This holiday season Oklahoma City’s Red Earth Art Center invites the public to Stay & Play in OKC during the third annual Red Earth Treefest celebration. The Red Earth Art Center celebrates the Christmas season with a decidedly Native twist this year when Treefest opens free to the public for an eight-week run November 13 through January 5, 2018 in downtown Oklahoma City.
Red Earth Treefest features 20 Native Tribes from throughout Oklahoma invited to participate by creating handmade ornaments and art objects for Christmas Trees made to highlight their distinctive tribal cultures. The exhibition highlights the diverse Native cultures that make Oklahoma unique.
For those traveling to Oklahoma City for the holidays, Red Earth offers a Stay & Play holiday package designed to create special memories with family and friends including discounts on lodging, dining, shopping and tickets to two of Oklahoma City’s most popular annual family holiday stage productions.
Wyndham Garden Hotel located just minutes from the Red Earth Art Center offers a $79 room rate during the eight-week Red Earth Treefest exhibition. Included in the hotel package are two full breakfast coupons per night, discount coupons book to Outlet Shoppes at Oklahoma City and discounts to area restaurants.
The Red Earth Treefest Stay & Play package also includes discounts to two of the city’s most popular holiday events.
The Oklahoma City Ballet offers 20% off each advance ticket to the Dec 10-20 performances of The Nutcracker at Civic Center Music Hall.
While the Oklahoma City Philharmonic offers a 20% discount off each advance ticket purchase to the Nov 30 – Dec 2 performances of The Christmas Show starring Elizabeth Stanley at Civic Center Music Hall.
“Treefest is our family-friendly Christmas gift to the state,” said Teri Stanek, board president of the non-profit Red Earth organization. ‘We are thrilled to carry on this Christmas tradition for the people of Oklahoma.”
Thirty-nine Native tribes are headquartered in Oklahoma, giving the state more tribal headquarters than any other. Nearly every Oklahoma tribe has homelands in other parts of the country – from the Pacific Northwest to the Florida Everglades – creating a diverse tribal palette unique to the state.
Oklahoma Native Tribes participating in the annual event include the Absentee Shawnee, Caddo, Cherokee, Cheyenne & Arapaho, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Citizen Potawatomi, Comanche, Delaware, Kaw, Muscogee Creek, Osage, Sac and Fox, Seminole, Kiowa, Otoe Missouria, and Pawnee. Each tribal organization has been hard at work for months creating their handmade ornaments with exhibit copy explaining how each ornament on the tribal trees pertains to their own unique tribal culture.
Additional Christmas Trees on display at the Red Earth Art Center include the Red Earth docent tree with hundreds of handmade ornaments including beaded corn, dreamcatchers, mini tipis, drums and parfleche bags; a student tree, a Hopi Tree featuring handmade ornaments for sale, and a tree featuring ornaments created by Oklahoma Native artists available for sale.
“We are thrilled to carry on this tradition with the addition of the Stay & Play in OKC holiday package,” said Stanek. “I know our guests will thoroughly enjoy the Christmas trees featured at Treefest, adorned with beautiful ornaments that represent our tribal cultures so well. And, again this year, many of the tribes have created additional ornaments that we will offer for sale to the public.”
Red Earth Treefest is presented free to the public 10-5 pm Monday through Friday, Nov 13 through Jan 5, 2018.
To take advantage of the Red Earth Treefest Stay & Play holiday package including discounts on hotel lodging and tickets to the Oklahoma City Ballet production of The Nutcracker and The Oklahoma City Philharmonic’s Christmas Show visit www.RedEarth.org.
The Red Earth Art Center is located at 6 Santa Fe Plaza in the heart downtown Oklahoma City. Visit www.RedEarth.org or call (405) 427-5228 for information. Red Earth, Inc. is a non-profit organization with a mission to promote the rich traditions of American Indian arts and cultures through education, a premier festival, a museum and fine art markets.
Red Earth Treefest is sponsored, in part, by the Oklahoma Arts Council, Oklahoma City Convention & Visitors Bureau, and Oklahoma’s News 4.
