Attean Family Pow Wow at Maine Wildlife Park

GRAY — The 12th annual Attean Family Pow Wow will take place on Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 13 and 14, at the Maine Wildlife Park on Route 26.

Native American tribal representatives from Maine, New England and around the country will convene for this celebration of Native American heritage and culture.

Featured will be native dancers, drummers, craft vendors, singers and traditional food booths.

Grand Entry, the ceremonial start to the event, is at noon each day. The ceremony includes the presentation of the park’s bald eagle.

Children will have the chance to dance with Kennebago Bear and Moxie Moose mascots. There are also many opportunities to learn about Native American history through ceremony, music, dancing, storytelling, historical artifacts and replicas.

Professional educator Kenneth Hamilton is a living historian of 17th and 18th century “woodland” Indian culture. As an artist, lecturer and living history interpreter, he shares his wealth of knowledge about colonial Native America.

Host Drum will be the Split Feather Singers, a group of natives from all over New England, and the flute player will be the well-known Joseph Firecrow, a Cheyenne flutist nominated for a Grammy Award and recipient of several Nammy Awards.

Other entertainment will include Wolf Cry Singers, a group of native women singing traditional songs, Black Hawk Singers, Walking Bear Singers and Grandmothers Tears Singers.

The Penobscot tribe, together with the Mi’kmaq, Maliseet, Passamaquoddy, and Abenaki Indians, were once members of the old Wabanaki Confederacy. The “Abenaki” and “Wabanaki” have the same Algonquian root, meaning “people from the east.” There are about 3,000 Penobscot Indians now, most of whom live in Maine.

The Attean family of the Penobscot Indians have lived both on and off of Indian Island as well as in and around Old Town. It’s a well-respected family of renowned craftspeople who create handmade intricate baskets for both display and work, birch-bark canoes, walking sticks and beaded jewelry.

FMI: 207-657-4977, www.mainewildlifepark.com, www.mefishwildlife.com.