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�Maybe you�ll have an Indian moment� Mail Tribune / Drew Fleming The Circle Dance at the Ashland Country Fair on Saturday at Emigrant Lake was the first of three in a series. The second dance was the Blanket Dance, and third was the Friendship Dance, where strangers shook hands in a line Ashland Country Fair combines education, tradition, entertainment By Vicki Guarino ASHLAND � American Indian storytellers and poets, singers, drummers and dancers take the stage and artisans display their wares in a weekend country fair celebrating the spirit of the past and the culture of the present. The Ashland Country Fair, which continues today at Emigrant Lake, is intended to educate visitors as much as entertain. "Spend time with us, get to know us, be with us," master of ceremonies Amanda Old Crow implored a mixed crowd of American Indians and whites on Saturday. "Maybe you�ll have an Indian moment." Pink- and green-haired youth, �60s-era hippies, young children, grandparents, craftsmen and browsers spread across a breezy hillside overlooking the lake. Old Crow, a 22-year-old Crow Indian living on the Blackfoot reservation in Montana, is a stand-up comedian who has performed on Broadway and testified before Congress and who travels much of the time with her mother, a healer. She said they find audiences across the country at fairs like this one in Ashland. Their primary message is one of bicultural living to Indian youth. Old Crow said the young need to know how to live with the traditions of their families and the practices of the culture beyond reservation boundaries. "You have two completely different worlds coming together," Old Crow said. She told the audience, "This is what makes me feel good: to see the young people proud." On stage, singers performed a mix of modern pop songs and ages-old native chants and prayers. Dancers in feathers, beads, buckskins and brightly colored robes took choreographed steps and turns to songs ranging from the Lord�s Prayer to folk ballads. Ringing an audience on blankets and lawn chairs were bead stringers, leather workers, dressmakers, silversmiths and sellers of crystals, shells, incense, espresso, tacos and French fries. Volunteers manned a Ralph Nader for President booth. Painter David Seacord, who mostly divides his time between Ashland and Santa Fe, N.M., was staging the first showing of his work. He said he began painting just a year ago, at age 50, finally finding his passion and spirit. All around on makeshift scaffolding hung his efforts of the past 14 months. He impressed himself as well as some passersby. "This is awesome," Seacord said. "I�ve never seen all my work in one place before. When I first saw it I thought �Wow, I�m going to do more if this.� " Nearby, Gaelyn Larrick, Ashland, mingled with the crowd, inviting anyone who was interested to try their hand at drumming � alone or with any one of the drumming groups taking turns on stage. Larrick, the fair�s "drum facilitator" insisted that everyone was welcome on stage. "Or else no one would be doing it," Larrick said, "and we wouldn�t have the drumming." Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA