The Four Rivers Cultural Center is pleased to announce a day-long folklife festival that will take place Saturday, June 23rd, from 10AM-5PM. The event is free and open to the public.

The Tradition Keepers Folklife Festival is a day-long event celebrating the diverse range of traditional arts and culture in the Four Rivers area. Come experience the incredible skills of our community members and learn about their traditional arts including cowboy poetry, silversmithing, rawhide braiding, Paiute basketry and cradleboard making, Paiute pow wow dancing, Mexican Folkloric Dancers, Japanese taiko drumming, traditional Japanese mochi making, Basque dancing, Kendo demonstrations and much more, including a visit from National Heritage Fellow Eva Castellanoz.

The Tradition Keepers Folklife Festival also coincides with the opening of a new exhibit, Buckaroo and Ranching Folklife of the Four Rivers Region, which looks at the various traditional arts and skills associated with ranching and buckaroo lifestyles in the high desert of eastern Oregon and surrounding states, and the individuals who practice those traditional arts.

The Four Rivers Cultural Center is producing the event and exhibit with the support of the National Endowment of the Arts, which awarded a grant to FRCC to hire a contract folklorist, Josh Chrysler, to conduct research and produce the exhibit and event. There will be lots of food on hand.These traditional arts and skills that will be demonstrated and presented are what make our region unique, and the artists and practitioners will be present for audiences to interact with, ask questions, and learn from.

• Kathy Moss, cowboy poetry

• Thomas Angle, cowboy poetry and songs; leatherworking

• Randi Johnson, cowboy poetry

• Janet Komoto and Kawa Taiko (group), Japanese Taiko Drumming

• Wilson Wewa, Paiute storyteller

• Leon Gage, silversmithing

• Helen Dougal Corbrari (and daughter), mecate making (horsehair rope)

• Pat Dougherty, rock jack builder

• Dean Adams, Paiute silversmithing and basketmaking

• Sara Barton, Paiute Cradleboard and basketmaking

• Mildred Quaempts, Umatilla Dentalium Piecework

• Ryan Atagi (and another Kendo practitioner), Japanese kendo demonstrations

• Kenny Haramatsu, Traditional Japanese mochi making

• Eva Castellanoz, Curandera (Traditional Healing) and corona making

• Teri Berthlesen, rawhide braiding

• Elise Adams (with group), Paiute pow wow dancing

• Morgan Buckert, bootmaker

• More to come!