Kekionga Festival - Day 1

Friday, August 27, 2010 , 9:00 am - 8:00 pm
Location: 231 East Monroe Street
Contact: Chamber of Commerce/City of Decatur, 260-724-2604
Fee:

9 a.m. - 3 p.m.  -  Education Day

4 p.m. - Open to the public

5 p.m. - 8 p.m. - Mini Riding Lessons (Pony Rides) sponsored by United Way

5:30 p.m.  - Opening Ceremony - Larry Macklin will be Emcee.

6: 00 p.m. - Mayor's Challenge - Decatur's Mayor, John Schultz will challenge Berne's Mayor, John Minch to several events to see who will take home the travelling 'Tomahawk Trophy'.

Exhibits / Demonstrations - Rosie McClure

Saturday, August 28, 2010 , 3:30 p.m.
Location: Riverside Center
Contact: , 260-724-2604
Fee:

Rosie McClure lives in Convoy, OH and has been reenacting Frances Slocum for school children in public schools for many years. She will be performing one time at 3:30.

Exhibits / Demonstrations - Corinne Snyder

Saturday, August 28, 2010 ,
Location: Riverside Center
Contact: , 260-724-2604
Fee:

Corinne Snyder, a fiber artist, who resides in Bryan, Ohio will be bringing her Colonial Spinning wheel to Kekionga and will be demonstrating spinning all day Saturday. Corrine was a public school music teacher for many years, but after retirement, took ub fiber arts. She has studied spinning and weaving in the Shenandoah Valley, Timberville, Virginia as well as other fiber ars schools on the east coast. She is an expert in taking wool from the sheep as it is cut off, through the cleaning process and combing process to the acturall spinning of wool rolags into yarn. She is also schooled in the processes of Colonial hand dying of wool fibers.

Exhibits / Demonstrations - Carolyn Fast

Saturday, August 28, 2010 ,
Location: Riverside Center
Contact: , 260-724-2604
Fee:

Carolyn Fast is a Master Basket Maker from Souder's Village in Ohio. She weaves baskets to be sold at Souder's as well as demonstrates basket weaving there. Currently, she teaches some basket classes at Vantage Vocational School in Van Wert, Ohio. She will be here for the day on Saturday to demonstrate her weaving skills of small berry baskets. She will be showing other baskets that she has created.

Exhibits / Demonstrations - Arts Council

Saturday, August 28, 2010 ,
Location: Riverside Center
Contact: , 260-724-2604
Fee:

The North Adams Arts Council will once again be showing their work and some will be demonstrating their art skills as you watch. The group will provide art activities for children in the Riverside Center, next to the art exhibit. There will be a nominal fee for your child to participate in the art activity. The Riverside Art Group will be participating in the Art Show, also.

Exhibits / Demonstrations - Cheryl Sodders

Saturday, August 28, 2010 ,
Location: Riverside Center
Contact: , 260-724-2604
Fee:

Cheryl Sodders from Redkey, Indiana will be demonstrating the use of ear candles as an early American Medicine for cleaning the ears of ear wax. You can stop by her exhibit to see this process done or you can experience the process of having your ears cleaned. Ear candles will be available for purchase, also.

Exhibits / Demonstrations - John Lindsay

Saturday, August 28, 2010 ,
Location: Riverside Center
Contact: , 260-724-2604
Fee:

John Lindsay, from Berne, Indaina, is a spinner who is well known is this northern region of Indiana as a Master Spinner whose art is accomplished on several kinds of spinning wheels; one of the most fascininating being the Walking Wheel, which you will be able to see demonstrated. He will show some small wheels, all antique, which he has refurbished to working order and will be spinning on these, also. John has the working tools to process Flax from the "grown plant form" to the braking of the flax and finally the spinning of flax. He is very knowlegdgeable about the history of spinning.

Exhibits / Demonstrations - Randy Lehman

Saturday, August 28, 2010 ,
Location: Riverside Center
Contact: , 260-724-2604
Fee:

Randy Lehman from the Limberlost Historical Center in Geneva, Indiana will be bringing materials and information regarding the Gene Stratton Porter Home as well as information about the Loblolly grounds and the activities that are occuring there for the coming months. His information area will have children's activities available, also.

Exhibits / Demonstrations - Artifacts Road Show

Saturday, August 28, 2010 ,
Location: Riverside Center
Contact: , 260-724-2604
Fee:

Bring your artifacts to Kekionga for Identification: ARTIFACTS ROAD SHOW

Kris Richey, President of the Little Turtle Archeological Association and her assistant David Ramp (Professor of Archeology at IPFW) will be here on Saturday in the Riverside Center to see and identify the artifacts that you bring in. They will be available to help you from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Little Turtle Archeological Association is a non-profit group of amateur archeologists who work together in Whitley County, and are sponsored by the Whitley County Community Foundation. Their primary objective is to do research in the archeology of Northeast Indiana.

Some of the activities they participate in are: focusing on public education with local speakers; artifact identification, which is done free of charge, to help people know the importance of what they have; and finally, to focus on the science of artifacts and not on the buying and selling of them.

The group fills out forms for the Department of Natural Resources, in their effort to document all found artifact sites, to help get a better picture of what life in pre-historic Indiana looked like. They do surface surveys of tilled grounds to look for pre-historic stone tools, with land-owner permission, and then platt any finds on a plotted map, which then becomes a piece of  the bigger historic picture.

Richey and Ramp suggest that if you are looking for Native American stone tools, there are three good zone rules to follow. One is to look near a supply of good drinking water, such as a spring or flowing well. Second, look on high ground, especially if the ground has been turned over recently or has experienced a spring thaw. Third, look at areas that have a variety of environmental-zone components for finding stone tools such as; drinking water, a variety of animals to eat, and plants to eat. The more zone areas present, the more likely you'll find artifacts.

Exhibits / Demonstrations - WHOOOODINI

Saturday, August 28, 2010 , 10:30 am & 12:30 p.m.
Location: Riverside Center
Contact: , 260-724-2604
Fee:

Thanks to the Department of Natural Resources, two fantastic venues will be demonstrating on Saturday during two specific times. Located in the Riverside Center, at 10:30 will be Bob Walton, the Batman, who rehabilitates and works with bats. helping him will be Rachel Purcell, from the Ft. Wayne Zoo. "Going Bats" will have on hand a live bat for you to view, via closed circuit television. The team will be teaching about bats and answering any questions that you might ask. This group will be avaiblabe to talk to from 10 a. to 4 pm.

A second exciting show for you will be "Soaring Hawks", a bird of prey rehabilitator group from Ft. Wayne, starring "Whoooodini". Who is Whoooodini?.....a rascally little screech owl who has learned to open his cage and get outside of it. However, he will be tightly tethered to his rehabilitator when you come to see hi. Along with Whoooodini, you will be able to see Sherman, the Sort-eared Owl and Ruby, who is a gorgeous Red-tailed Hawk. This exhibit also is in the Riverside Center and they will be exhibiting at 12:30 pm. Dr. Pat Funnel, a rehabilator from Ft. Wayne, Indiana will be bringing the Birds of Prey to show you and to answer your questions about them. her assistant is Carrie Harding.

These shows will allow you to get within 6 feet of these birds and learn about them in a detailed way. Both shows are free to the public.

Kekionga Festival - Day 3

Sunday, August 29, 2010 , 11:00 a.m. - 4:00 pm
Location: 231 East Monroe Street
Contact: Chamber of Commerce/City of Decatur, 260-724-2604
Fee:

9:30 am - Church Service - Pioneer Village

10 a.m. - 5 p.m. - 1840's Pioneer encampment with period craft demonstrations

10:30 am - Women's Skillet Toss (Distance & Accuracy) - Pioneer Village

11:30 am - Atatl Throw - Pioneer Village

Chamber Luncheon

Monday, September 13, 2010 , 11:45 am
Location: Woodcrest Campus Center
Contact: Decatur Chamber of Commerce, 260-724-2604
Fee: $10.00

Coni Mayer, Adams County Community Foudation

Reservations are due by noon, Friday, September 10th, 724-2604.

Chamber Luncheon

Monday, October 11, 2010 , 11:45 am
Location: Woodcrest Campus Center
Contact: Decatur Chamber of Commerce, 260-724-2604
Fee: $10

Featured speaker will be Tom Buczek with Wells Fargo Bank. His topic will be Evolving cyber threats and How to Protect Your Money.

Reservations are due by noon, Friday, October 8th, 724-2604.