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LEHIGH VALLEY WEATHER

35th Roasting Ears of Corn Festival at Museum of Indian Culture

The 35th Annual Roasting Ears of Corn Festival, Pennsylvania's oldest Native American Indian Festival, will be held 10 a.m. - 6 p.m., rain or shine, Aug. 22 and 23, Museum of Indian Culture, Fish Hatchery Road, Allentown.

Premiering at the festival is Joanne Shenandoah, Oneida, in concert, 7 p.m. Aug. 21 in the museum. Shenandoah performs with her sister, Diane and daughter, Leah.

Shenandoah is one of America's most celebrated and critically-acclaimed Native American musicians. She is a Grammy Award recipient, a 13-time recipient of the Native American Music Award and has received more than 40 music awards and made 17 recordings. Her music has been heard on shows on HBO, PBS, CBS, the Discovery Channel and in several films.

Shenandoah has performed for His Holiness the Dali Lama and at St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Italy, where she performed an original composition for the celebration for the canonization of the first Native American Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, both in October 2012.

Shenandoah has performed at The White House, Carnegie Hall, five Presidential Inaugurations, The Vatican, Madison Square Garden, Bethlehem Fine Arts Center, Palestine, Crystal Bridges Museum, the NMAI-Smithsonian, the Ordway Theater, Hummingbird Centre, Toronto Skydome, The Parliament of the World's Religions, and Woodstock '94.

Shenandoah performs at the festival with world-renowned Native American recording artist Arvel Bird, Paiute violinist and flutist, 11 a.m. Aug. 22.

This is Bird's second performance in the Lehigh Valley. Bird, dubbed "Lord of the Strings," has dazzled audiences around the world with his contemporary fusion of Native American and Celtic fiddle rhythms. His world tours have included Scotland, England, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the Smithsonian, Washington, D.C. He has released 20 CDs and two DVDs, and is the recipient a Canadian Aboriginal Music Award and Native American Music Award. He is a four-time Indiana State Fiddle Champion.

Music and dance performances include: Youngblood Singers; White Buffalo Singers; Aztec Fire Dancing by the Salinas Family from Mexico City; Matthew White Eagle Clair, Mikmaq hoop dancer, and American Indian dancers, singers and performers from Canada, New York and North America, with featured dancers head man George Bearskin, Sandia-Delaware, and head woman Natasha Bearskin, Navajo. Master of Ceremonies is George Stonefish, Delaware, from Canada.

Children can learn to make dreamcatchers, cornhusk dolls and Navajo sand painting, have their face painted, hear American Indian stories, and help paint a festival mural.

Life-skills demonstrations including Atlatl and Tomahawk throwing, flint-knapping, arrow-making, flute-making, and Native Cooking demonstrations by Heart to Hearth.

Artifact displays are by Lee Hallman, Museum of Indian Culture curator.

Cree demonstrator Katrina Fisher will bring her award-winning Plains teepee program to the festival.

Vendors will offer hand-crafted items, including handmade silver and beaded jewelry, Kachina dolls, pottery, leather clothing, soap-stone carvings, Indian trade silver and other crafts.

American Indian cuisine of Fry bread prepared by Danielle Shenandoah, Oneida, N.Y.; and buffalo burgers, buffalo stew, Indian Tacos, corn soup and more will be available.

Joanne Shenandoah, 7 p.m. Aug. 21; 11 a.m. Aug. 22, Museum of Indian Culture, Allentown