Four generations of Angela Combs’ family attended the Columbia Heritage Festival and Craft Show on Saturday.
This is her sixth year at the festival, and she said it’s time for her family to celebrate their history, including those of the Cheyenne and Cree peoples and their European ancestors.
The 44th Annual Festival at Nifong Park shared history, art, activities and food, including 19th-century cowboy reenactments, historic and contemporary crafts, live bagpipe performances and food trucks. rice field. The festival starts on Saturday and runs from 10am to 5pm on Sunday.
Combs shared stories about items her family has collected over the years. Families filled the table with items such as dreamcatchers, gourd water bowls, woolen blankets, drums, and hacky bags.
“We think of it as kind of a hands-on historical approach to presenting it,” said Combs. “It’s not necessarily a demonstration, like, ‘Come here, touch it, feel it. Let’s talk about it.’ I think it will be really helpful.”
Combs wore a traditional tier dress made of skins she made herself. He has green and yellow ribbons sewn onto his sleeves. Such ribbons were historically used for trading and represented how wealthy, she said.
Ennet Moholisa and Andrew Edewa spoke with Combs. They first attended the festival while participating in a fellowship for food safety, animal health, and plant health research sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Moholisa, from Pretoria, South Africa, and Edwa, from Nairobi, Kenya, were interested in learning about Native American history and culture.
“I’m back in South Africa and I’m so happy to see all this cultural stuff… We’re also celebrating our heritage month so it’s so beautiful,” said Mohorisa. said.
Teresa Moore also participated for the first time. She drove from St. Louis to perform her music on her dulcimer, a Scottish and Irish instrument popular in the Appalachian Mountains.
The mountain dulcimer is an hourglass-shaped wooden instrument with strings and frets that is usually played flat on the lap. Moore’s instrument has her four strings and heart-shaped sound her hole, and she’s been playing this instrument for her 28 years.
“Festivals like this are great because a lot of old instruments and old crafts have been lost in this age of technology,” said Moore. “We are losing a lot of our old culture, so having an outdoor venue where people can showcase their handiwork and play traditional music without amplifiers or modern soundtracks is a real gift to the people. is.”
At the Columbia Weavers and Spinners Guild booth, Carol Lee Blackkaiser has blue, yellow and white patterned pot holders inspired by Ukrainian plaids she found on a recent trip to Scotland. A weaving demonstration was held.
Like Moore, she sees festivals as a way to show people historical art. She has run her Hillcreek Fiber Studio, a textile, spinning and natural dyeing business in Colombia for her 40 years and has been sharing her work at festivals since the mid-1980s.
“People have been spinning and weaving forever,” said Lee Blackkaiser. “But in many ways it’s a dying art because people no longer need to weave. They can go out and buy things.”
The festival also showcased booths and activities for children. Rowyn York, who will soon turn 4, said her favorite event is face painting. She chose her design of a bright blue zombie that covers her entire face.
Other children’s activities included hay, wooden stilts, paper pumpkins, and visiting animals such as goats, donkeys, and chickens.
Catherine Gale, 30, came to the festival with her mother, who took Gale as a child. The two said they enjoyed seeing the booth again after being back for the first time in years.
“This is an opportunity to see how creative people can be and how they can create interesting things out of the most unusual things,” Gale said.
Nifong Park is located at 3700 Ponderosa St. Festival parking includes limited on-site spots and parking lots at the Discovery Office Park Development south of Nifong Park and the Columbia Sports Fieldhouse.
Shuttles are available from 9:30 AM to 5:30 PM at the Boone County Historical and Cultural Center. More information and a map can be found here.
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