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ROTTERDAM
Three Feathers Cafe offers monthly cultural experience Family event centers on music, stories by American Indian and other performers
BY MICHAEL LAMENDOLA Gazette Reporter
Reach Gazette reporter Michael Lamendola at 395-3114 or lamend@dailygazette.com.

    Hoping to broaden its appeal and raise money for operations, an American Indian education and cultural organization is offering music and light refreshments once a month at its Rotterdam Junction center.
    The entertainment takes place at the Three Feathers Cafe, which is inside the farmhouse on the property, on the third Saturday each month.
    The sponsor is the group Keepers of the Circle. Keepers is a nonprofit educational and cultural organization consisting of American Indians and others. It owns 2.6 acres on Route 5S and the farmhouse. Keepers is next to the Mabee Farm Historic Site, owned by the Schenectady County Historical Society.
    The cafe features music and storytelling by American Indians and others, plus a chance to jam with artists in front of an open microphone, said coordinator Suzanne Rancourt.
    “We want to create a forum for traditional performers and contemporary performers,” Rancourt said. “It is a comfortable setting and it is family oriented.”
    The cafe, which opened in November, serves no alcohol but offers coffee and tea. Entrance is free but Keepers accepts donations of $5 for members and $8 for nonmembers.
    Keepers started the cafe to raise money so the organization can “keep the place we want to keep here,” said Director Jessica LaPan. It had initially sought a permit from the county to make and serve American Indian food at the cafe. But the group abandoned the idea, for now, because the farmhouse would require extensive and expensive remodeling to bring it up to restaurant code, she said.
    For now, Keepers is content to run the cafe, sponsor powwows, provide educational programs and operate a food pantry. Keepers’ next powwow is in July, and it is offering a drum workshop Feb. 28. The food pantry is open Friday and Saturday in the morning during the winter.
    LaPan said Keepers is breaking even financially, “but, most important of all, we are getting new members.” The organization has 85 dues-paying members, she said.
    Rancourt is developing a speakers bureau, consisting of members of Keepers and others, who can offer lectures as well as music and educational events to the community. The list includes the Ndakinna Drummers of Vermont, who drum, sing and dance American Indian creations; flute maker, composer and performer Eric Marczk, coowner of Mohawk Valley guitars on Jay Street; Dave Cornelius, educator, genealogist, and singer and songwriter; Dawn Standing Woman, a Mohawk who offers dream catcher demonstrations and history lessons; and Suzy Blue Flame, an Abenaki singer and songwriter and award-winning author.
    “We are coming together to create a community that welcomes expression and offers people a chance to learn about the Keepers,” Rancourt said.
    Keepers took over the farmhouse and land last year from Schenectady County. The county sold the remaining 27 acres to the Schenectady County Historical Society for $180,000. The society needs the land to build a year-round educational center on the Mabee Farm.
    The county bought the .................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....amp;EntityId=Ar00802

I think they shouldn't need a permit since it is Indian land like a reservation