Cherokee Artisans at The Orchard at Altapass

The Orchard at Altapass will host Cherokee artisans as they demonstrate their craft and share their rich cultural heritage with the public. Both events, sponsored with the Blue Ridge National Heritage Area, Blue Ridge Traveler, Museum of the Cherokee Indian, and the National Forest Service, will offer visitors an opportunity to experience the culture of the Cherokee, native to western North Carolina, through song, dance, storytelling, and crafts.

Mike Crowe and the Cherokee Dancers, known as the Warriors of AniKituhwa, will perform on Thursday, June 6, from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. These multi-talented members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, an autonomous sovereign nation, have performed at Colonial Williamsburg, the National Museum of the American Indian, the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, throughout the Southeast, and even at the London New Year’s Day Parade. They bring with them traditional song, dance, and stories of their living history, culture, and language.

On Friday, June 7, from 12:30 to 1:30, both Crowe and Cherokee artisan Ramona Lossie share Cherokee stories while demonstrating flint knapping (process of carefully chipping away high silica stones—flint—to produce sharp projectile points or tools) and basket-weaving, respectively. Lossie grew up in the Painttown community in Cherokee, learning the art of basket-weaving from her mother and grandmother. Her knowledge of the river cane (a type of bamboo) basket-weaving tradition became crucial several years ago when she and her sister Lucille became the only living practitioners of that art among the Eastern Band. Since then, she has taught Cherokee basket-weaving classes at several locations and the tradition is, once again, firmly rooted in the community.

Both the Thursday evening performance and “The History of the Cherokee in the Toe River Valley,” exhibit will celebrate the preservation of Cherokee cultural heritage.

Tickets for the Thursday performance from 6 to 7:30 p.m. are $10 and available at the door. The Friday mid-day demonstrations are free. The public, encouraged to attend both events, will walk away with a new perspective of the vibrant Cherokee traditions and the people who dedicate their lives to see that they continue for future generations.