FREE Summer Events:
This summer our grounds will be open for three special events on June 25, July 23 & August 20 from 11am to 3pm. This will include our grounds and fur trade camp in our new outdoor education area, the Gathering Hall and Lelooska Museum. Details on the focus of each day will be coming soon!
Examples of Past Summer Events:
Buttons, Blankets & The Trade
Learn about trapping and the fur trade from interpreters at our fur trade camp outside the museum, then bring your “pelts” to our fur trade store to trade for button blanket trade goods. Visitors will then have the opportunity to make their own miniature button blankets from felt and sequins. Special exhibits and more!
Tying it all Together: Making Cordage from Nature
Visit the fur trade camp to see a Dogbane cordage demonstration and basket twining demonstration. Make your own piece of cordage and add a couple of glass trade beads to take home. Special exhibits and native plant tours!
Beautiful Beadwork
Celebrating the many forms of beadwork in the Lelooska Foundation Permanent Collection. Explore the different styles and techniques used by Native Peoples. Special exhibits and more!
Have Parflesche, Will Travel: Painted Art on Rawhide
Make pigment, bind it into paint and paint your own rawhide disk. Interpreters will demonstrate the paint making process and paint a design on hide. Learn about the parflesche and practice packing! Special exhibits and more!
Baby on Board: Native Cradleboards in the Museum Collection
Explore a variety of Native American cradleboards in the Lelooska Museum collection and the different materials and methods used in the construction of each cradleboard. Visitors will be able to create a miniature cradleboard model to take home.
Flint, Steel & Black Powder
Join us for a day of learning about flint and steel. Making fire is an essential survival skill. In this program we demonstrate making fire with flint and steel and the flintlock ignition mechanism. Learn the basics of fire starting, the materials required, and how fire was transported. Try sparking a fire with a flint and steel set and catching it on char cloth. Concludes with a musket shooting demonstration.
Native Plants and their Uses
Native plants enhance the character of our landscape, provide low maintenance gardens and maintain local biodiversity by providing food, nesting sites and shelter for wildlife. In the 19th century the indigenous peoples taught the Hudson’s Bay Company how to make use of them. In this program we will tour the grounds identifying and describing how some important plants were used by the indigenous peoples.
Ravenstail Weaving
Ravenstail robes are hand twined ceremonial blankets woven by some Northwest Coast Peoples, developed around the 17th century. They pre-date Chilkat and Button Blankets. Interpretive materials will trace the history of Ravenstail weaving. Watch a demonstration of the twining techniques used in this style of weaving and try your hand at twining.
Girl Scout Day at the Lelooska Cultural Center
Come join us for Girl Scout Day at the Lelooska Cultural Center.
