Visitors to Philipsburg Manor on Labor Day weekend will experience the Green Corn Festival, a celebration of the Hudson Valley's Native American heritage, Saturday through Monday, Sept. 3-5, from 10-5 each day.
Highlights include master storyteller and musician Kenneth Little Hawk, who shares dramatic tales of Native American culture and history, and has performed at Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, and the White House. Joining the renowned storyteller is the Red Hawk Dance Troupe, a group of Native American performing artists who encourage audience participation while they teach the importance of Native cultural traditions. 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.
Besides participatory presentations of traditional Native American song and dance, the event features games, open-hearth cooking demonstrations, hands-on activities, and child friendly crafts including corn-husk doll making. Picnic fare is available.
Held by tribes across the nation for generations, green corn festivals, also known as harvest celebrations, marked a time to enjoy a great feast, give thanks, sing chants, dance, and to name children born since the mid-winter festival.
"At Green Corn, we reach back to the time before Philipsburg Manor was born in the late 1600s to celebrate and help educate visitors about the area's original inhabitants," said Philipsburg Manor Site Director Thom Thacker. "The compelling performers we have lined up make this a fun, lively, and thought provoking experience for all ages."
Exhibitors include Susan McLellan Plaisted of Heart-to-Hearth Cookery, who will demonstrate Native American cooking and medicine making; Arthur Kermss, who will demonstrate wampum-making; and Richard Chrisjohn, who will demonstrate Native American crafts.
Philipsburg Manor is a living history museum owned and operated by the non-profit Historic Hudson Valley. Admission is $12 for adults; $10 for seniors; $6 for children 5-17; and free for children under 5 and for Historic Hudson Valley members. Tickets are available for this event online at www.hudsonvalley.org. Visitors who purchase in advance online using the promo code MAIZE can save $2 per ticket. Philipsburg Manor is at 381 North Broadway (Route 9) in Sleepy Hollow. For information: 914-631-8200, www.hudsonvalley.org.
