TRAVEL GUIDE

Wisconsin Travel and the Indian Summer Festival

Get ready for a first hand experience in American Indian tradition and culture when on your Wisconsin travels with Mayfair Rent-A-Car. The Indian Summer Festival is one of the best kept secrets of Wisconsin travels. For every year a festival theme is picked to best showcase the American Indian entertainers, musicians, and craft people. The American Indian heritage is also celebrated with storytellers, traditional handcrafts, dance troupes, and lacrosse. A huge highlight of the Indian Summer Festival is the Pow Wow competition and the Indian Summer Music Award (ISMA).

Pow Wow

The Pow Wow is a long American Indian tradition which consists of people dancing, singing, visiting, with friends old and new and relatives. Setting the rhythm of the Pow Wow is one of two drums. The traditional drum has a hid stretched over the frames and is held together by laced rawhide. The other option (which is increasingly becoming more common) is the modern band bass drum. In the past, songs and chants are sung in the native language of the singer. When singers from different tribes came together, "vocables" (songs with no real words) was used. Today, the Pow Wow is still a very important aspect to modern American Indians and can be seen during social and special occasions. Most songs today are sung in the native tongue but the style of dance and content has changed. What the Pow Wow represents today still remains an important tradition in the American Indian tradition.

Entertainment

The Indian Summer Music Award (ISMA) in Wisconsin is the largest American Indian music festival in the world! Performers include GRAMMY and NAMMY winning traditional and contemporary performers. Dance troops, hoop dancers, storytellers, flutists, blues, country, jazz, and rock are just some of the performances made on one of the six stages during the Indian Summer Festival.

Culture

Educational exhibits and presentations that focus on the American Indian heritage are presented to increase public awareness and for better understanding of the diversity within the American Indian community itself. Cultural demonstrations are also made by traditional American Indian artisans of beadwork, fingerweaving, pottery, carving, basket weaving, horsehair art, bow and arrow making and rug weaving.

Food

One of the major draws of the Indian Summer Festival is the food of course! Care for an Indian taco? Or have your first taste of buffalo and venison. Turkey, wild rice, corn syrup, roasted corn, and the traditional fry bread (in a variety of flavors of course!) can all be found at the Indian Summer Festival. North American foods such as vegetarian tacos, BBQ, chicken, pizza, chili, burgers, hot dogs, popcorn, and ice cream are also offered. With over thirty vendors and the wide variety of foods, no one leaves the Indian Summer Festival hungry!

Lacrosse

When on your Wisconsin travel with Mayfair Rent-A-Car you definitely can't miss the lacrosse games during the Indian Summer festival. The game of lacrosse has American Indian origins and has long been considered North America's oldest sport. For those unfamiliar with the game of lacrosse it is played with a netted stick and a ball. Similar to the goals of soccer, the ball is thrown, caught, carried and passed with the netted stick towards the opposing teams net. A score is accomplished when the ball goes into the opposing teams net. Throughout the Indian Summer Festival lacrosse demonstrations, tournaments, and clinics are held.
For more information on Wisconsin's Indian Summer Festival's, visit the Indian Summer's official website at www.indiansummer.org and to help better plan your Wisconsin travel. From September 8 to September 10, 2006 it will be the 20th anniversary of the Indian Summer Festival.