Ohlone Big Time cultural event in San Francisco

The Ohlone Profiles Project is pleased to announce the upcoming Ohlone Big Time Gathering in San Francisco. The Big Time, which is a traditional California Indian festival, will include a dance arena, vendor booths, camping, and talking circles, followed by a sunrise ceremony on Alcatraz Island.

The Ohlone Big Time will be held on October 12 and 13, 2013 at Crissy Field in San Francisco, in the area surrounding the Crissy Field Center, from 12-6pm Saturday and 12-5pm Sunday.

This is an opportunity for Ohlone people, who are the original inhabitants of the San Francisco Bay Area, to share their culture with the public in San Francisco. The Big Time will showcase over a hundred dancers and singers from several different Ohlone and native California tribes, and feature demonstrations of traditional skills such as basket weaving. These events are free and open to the public.

The event dates correspond with Indigenous People’s Weekend and Fleet Week. The Parks Conservancy predicts that Crissy Field will see more than 10,000 visitors that weekend. With this event, Ohlone Profiles Project hopes to establish an annual Ohlone presence in San Francisco. Ann Marie Sayers, Chair of Indian Canyon Nation, explains, "If we do not appear in San Francisco, we will remain invisible."

On October 14th, the following Monday morning, the Ohlone people are collaborating with the International Indian Treaty Council to host the Indigenous People's Day Sunrise Ceremony on Alcatraz Island.

Event organizers are currently accepting applications for arts and crafts booths, food vendors, and nonprofit groups.

The Big Time Gathering will be co-hosted by a council of Ohlone grandmothers and the Costanoan Rumsen Carmel Tribe of Ohlone. The Ohlone Profiles Project in San Francisco is producing the event.

"The history books say we no longer exist. But now that you have seen us dancing, you can tell them it isn't true," says Chief Tony Cerda of the Costanoan Rumsen Carmel Tribe of Ohlone.

The goal of the Ohlone Profiles Project is to document the ongoing lives of Ohlone leaders and organizations. Most people in San Francisco believe the Ohlone no longer exist. Very few realize that there are nine Ohlone organizations applying for tribal recognition, several with more than 500 members. The Ohlone Profiles Project exists to give as many Ohlone groups as possible visibility and support.