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Melbourne "Masters of Main Street" Art Show (Oct 20-21, 2007)

We were excited about being accepted as an exhibitor at the 2007 "Masters of Main Street" art show in downtown Melbourne. This was the first juried art show in which we were accepted. Our table was part of the Zonta Club of Melbourne's "Emerging Artists Showcase".

Brevard Community College Native American Heritage Day (Nov 17, 2007)

We were honored to be invited to participate in the annual Native American Heritage Day celebration at the Brevard Community College in Cocoa, FL. As you can see from the photos, we were given generous space to display our flutes and drums. In addition, I was invited to participate in the entertainment. In the right hand photo, I'm joined by Turtle Moon Band chief, and good friend, Joyce "Spirit Wind" Bugaiski in a guitar/flute and vocal duet of Amazing Grace in Cherokee.

Cub Scout Pack 369 Story Telling/Flute Playing (Nov 27, 2007)

We had the wonderful opportunity to share some of our Cherokee heritage and love for the Native American Flute at the Cub Scout Pack 369 meeting at the fellowship hall of the Grace United Methodist Church (Merritt Island, FL) on November 27, 2007. After telling the Legend of the First Flute, complete with illustrating flute passages, we taught the group the Cherokee Morning Song and then engaged the children's participation with drums, rattles, and flutes. About 33 young scouts, a half dozen siblings, and a number of parents joined us in this Cub Scout tribute to Native American Heritage Month. We extend our thanks to Conny Ripper, the Pack Committee Chair, who extended our invitation, acted as our liaison with the Pack, and provided the two photos on the right below.

Melbourne Pow Wow (Dec 7-9, 2007)

The 6th Annual Melbourne Pow Wow, sponsored by the Melbourne-based Native Heritage Gathering, Inc., was our first opportunity to set up our tent/booth for a major 3-day event. The weather could not have been better. We had a great time talking to people about our flutes and drums and a good number ended up taking one or the other home with them. My claim that I could teach a visitor to play the flute in less than 5 minutes led to several sales.

The center photo is of me with a young Cherokee grass dancer named Chase, who fell in love with one of our biggest cedar flutes (in the key of D) on Friday evening. My first reaction when he asked to try it was that it would probably be too big a stretch for his fingers to reach the lower holes. But Chase proved me wrong. On Saturday morning his mother came by to purchase that flute so that Chase could play it in the flute-playing competition. He played it well and ended up 3rd in the competition. Chase later took home first place cash for the junior grass dancing competition. Congratulations, Chase!!!

Zonta Club of Melbourne's Intimate Gallery Showcase (Jan 5, 2008)

The Melbourne Zonta Club sponsors several events each year to promote new artists. The Intimate Gallery Showcase is an annual event held at the beginning of the year in a private home in Indialantic, neighboring Melbourne. The 3^rd annual Intimate Gallery Showcase was held in the early evening of January 5, 2008. Each artist is given a room or area of the home in which to showcase his/her work. We were situated in a back bedroom, and it turned out to be one of the most popular areas as many came back to listen to and play our flutes and drums.

The rainbow just before sunset offered a good omen for the new year!

Habitat for Humanity Strawberry Festival (Mar 4, 2008)

The Habitat for Humanity's 2008 edition of their annual Strawberry Festival was a last minute addition to our schedule. This event is immensely popular with great food, a car & motorcycle show featuring some very interesting hot rods, kids' games, and nearly 100 arts and crafts vendors. An estimated 10,000 people came through the gates to enjoy the day's offerings. For us, the day began before sunrise (photo to the left shows the sun rising as our booth stands ready for the first visitors) and ran to a few minutes before sundown. Although our sales were light, we made many contacts that are likely to lead to future opportunities. In all, it was a long but very good day.

Zonta Club of Melbourne Art in the Park (Mar 30, 2008)

The Zonta Club of Melbourne hosts an artist's exhibition called Art in the Park in conjunction with their annual Chocolate Festival. This year was the 4th annual festival. The venue on the Indian River is beautiful and the weather couldn't have been more perfect. The 25 artists covered a wide variety of media, including the wonderful author who contributed the poem that we feature on our Extras page. Whereas Zonta normally features emerging artists, this event is open to both the new, up and coming, and experienced professionals.

Musical Echoes Native American Flute & Cultural Festival (Apr 25-27, 2008)

Musical Echoes is one of the top two or three annual Native American Flute festivals in the country. As usual, the 2008 gathering was held at the beautiful water-side park at Ft. Walton Landing in Ft. Walton Beach, FL. The weekend was a tremendous success for us in many ways. It was exciting to have several of the top name performers who were headlining on the main stage stop by and visit our booth and play our instruments. David Maracle stopped by a couple times. Arvel Bird walked up while David was in our booth on Friday. While Arvel was playing our sassafras Golana flute, David picked up our 15" Cherokee 7 Sacred Directions drum and this pair jammed for about 15 minutes in our tent. Then on Saturday, David returned and gave us about 10 minutes of wonderful flute music with our instruments. Ed WindDancer and  Billy Whitefox also stopped by, and Billy especially enjoyed our cherry Dalala flute.

Of course, winning third place in the flute makers' competition was a special thrill. I was told by one of the contest officials that, whereas in previous years they could immediately disregard a few of the entries as not up to the caliber needed to compete, every flute submitted this time had to be evaluated and scored. With professional flute players and performers like Arvel Bird and Raymond Redfeather as judges, the standards for winning were extremely high and the tonal qualities were weighted the highest. When Claire later talked to Arvel and told him that it was my flute that took third place, he told her that the margin between second and third was the slimmest!
   

Me with the 3rd place Flute Makers' award winning entry right after the winners' announcement on Saturday afternoon.	David Maracle and Arvel Bird jamming with our instruments in our tent on Friday.	David Maracle tried several of our flutes again on Saturday.

Future Events you will find us at...

Oklahoma Flute Festival (Oct 3-5, 2008)

Last year's inaugural event was so successful that a new venue had to be found for Oklahoma Flute Festival 2008 to support all the people attending. So this year it will be held at the beautiful Cherokee Heritage Center in Tahlequah. This emerging event promises to have some of the best flute makers and performers in the country, so we're excited about participating.

Like Musical Echoes, this flute festival also offers a flute makers' competition, and an idea for an entry is starting to float around in my head.

This event is hosted by the Tahlequah Native American Flute Circle. 

(Image of the logo used by permission of its designers, Dennis and Kapotahi Frederiksen). 

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