- December 16, 2025
Jake Stoltz, 16, gets cozy with a gator (Photos by Emily Blackwood).
Connie Carter works on her finger weaving.
Paul McDonell and her son, Nathan McDonell, check out one the festival's many teepees.
Ralph Richards and Chandler Richards, 10, are dressed in traditional Native American wear.
The festival was full of traditional dancing.
Sarah Skywind with some of her homemade dreamcatchers.
William Hether, 9, gives a gator a little smooch.
Diane Buz's tent is slightly reminiscent of the others at the annual Native American Festival: dreamcatchers, sacred stones, and dried herbs fill up the space. But if you ask her what she uses to make all of her products, you might be surprised.
"I find it all in my own backyard," she smiles. "My dad taught me to use everything until there's nothing left."
Buz, who's heritage is both Navajo and and Cherokee, fills all over her customers' bags with sage, to get rid of any negative energy.
"A lot of people are touching things in here," she said. "You don't want to take no one's bad mojo with you."
