| Toronto is home to many events and festivals. | | | | the festival's Marketplace though. Most were |
| One such event is the Canadian Aboriginal | | | | bead work, dream catchers, low end jewelry, |
| Festival, the largest of its kind in Canada | | | | leatherwork and t-shirts with Native themes |
| which I attended recently. It is usually | | | | for sale. There weren't very much high end |
| held late November or early December. It was | | | | gallery quality Native artwork present. The |
| my first time at this event which has been | | | | only Northwest Native Indian representation |
| held at the Rogers Centre (Skydome) in | | | | was a single booth offering aboriginal design |
| Toronto for the last several years. | | | | blankets. No Northwest Native Indian art of |
| | | | any other type was present. There was only |
| I got there for the Grand Entry of the Native | | | | one Inuit art booth with only a minimal |
| American Indian dance contestants and it was | | | | number of small stone carvings available. |
| certainly a great spectacle to witness, much | | | | |
| like the entry of athletes at the Olympics. | | | | The traditional Native Indian food was okay. |
| It was great to see so much representation of | | | | I had a salad venison stew combo which was |
| different age groups and Native groups from | | | | delicious. I also tried the buffalo burger |
| across North America at this giant pow wow | | | | but found the deep fried buns to be much too |
| like event. The different Native American | | | | oily for my taste. At $7 per burger, the |
| Indian singing drum groups spread out along | | | | price was a bit steep too. This was the same |
| the perimeter of the main floor took turns | | | | price for the stew. There was also moose |
| supplying the accompanying music for the | | | | burger on the menu as well but I didn't have |
| dancers. | | | | a big enough appetite to try both types of |
| | | | burgers available. |
| I was very impressed with the dancers, their | | | | |
| colorful costumes and of course, the powerful | | | | They had fashion shows and musical |
| Native American Indian pow wow drum music | | | | performances there too but they were more |
| which accompanied each dance performance. | | | | contemporary rather than aboriginal and most |
| Different dances were grouped by type of | | | | of the festival's action was still at the |
| dance including contemporary (but still | | | | main dance areas. There were many other |
| Native) and traditional. Male and female | | | | booths representing Native American Indian |
| dancers went on separately and some divisions | | | | groups and related aboriginal businesses but |
| were divided by age group as well. | | | | I think these were of little interest to most |
| | | | attendees. It was definitely the native |
| For most of the dance competitions, one of | | | | dancing that was the major draw for the |
| the Native American Indian singing drum | | | | Canadian Aboriginal Festival. |
| groups would be asked to bring their setup to | | | | |
| the middle of the floor and the dancers would | | | | Toronto's Rogers Centre Skydome was a good |
| actually dance around the seated drummers. | | | | indoor location for the event but given the |
| When a dance division was large with a lot of | | | | relatively sparse attendance especially of |
| dancers, the scene was like a giant swirl of | | | | non-Native public, it might have been too |
| wild colors. As a result, most of the dancing | | | | large a venue as I would estimate that only |
| was an incredible spectacle to witness. | | | | 10 percent of stadium seats at most were ever |
| | | | occupied at any one time. Don't forget that |
| I was less impressed with the quality and | | | | the Skydome is a full size sports baseball |
| range of Native American Indian artwork at | | | | football stadium. |