Over fifty local and visiting vendors recently gathered for the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony’s 25th Annual Fall Fest Craft Fair.
The Reno-Sparks Indian Colony formed a federally recognized government in 1936 under the Indian Reorganization Act.
There are currently about 13-hundred members from three Great Basin Tribes – the Paiute, the Shoshone and the Washoe.
The tribe’s names, in their own languages, mean The People, and is how the Indian Colony refer to themselves on their website.
Bead work, blankets, jewelry, house decor, paintings, ribbon skirts, festive decorations, homemade food and more were sold at the craft fair.
“It’s one of our places that we love to be at, powwows and craft fairs. We feel at home," said one of the vendors, Jessica Hernandez, who had a mix of jewelry and other crafts on display.
The People went through a horrible assimilation process from the 1700s to the late 1900s.
According to U.S government documents which can now be found in our National Archives, it was reasoned that if a person adopted "White" clothing and ways, and was responsible for their own farm, they would gradually drop their "Indian-ness" and be assimilated into White American culture.
“My grandmother went to Stewart. She ran away and survived, but in order to do so she also lost, she lost her language," said Washoe and Paiute descendant Marty Meeden.
The Stewart Indian School, a boarding school southeast of Carson City, about 40 miles away from Reno, where many Native American children were forced to go to, operated from 1890 to 1980.
The initial intent of the school was to eliminate The People’s language and culture from the children attending–to shape them into what settlers had deemed to be Americans.
The attempt to control them failed, however, as traditions are still passed down today.
“We learned it all from my grandma. She taught us all as little kids, starting off with little things like rings and earrings and then as she got older, we started coming to craft sales with her. And then after she passed, we kept it going, you know, we try to keep it within the family,” said Tierra Lovett.
Meeden was similarly taught crafts by his grandmother when he was eighteen.
“I’m a beader, so I do peyote stitch, backstitch and loom stitching. And then just from that it was like you know, find some charms here and there and make some earrings,” he said.
Hernandez is passing down the family business with her son, who helped her make some of the colorful crafts that were on display. To them, craft making is therapeutic, a way to be closer to their culture after being oppressed for so long.
“Every little thing you do you put your heart and soul into and that you’re, you know, continuing what, you know, you learn from your grandparents, your parents and showing that it’s still here. It’s still strong. Stick with it,” Lovett said. The Reno-Sparks Indian Colony hosts multiple events and craft fairs a year, with their fifth annual Christmas craft fair coming up in December.