Native Dawn Flute Gathering Returns To Old Fort Harrod Starting May 23
The Harrodsburg Herald/Robert Moore
The Pueblo Enchantment Dancers, who entertained the crowd with their authentic dancing during last year’s Native Dawn Flute Gathering, are returning for this year’s festival.
Robert Moore
Herald Staff
[email protected]
Get ready for a weekend of Native American flute music as well as food—including fry bread and Indian tacos—and handmade arts and crafts. The Native Dawn Flute Gathering returns to Old Fort Harrod State Park (100 South College Street) from Friday May 23, through Sunday, May 25.
It’s three days of Native American music and dance organized by Angie and Fred Nez Keams, who began the event in 2010 and relocated the event to Old Fort Harrod several years ago.
The couple live in Mercer County. Fred Nez Keams is from the Navajo Nation Tribe (Diné). He was born on a reservation in Arizona and grew up in New Mexico. He’s been playing and making Native American flutes for two decades.
Native American flute music by Fred Keams
Keams told Cheri Lawson of WEKU it takes him about a week to make a flute of cedar wood, which his tribe uses on the reservation for firewood and cooking as well as making musical instruments. In 2020, he was commissioned to make flutes for Kentucky’s Governor’s Arts Awards. He was featured in the Kentucky Arts Council’s Native Reflections Art exhibit. Keams and Angie, who is also Native American, give presentations about their culture in libraries and other venues. The couple invites everyone to experience the beauty of Native American cultures through authentic song, dance, stories and melodies of the Native American Flute.
Among the artists scheduled to perform this year are the Mexico Lindo Dancers of Louisville; the Pueblo Enchantment Dancers from the Pueblo of Acoma, New Mexico; the Iron Lightning Drum Group from the Dakotas; and the Mystic Wind Choctaw Social Dance Group and the Southern Pine Singers, with the last two groups belonging to the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians.
Sponsors for the Native Dawn Flute Gathering include the Harrodsburg-Mercer County Tourist Commission, the Mercer County Chamber of Commerce, the Friends of Fort Harrod, Old Fort Harrod State Park and the Mercer County Community Endowment.
Here is a schedule for this year’s Native Dawn Flute Gathering.
Friday, May 23
starts 4 p.m.
4 p.m. Paul Nelson
5 p.m. Tony Cooper
6 p.m. Kyle Coatney
7 p.m. Tim Corbin
Saturday, May 24
starts 9 a.m.
9 a.m. Iron Lightning Drum Group
10 a.m. Paul Nelson
11 a.m. Mexico Lindo Dancers
Noon. Pueblo Enchantment Dancers
1 p.m. Choctaw Social Dancers
2 p.m. Robert Mullinax
3 p.m. Tyler Evans
4 p.m. Mexico Lindo Dancers
5 p.m. Kyle Coatney
6 p.m. Pueblo Enchantment Dancers
7 p.m. The Mystic Wind Choctaw Social Dancers
8 p.m. Southern Pine Singers
Sunday, May 25
starts 11 a.m.
11 a.m. Southern Pine Singers
Noon Mexico Lindo Dancers
1 p.m. Robert Mullinax
2 p.m. Pueblo Enchantment Dancers
3 p.m. Tyler Evans
4 p.m. Choctaw Social Dancers
5 p.m. Tim Corbin
6 p.m. Iron Lightning Drum Group
The schedule is subject to change. For more information, call the Keams 502-600-1895, email them at [email protected] or visit their Facebook page @Native.Flutegathering.
Old Fort Harrod
The busy season is about to start at Old Fort Harrod State Park, with Picnic in the Park—the oldest live entertainment series in Mercer County—returning Friday, June 6. Picnic in the Park happens every Friday at noon through July.
Here are some other events at Old Fort Harrod:
• Settlement and Raid on Saturday, June 14, and Sunday, June 15. Full scale re-enactment, with settlers, natives, traders and living history both days.
• “James Harrod: The Battle for Kentucky” outdoor drama running for three weekends Thursdays through Saturdays starting Thursday, July 10, through Saturday, July 26.
• 13th Annual Pioneer Days Festival from Thursday, Aug. 14, until Sunday, Aug. 17, with the Big Jack Pearson Memorial Car Show on Saturday, Aug. 16.
• Kentucky Heritage Jazz Festival. Three days of jazz at the fort from Friday, Oct. 10, through Sunday, Sept. 12.
• Haunted Frontier runs two weeks starting Friday, Oct. 24, and ending on Halloween, Friday, Oct. 31.
• Fifth Annual Winter Encampment and Holiday Open House and the lighting of the Christmas Tree Forest on Saturday, Nov. 22.
For more information about Old Fort Harrod, call the park at 859-734-3314, email [email protected] or visit them on Facebook @fortharrod.statepark.
