The "First Americans Festival" took place on the National Mall this week in celebration of the National Museum of the American Indian opening on Tuesday.
Thousands of visitors gathered to watch Native American dance performances and learn about native crafts, such as instrument and regalia making.
Traditional and contemporary Native American culture displays were offered.
Visitors to the festival on Saturday packed the stands around the Circle Dance Stage to watch the native Hawaiian dance group Halau O Kekuhi. Past the dance stage, the Workshop Stage was filled with people learning about native instrument building, and The Three Sisters Caf? was busy selling sweet potato fries and other native foods.
In contrast, the Potomac Stage had a lot of empty seating. Mohawk guitarist and singer-songwriter Jimmy Wolf played rock-infused blues songs that got one man out of his seat and dancing, but failed to get many people to stop and watch. Fans waving Panamanian flags cheered on the jazz and traditional Panamanian music blend of the band "Bannaba," but they didn't draw more people than Johnny Wolf.
"I saw some of the more modern stuff, but I was more interested in the different cultural stuff going on," sophomore Abby Colson said.
Colson did not go in the museum because she knew it was crowded and thought she couldn't get a ticket. However, she said she enjoyed the Hawaiian dancing and talking to a Native American man about traditional guitar-making at the festival.
"I just kind of liked the people-watching in general, it was really fun to see how people were reacting to everything," Colson said.
The festival succeeded in drawing masses of people to the Mall and the museum. Timed entry passes to the museum were gone on Saturday by 3 p.m.
"Even the lines of people with passes to get in the museum were pretty insane," Colson said.
The museum features four exhibits. "Our Universes: Traditional Knowledge Shapes Our World," is an exhibit that focuses on Native American Folklore. "Our Peoples: Giving Voice to Our Histories" is the self-told histories of Native Americans. "Our Lives: Contemporary Life and Identities" focuses on the modern life of eight different tribes. "Native Modernism: The Art of George Morrison and Allan Houser" displays the art of those two Native American artists.
Many people who were unable to get in the museum enjoyed the three acres of garden around the museum. The museum grounds have plants important to the daily life of many Native Americans, like corn and wild rice.
The building exterior is made of kasota dolomitic limestone from Minnesota. According to the museum's Web site, it is meant to resemble a rock formation carved by wind and water.
In his Washington Post column last week, Marc Fisher said the museum architecture and landscaping outshines any of the exhibits in the museum. He claims the exhibits are "an exercise in inellectual timidity." But another Post writer, Joel Achenbach, wrote that the museum exhibits are "nothing short of revolutionary, for the subject matter is fully animate, alive and in charge." The Post's coverage reflects the mixed feelings about the museum.
"I think a lot of the first Americans festival was really successful, but I talked to a lot of people who went in the museum and they weren't impressed," Colson said.
The week of festivities celebrating the museum's opening concludes with the First Nations Night Gala Reception today at 7 p.m., costing $250 per ticket to help fund the museum's education initiatives.
Admission to the museum is free, but timed entry passes are required. The museum will be open from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. daily. It is located on Fourth Street and Independence Avenue SW. Get there by Metro stop L'Enfant Plaza (every line, but Red) or Metrobus lines 30, 32, 34-36. Call (202) 633-1000 or visit www.nmai.si.edu for more information or to reserve tickets.
