The 39th Annual Fading Voices Demonstration Day in Robbinsville, North Carolina celebrates the traditional way of the Cherokee people.
Saturday, May 24, 2025 from 11 am to 4 pm
1897 Little Snowbird Road Robbinsville, NC 28771
A Learning Experience for Everyone:
Demonstrations
- Beadwork
- Pottery
- Quilting
- Wood Carving
- Hominy Cooking
- Basket Weaving
- Bean Bread Making
- Butter Churning
- Story Telling
- Flute Making
- Herbal Medicine
- Lid Tossing
- Traditional Dancing
- Stick Ball
- Fish Game
- Cherokee Language
- Corn Pounding
Menu:
- Wild Greens
- Fry Bread
- Indian Taco
- Hominy
- Fatback
- Fried Chicken
- Sassafrass Tea
Additional Information:
828.735.4959
828.735.4275
828.735.6938
Learn more here.
BPR sat down with members of the Snowbird community who have organized the festival for many years.
Paulette Cox’s mother Lois Calonehuskie founded the Snowbird Fading Voices Festival around 1985.
“I think my mother would be very proud and, um, to know that it has gone on this long,” Cox said.
The festival started as an oral history project to preserve the stories and traditions of the Snowbird community.
While much of the Eastern Band of Cherokee land is located on the Qualla Boundary mostly in Jackson and Swain Counties, there are also Eastern Band members in other parts of Western North Carolina including about 500 Eastern Band members in the Snowbird Community of Graham County.
“The project started with a grant from the Museum in Cherokee. It was funded by the North Carolina Arts Council. My mother was named the project director,” Cox explained. “The purpose was to capture personal histories and our tribal traditions of the elders.”
Cox’s mother was a fluent Cherokee speaker, so she translated the interviews into English. After a year of interviews, she thought it would be a good idea to bring these traditions to life for the public and especially Snowbird youth.
Continue reading here: https://www.bpr.org/bpr-news/2023-05-26/snowbird-cherokee-celebrate-traditions-in-graham-county
