By CHRIS PAGANO

Southeast Missourian

More than 160 people, mostly families, turned out Saturday for Native American Arts Family Fun Day at Southeast Missouri Regional Museum on the Southeast Missouri State University campus.

November is National American Indian Heritage Month.

Exhibits outside the museum at Memorial Hall included a Cheyenne tipi, spear throwing and the Southeast Explorer van full of American Indian displays.

Inside stations included hands-on activities plus the museum's display of "Shared Passion: The Richard and Dorothy Nelson Collection of American Indian Art and the Beckwith Collection."

In the hallway, members of the Native American Venture Crew 4248 demonstrated handwork on their regalia used for the afternoon dance performance, Native American dish sampling.

Glinda Ladd Seabaugh, owner of Cherokee Trails, a gift shop selling items related to American Indians, displayed items exclusive to American Indians native to Southeast Missouri.

Seven Venture Crew members ages 13 to 21 performed dances under the direction of crew adviser Sam Herndon. This Boy Scout-sanctioned group concentrates mainly on American Indian studies and dance. They meet at the American Legion hall in Chaffee, Mo., each Sunday night to research the regalia they make, the dances they perform and to practice.

"They want to meet more than once a week, they like it so much," Herndon said.

Tyler Tuschhoff, 13, of Jackson is a grass dancer. He's only been in the crew for six months but already knows the grass dancer legends. He is a member of Troop 311 and part of Order of the Arrow, a Boy Scout honor society. He sat in front of a tying warp on Saturday, preparing porcupine hair for use in his headdress.

"It looks like a Mohawk when I wear it," he said. Deer fur, sticking up straight, is incorporated into the piece, along with a CD, hidden within, that gives off a reflection during the dance.

Inside the museum, some students from St. Ambrose Catholic School's history class were earning 50 attendance points.

"The kids wanted to come and get bonus points, but I think they would've come anyway," said Laura Estes of Chaffee, who was there with her daughter, Miranda, 13, and her son, Storm, 11.

At a work table, museum curator Jim Phillips helped adults and children make dream catchers and explained how the item, historical to the Ojibwe people, combined a three-inch willow hoop resembling a spiderweb for protection of infants, with a hoop-and-pole game to result in today's trendy dreamcatcher. The legend is that dreamcatchers allow smooth, or good, dreams to pass through the center hole but catch "prickly" bad dreams in the web. Determined to complete the dreamcatcher, despite the patience it took to accomplish, Estes said it made her appreciate the work that American Indians put into their crafts.

Besides dream catchers, participants had the opportunity to learn how to finger weave, make arrowhead necklaces, leather pouches or emboss on copper.

cpagano@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 133