Cherokee Days Festival

Friday–Sunday, March 31–April 2

10 a.m.–5:30 p.m.  

Visit the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian and enjoy the three-day festival featuring storytelling, traditional flute music, traditional games, demonstrations, music, dance performances, and hands-on activities in the imagiNATIONS Activity Center.

This free event showcases the shared history and cultural lifeways of the three federally recognized Cherokee tribes—Cherokee Nation, Eastern Band of Cherokee Indian and the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians.

In the museum’s imagiNATIONS Activity Center, children can make corn husk dolls, clay turtle medallions, miniature gourd masks, or try paper mat weaving (Sunday only). The activities are free, but tickets are required and are available on a first come, first served basis.

Artisans will demonstrate basket weaving, loom weaving, bead work, twining, stone carving, woodcarving, flint knapping, painting, and pottery, and how to make moccasins and the balls used in stickball.

Visitors can also watch filmmaker favorites and selections from the Cherokee Almanac Series from OsyioTV each day in the museum’s Rasmuson Theater. A full schedule of events is available on the museum’s website.

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