REDISCOVER CAHOKIA MOUNDS DAYS SEPTEMBER 12 - 14

COLLINSVILLE, IL -- Rediscover Cahokia Mounds Days, the largest special event at Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site, will be held Friday through Sunday, September 12 - 14,   and will feature an ancient crafts festival and an Indian pow wow dance arena.  The event is free and can be enjoyed by people of all ages.

            The Pow Wow is sponsored by the American Indian Center of St. Louis and it will be held at the Picnic Grounds at Cahokia Mounds.  There will be competition and social dancing at the dance circle with Northern and Southern drums on Friday, September 12 from 7 - 10 p.m.; Saturday, September 13 from noon to 5 p.m. and 7 - 10 p.m.; and Sunday, September 14 from noon to 4 p.m.  Thirty trader booths will be set up around the dance circle and there will be food and refreshment stands.  Parking is available at the picnic grounds.  People should bring lawn chairs and blankets to watch the performances.  Men, women and youths will compete for prize money, and there will be gourd, round and social dances as well.

            The ancient crafts festival will be set up under several large tents behind the Cahokia Mounds Interpretive Center and a trail will connect these activities with the pow wow.  Expert craftpersons will demonstrate the skills involved in making pottery, arrowheads and spearpoints, bows and arrows, baskets and mats.  Others will display their expertise in fire making, producing cordage from natural fibers, carving bone and shell ornaments, tanning deer hides, carving and decorating gourds, and fingerweaving sashes and belts.  Some of these items, including silver and fetish jewelry, will be available for purchase.

            Choctaw Indians from Tennessee will perform traditional Southeastern-style stomp dances, and crafts such as making flutes, blow guns, beadwork and cooking.  Students from Haskell Indian Nations University in Kansas will demonstrate Plains-style dancing. 

            There will be hands-on booths for children where they can make a pendant with copper tooling, or fashion a gods-eye charm from sticks and yarn, for a 50-cent fee.  Food and refreshment stands, including Indian fry bread, will be available.

            Shuttle buses will transport visitors between special event parking areas and to the Interpretive Center and Pow Wow area throughout the day.

            Rediscover Cahokia Mounds Days is sponsored by the Cahokia Mounds Museum Society and supported by grants from The Arts and Education Council of Greater St. Louis, Ameren UE, Madison County Arts Council, the Illinois Arts Council - a state agency, and Union Planters Bank.  Support is also provided by Collinsville Emergency Management, Cahokia Mounds Volunteers, and Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site.

            Cahokia Mounds State Historic is just eight miles from downtown St. Louis in Collinsville, Illinois, off Interstates 55/70 and 255, and Illinois 111, on Collinsville Road.  It is also accessible by taking Bus 7 from the MetroLink station at Emerson Park in East St. Louis. The Interpretive Center is open Wednesday through Sunday, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. There is no admission charge but a donation of $2 for adults and $1 for children is suggested. For more information or a Calendar of Events, call 618-346-5160, Wednesday through Sunday, or consult the web page at www.cahokiamounds.com.

Illinois Historic Preservation Agency