Stickball Team: Wudeligv

Cherokee stickball is a long-held custom of our people and has been used to form the social game that is played in different communities and ceremonial grounds. The traditional, non-social style of play was a way to prepare our young men for the vigors of war by way of learning hand to hand combat. Over the past couple of years, there has been a strong push to revitalize and reteach our game in our communities. The ᏭᏕᎵᎬ ball team has been instrumental to this mission, journeying to the motherlands of Cherokee, North Carolina, to reclaim our traditional game and bring it back to our communities in Oklahoma. Join us as we play a live demonstration of our Cherokee stickball game and see the growing community that is revitalizing it.

Atlatl, blow darts, rock throw: Perry Van Buskirk

Cherokee National Treasure Perry Van Buskirk has been creating weaponry for more than 40 years. He will be at Watercress Fest to teach folks how to throw the atlatl, shoot blow darts, and rock throw.

Chunkey: Melissa Dew

Melissa Dew is a coordinator for the 2024 Traditional Native Games with Cherokee National Holiday. She will be teaching the game of chunkey throughout the day.

Hatchet throwing: Joshua Mouse

Joshua Mouse is a coordinator for the 2024 Traditional Native Games with Cherokee National Holiday. He will be teaching hatchet throwing throughout the day.

Cornstalk Shoot: Christopher Coursey

Christopher Coursey is a coordinator for the 2024 Traditional Native Games with Cherokee National Holiday. He will be teaching an archery event, the cornstalk shoot, throughout the day.

Blue Thumb Oklahoma

Oklahoma’s Blue Thumb is a statewide citizen science program. It trains volunteers to monitor waterways and share their knowledge of water quality with others. The goal of Blue Thumb is to empower people to protect water in their region from nonpoint source pollution. Oklahoma’s Blue Thumb is a statewide citizen science program. It trains volunteers to monitor waterways and share their knowledge of water quality with others. The goal of Blue Thumb is to empower people to protect water in their region from nonpoint source pollution. Blue Thumb will bring and invite visitors to look at live aquatic macroinvertebrates as they share information on how these organisms can be indicators of stream health.

Spring Creek Coalition

Established in 1994, the Spring Creek Coalition (SCC) is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization of private landowners, residents and supporters. The mission of Spring Creek Coalition is to unite as citizens and actively engage in the preservation of the Spring Creek Watershed. Their booth will have information about the health of the creek and how it has changed in recent years. Visitors can learn about issues affecting the health of the creek, like poultry litter application in the watershed and impacts on the riparian zone. The SCC will also host an interactive quiz to enter a raffle for prizes, like a water filter and reusable water bottle. Learn what the coalition does and how to get involved.

Cherokee Nation Environmental Programs

Nātv

Nātv was founded from the dream of Executive Chef Jacque Siegfried (2024 James Beard Foundation semifinalist), who, since she was a little girl, always wanted to start a Native American restaurant. Jacque, being of Shawnee descent, decided it was finally time to bring a Native American restaurant to the Tulsa metro area after she left The Tulsa Club Hotel/Chamber Restaurant's Executive Chef position. Nātv is focused on showcasing not only Native American dishes with a modernized take, but also native to Oklahoma ingredients, utilizing locally grown ingredients sourced from local farms and tribes.

Neenaw’s Snack Shack

Pure Joy Ice Cream

Pure Joy Ice Cream is a Cherokee-owned business making ice cream with a preference towards local ingredients, including strawberries from fellow Cherokee-owned business Miller Farms in Stilwell and pumpkins from the Cherokee Nation Heirloom Garden in Tahlequah.

Art Demonstrations

Flat Reed Mats, Twining, Pottery, Finger Weaving, Flint Knapping, Basketry

Blue Thumb Oklahoma

Blue Thumb will present about things the average resident can do to protect streams from pollution. This talk focuses on the interconnectedness between how we manage land and the health of local waters.

Band: Kalyn Fay

Kalyn Fay (Cherokee Nation, Muscogee descent) is a songwriter and musician from Oklahoma, who fosters an additional interdisciplinary practice that interweaves visual arts, curation, and education. Born and raised in rural Oklahoma between Cherokee, Muscogee, and Osage territories, they are deeply rooted in their nuanced relationship to Oklahoma, and their musical practice is a reflection of that influence. Focusing on self-location, community, collaboration, and empathy, Kalyn sees their music as a way to lean into personal and shared narratives. Their songs embed Indigenous understandings associated with community and environment, navigatings the ways in which we all intersect with the hopes of building bridges of understanding between. Kalyn Fay’s music is “for you, for me, for us, for we.”

Flat Reed Mats: Laney Cully

Laney Cully, an artist featured in the 2024 Trail of Tears Art Show, will demonstrate how to weave flat reed mats throughout the day.

Cherokee Medicine Keepers Panel

A panel in collaboration with the Cherokee Medicine Keepers to highlight their voices and showcase some of the work we’ve been doing together.

Twining: Betty Frogg

Cherokee National Treasure Betty Frog will demonstrate twining throughout the day.

Pottery: Lillie Vann

Potter Lillie Vann recently entered Cherokee Art Market for the first time and won multiple ribbons. She will be demonstrating pottery throughout the day.

Traditional Cooking Demonstration: Chef Taelor Barton

Taelor Barton (Cherokee Nation) is a Indigenous culinarian who hails from eastern Oklahoma. She studied culinary arts at Tulsa Technology Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where she trained and cooked competitively, later attending OSU-IT for applied sciences in culinary arts in Okmulgee, Oklahoma. Taelor has always been connected to her indigenous nation by connecting with her elders, having blissful childhood memories going to Native events and spending time with the foods outside in the countryside. After the loss of her grandmother, Edith (Traditional Dressmaker, Cook, and Cherokee National Treasure) she began to weave indigenous food into her professional training as restaurant cook and chef. Now, she cooks for her bigger native family in community events, workshops, and dinners in her home state and beyond. Wado to the greater Indigenous family of this land! As part of Watercress Fest 2024, Chef Barton will host two cooking demonstrations. The first will be the traditional preparation of watercress as she has been taught. The second will be a contemporary use of watercress.

Marbles: Danny McCarter

Cherokee National Treasure Danny McCarter will demonstrate and lead the game of marbles from 12 – 1 p.m. and 2 – 3 p.m.

Plant Tour: Matthew Anderson

Band: Amber Watson

Amber Watson is an indie singer-songwriter from the oil crossroads of Cushing, Oklahoma, where she sang harmonies to classic country tunes with her twin sister in the back seat of her mother’s 1985 Ford Crown Victoria. In the previous decade, she made a name for herself as a key fixture in RC and the Ambers, a red-dirt country band and a mainstay on the Green Country music scene, selling out venues like the historic Cain’s Ballroom in Tulsa. She has since branched out as a solo artist, writing and playing her own music at local hotspots. Watson’s musical style mixes unpretentious lyricism with an uncanny ability to convey pure, raw emotion through powerhouse vocals that captivate anyone within earshot. It is no surprise that her musical influences include an array of iconic artists like Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, Gillian Welch, Tracy Chapman and Reba. You can find Amber every Monday in April at the Mercury lounge and every other Tuesday at The Fur Shop.

ᎠᏍᎦᏯ ᎦᏅᎯᏓ (Long Man), Short Film by Joseph Erb

ᎠᏍᎦᏯ ᎦᏅᎯᏓ (Long Man) is an animated 15 minute short by Producer, Director, Animator Joseph Erb (Cherokee Nation). The short is about Cherokee waters and today's issues with pollution in the Cherokee Reservation. Paid for by the Cherokee Nation's Environmental Resources.

The Rights of Land and Water Panel

The Rights of Land and Water is grounded conversation about the rights of nature, connecting academic concepts to traditional knowledge in terms everyone can relate to.

Stickball: Gaelen Rose

Gaelen Rose is the Student Engagement Coordinator at Northeastern State University's Center for Tribal Studies. He hosts and teaches stickball with the NSU and Tahlequah community during the spring and fall semesters. He is also a member of the ᏭᏕᎵᎬ ball team.

Finger Weaving: Luke Wassam

Luke Wassam started to practice weaving when he was 15 years old. He was taught by his aunt, Debbie, and was also influenced by Cherokee National Treasure Candessa Tehee. He will demonstrate fingerweaving throughout the day.

Band: Agalisiga "Chuj" Mackey

Agalisiga “Chuj” Mackey is a Cherokee guitarist, musician and singer-songwriter from the Cherokee Nation, located in northeast Oklahoma. Chuj spent the early years of his life growing up on a creek bank in the small traditional Cherokee community of Kenwood. Chuj then moved to Tahlequah, the capital of the Cherokee Nation, to become a language learner at the Cherokee Immersion Charter School. Chuj grew up participating in traditional ceremonies, ceremonial songs being the foundation of his voice which he carries with him as he creates more contemporary music. Chuj writes and sings original country-folk and blues music in the Cherokee language. He is inspired by classic country/blues artists like Jimmy Rodgers, R.L. Burnside and Merle Haggard to name a few. Cherokee life and culture also informs his music as he sings about both the struggles and joys of growing up in a Cherokee community. He has performed at various events including the Cherokee National Holiday, the grand opening of the Bob Dylan Center, and the Anvdvnelisgi album concert in Cherokee, North Carolina. His goal is to perpetuate the Cherokee language and culture. In addition to his artistic endeavors, Chuj is a graduate of the Cherokee Language Master Apprenticeship program, music educator, and a father to a son, with whom he plans to teach music and the Cherokee language. He will release his first full-length album in summer 2024.

Flint Knapping: Vyrl Keeter & Ryan Sanders

Cherokee National Treasures Vyrl Keeter and Ryan Sanders will be demonstrating flint knapping throughout the day.

Plant Tour: Matthew Anderson

Marbles: Danny McCarter

Cherokee National Treasure Danny McCarter will demonstrate and lead the game of marbles from 12 – 1 p.m. and 2 – 3 p.m.

Contemporary Cooking Demonstration: Chef Taelor Barton

Taelor Barton (Cherokee Nation) is a Indigenous culinarian who hails from eastern Oklahoma. She studied culinary arts at Tulsa Technology Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where she trained and cooked competitively, later attending OSU-IT for applied sciences in culinary arts in Okmulgee, Oklahoma. Taelor has always been connected to her indigenous nation by connecting with her elders, having blissful childhood memories going to Native events and spending time with the foods outside in the countryside. After the loss of her grandmother, Edith (Traditional Dressmaker, Cook, and Cherokee National Treasure) she began to weave indigenous food into her professional training as restaurant cook and chef. Now, she cooks for her bigger native family in community events, workshops, and dinners in her home state and beyond. Wado to the greater Indigenous family of this land! As part of Watercress Fest 2024, Chef Barton will host two cooking demonstrations. The first will be the traditional preparation of watercress as she has been taught. The second will be a contemporary use of watercress.

ᎠᏍᎦᏯ ᎦᏅᎯᏓ (Long Man), Short Film by Joseph Erb

ᎠᏍᎦᏯ ᎦᏅᎯᏓ (Long Man) is an animated 15 minute short by Producer, Director, Animator Joseph Erb (Cherokee Nation). The short is about Cherokee waters and today's issues with pollution in the Cherokee Reservation. Paid for by the Cherokee Nation's Environmental Resources.

Basketry: Kathy Van Buskirk

Cherokee National Treasure Kathy Van Buskirk has been making baskets for more than 40 years. She will be demonstrating basketweaving throughout the day.

Stickball: Gaelen Rose

Gaelen Rose is the Student Engagement Coordinator at Northeastern State University's Center for Tribal Studies. He hosts and teaches stickball with the NSU and Tahlequah community during the spring and fall semesters. He is also a member of the ᏭᏕᎵᎬ ball team.

Tar Creek Water Protectors

Many relatives contribute to a project as important as restoring Tar Creek. This conversation will feature Rebecca Jim, the Tar Creekkeeper as well as the Executive Director and co-founder LEAD Agency, and two women who have supported her work along the way. Nancy Scott has been supporting Tar Creek "behind the scenes" from her administrative positions with Cherokee Nation.

Band: King Cabbage Brass Band

King Cabbage Brass Band is a New Orleans inspired brass band finding its own sound in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Since arriving on the music scene, KCBB has taken the region by storm with its infectious blend of classic brass band tunes, modern covers, and original music. Their sound fuses the popular New Orleans brass band style with an eclectic blend of pop, R&B, hip-hop, and funk. Typical performances include renditions of recent favorites by artists like Beyoncé, Outkast, Justin Timberlake, and Rage Against The Machine, as well as their own spin on the brass band standards of NOLA. KCBB is on a mission to bring people together, party and forget their problems through joyful music!