Native American Day draws crowds

By NICK YAMASHITA

The Progress

A Native American dancer performs a traditional dance for a large crowd at the Lost City Museum Native American Heritage Day celebration last week. Photo courtesy of Nevada Humanities and Lost City Museum

The reinstated Native American Heritage Day at the Lost City Museum found marked success despite the windy conditions on Saturday, Mar. 2.

The event saw a total of 439 visitors according to museum attendant Jesse Davie. “It was a huge success!” he said. “The weather was windy but we had a large crowd.”

One of the biggest aides was the addition of a shuttle service to transport visitors from the Lin’s Marketplace parking lot, up to the museum grounds and back again. This provided auxiliary parking for the large crowd with only limited parking on the museum site.

The event started with Fawn Douglas who gave an introduction and talked on the history and traditions of the Native American people, especially in Southern Nevada and for the local area.

A dance group from Las Vegas performed and explained what each Native American dance meant and its cultural significance. These included dances that are performed regularly at Pow Wows.
“Visitors expressed fascination and excitement during and after the event,” Davie said. “Everyone had fun and learned a lot.”

Vendors also provided a significant cultural opportunity for people to have an item or two of cultural significance. These included jewelry, artwork and more. Eight vendors were present.

Davie said it was all hands on deck as all museum staff and volunteers were present to assist in providing service to all the visitors.

But the success came as a relief and confirmation of changes to the event. The biggest change was holding it during March instead of the past heritage days in November.
“It was great to have the crowd we did as we have not held the event in a couple of years,” he said.
In the end, Davie emphasized the importance of sponsors, museum workers, event performers and volunteers.

Native American Heritage Day will be held again next year. Plans are already commencing for next year’s event. The date will be announced at a later time.

The next museum event will be the Free Kids Day with arts, crafts and a snack on March 16, 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. The event is open to the first 50 kids who register. This activity is for kids in grades K-5.

The museum is located at 721 S. Moapa Valley Blvd. It is open Wednesday-Sunday 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Entrance fee is $6 per adult with free admission for 17 and under.

For more information about these events visit www.lostcitymuseum.org or call (702) 397-2193.