This Saturday marks the start of the 30th annual California Indian Market and Peace Pow Wow, where more than 55 vendors will descend on San Juan Bautista to wear traditional clothing, dance, drum, sing and sell crafts.
In just two days, about 4,000 people will flock to the sleepy town – including Native American artists coming from as far away as Idaho, Montana and Pennsylvania – to sell their crafts and participate in the cultural exchange.
“I am so excited that I am still here to be able to perpetuate this important cultural event,” said Elayne Reyna, 79, who helped co-found the event three decades earlier.
This year, at least 50 nations will gather to sell beads; silver and turquoise jewelry; paintings; shawls; drums; and regalia, said Reyna. They’ll eat fry bread made with blue corn and taste Indian tacos wrapped in the bread instead of tortillas.
The market first got started after Reyna visualized it springing up by Old Mission San Juan Bautista, one of 21 historic missions built along the California coast.
“I had this vision. I just saw all these booths of Native American vendors at the mission,” she said.
Shortly after that, her husband, Chief Sonne Reyna, took her to see the largest and most famous Native American festival in the nation in Santa Fe, N.M., and the two began recruiting artists to join them in San Juan Bautista.
“We put this on together. I did all the producing and promoting, and he is the emcee (and) the speaker,” Elayne Reyna said.
An Air Force veteran, she started a dance circle ceremony to honor veterans of all five military branches: the Army, Marines, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard.
Other fixtures of the event include the 10 a.m. grandmothers blessing song, in which Hollister resident Kanyon Sayers-Roods will sing attendees through an opening ceremony blessing as she has for the past 17 years.
“The mission is to promote peace through the Native American and multicultural arts,” explained Reyna
People of all nations dressed in traditional regalia are invited to participate in the Peace Pow Wow dances. Children are also invited to sign their names and place their handprints on the World Peace Teepee.
IF YOU GO:
Admission consists of a $1 donation to Peace Vision, a nonprofit that seeks to promote peace through art by bringing art lessons and projects to veterans suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
OTHER DETAILS:
Time and date: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday May 3 and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday May 4.
Admission Cost: a $1 donation to Peace Vision, a nonprofit which seeks to promote peace through art by bringing art lessons and projects to veterans suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
For more information go to peacevision.net/events.php or call Elayne Reyna at (831) 623-4771.
