ORONO, Maine (WABI) – Crowds flocked to the Collins Center for the Arts Saturday for the 29th annual Wabanaki Winter Market.
The event is said to be New England’s largest holiday gathering for Wabanaki artists. Organizers say this year saw the most vendors yet.
Organizer Jennifer Neptune describes the market as, “A place for Wabanaki artists to sell their work directly to the public. People coming here can find a number of artists from throughout Maine, the Wabanaki tribes, Penobscot, Passamaquoddy, Mi’kmaq and Maliseet. And there are baskets, basket makers, wood carvers, birch bark artists, bead workers, lots of jewelry, photographers, two dimensional artists. There’s just a variety of art forms here.”
Attendees perused vendors, visited the in-house Hudson Museum and watched music performances and live demonstrations of traditional art forms by Indigenous people from all over Maine.
Eldon Hanning, 72, is from the Mi’kmaq tribe in Presque Isle and he says he was been attending the market for decades. At the market, he hosted a demonstration on preparing wood for basket weaving.
Rolfe Richter, a flute maker from Sipayik, is another vendor that has been selling at the winter market for years. In addition to selling his flutes, passersby can listen to the melodic sounds of him playing.
Both Hanning and Richter do not sell their goods online. Instead, they rely on events like this for business and exposure.
“Culture wise, we show who we are, we are still here. We show that we are people that you can get to know,” says Richter. “When you smile, the world smiles with you and this is the perfect place for that.”
For Neptune, she says the market has significance in the past, present, and future.
“It helps our traditions to have places where we can sell directly to the public. Helps keep those traditions going, having places where you can depend on every year and it helps traditions get passed down and it helps our local economy,” Neptune explains. “You’re really buying local when you buy from a Wabanaki artist!”
The Wabanaki Winter Market is hosted by the Hudson Museum and the Maine Indian Basketmakers Alliance. For more information, including artist profiles, visit the Hudson Museum’s website.
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