LAWRENCE, Kan. ? Some 30,000 people attended the 13th annual Indian Art Market on the grounds of Haskell Indian Nations University sampling the art, demonstrations of music and dancing and visiting the food booths featuring fry bread and Indian tacos. Fry bread supplies were exhausted by 3 p.m. the first day.
‘Really not much has changed over the years,’ one of the event organizers Don Cardinal said. ‘We still have 165 vendors and food booths, only 20 food booths which are run by students or Haskell staff or alumni. People come out here in the spring for the pow wow and in the fall for the Art Market and expect Indian tacos which are a part of it for them.’
The long lines at the last booth still making Indian tacos proved Cardinal’s point as other vendors scurried to nearby stores for more supplies. Art Market has become a must for people throughout the region who travel far to shop at the market for American Indian artwork and jewelry. A late summer storm the night before gave organizers a scare as 75 mph winds whipped the vendor tents.
Cardinal said he was relieved that the storms through Lawrence the night of Sept. 7 hadn’t done too much damage to the grounds and caused only a little extra work for volunteers as they readied the grounds on Saturday morning.
‘We had some stakes on the tents come out,’ said Ellen Allen, a Haskell employee and one of the organizers. ‘We saw those storms coming and we were afraid our tents would leave the country, but only a few stakes came out of the ground and some of the coverings on the arbor had to be tied down again.’
Early on Cardinal said nearly a fourth of this year’s vendors had reserved space for the 2002 Art Market.
Not wanting to detract from the vendors and artists, organizers scheduled various entertainers throughout the day. ‘It’s just to show some of those in attendance some of the traditions and culture of the market,’ Cardinal said. ‘It shows some of the tribes and their dances. The place is full as you can see, so this is a new attraction, but one which everyone seems to enjoy. We try to keep the entertainment at the half hour, that enables everyone to continue looking at the displays.’
The two-day event complements the spring pow wow and both groups work to continue improving the pow wow grounds. This year a new arbor was built and more new lights are expected to be purchased over the winter to provide even better lighting for the graduation pow wow.
Cardinal stood and looked around over the throng packing the grounds and smiled, declaring that the work that began a year ago for the Indian Art Market committee was successful.
Artists and vendors smiled too as they took the time to talk to those who stopped at their booths, answering questions about wares, art work and their homes. Visitors were smiling too as they left with bags filled with treasures they bought and a better understanding of the wide diversity that Indian country had to offer them.