American Indian exhibition to launch in Kennett this fall

KENNETT, Mo. -- This autumn, shortly after the Delta Fair leaves town, the Kennett Fairgrounds will be home to a new event, the Native American Exhibition Pow Wow.

Sponsored by The Bridge and City of Kennett Tourism, the Native American Pow Wow will feature several styles of dancing, with music from the American Indian drum group Bear Claw, from Dallas. The exhibition will be at 3 p.m. Oct. 9. The fairground gates will open at 2 p.m. Admission is free.

The Rev. Wayland Tom of The Bridge Church said the idea for the exhibition was to bring a cultural day to the area.

"I'm Native American," Tom said. "We live in an area that is heavy with a lot of Native American artifacts. At one time, this area was heavily populated by Native Americans; the city of Kennett, at one time before it was Kennett, had an Indian name; and, of course the [Kennett School District[']s] mascot is the Indian.

The exhibition "is kind of a combination of all of those things to bring a cultural day to the area so that [residents] can have a better understanding of the Native American culture and see the beauty of the culture."

Tom said this year's event will focus on the Pow Wow Exhibition as a way to introduce the styles of dancing, with the hope that the event will get bigger each year.