Ridgecrest Petroglyph Festival

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The Ridgecrest Petroglyph Festival is an annual weekend-long festival held in Ridgecrest, California, celebrating the Coso people, and specifically the 10,000-year-old petroglyphs of the Coso Rock Art District. [1] The festival was founded in 2014, and attracted over 15,000 guests in its first year and was named one of Groupon's "10 Most Unique Autumn Festivals in the Country". [2] Events include an Intertribal Pow Wow, street fair, and guided tours to the local petroglyphs.

Petroglyph Tours and Events

The festival is focused on petroglyphs, with several tours throughout the weekend, organized by the Maturango Museum in Ridgecrest. Big and Little Petroglyph Canyons, the sites of the Coso petroglyphs, are located within the Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, creating an undisturbed home for over 20,000 documented images.

Several tribes come together the weekend of the annual festival to be a part of the Intertribal Pow Wow held the same weekend. The 2014 festival featured a performance by famed Native American flautist R. Carlos Nakai.

In 2014, a Petroglyph Park was created in Ridgecrest, featuring replicas of several of the famous petroglyphs in the area. [3]

2020 saw a virtual festival take place due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ridgecrest, California</span> City in California, United States

Ridgecrest is a city in Kern County, California, United States, along U.S. Route 395 in the Indian Wells Valley in northeastern Kern County, adjacent to the Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake. It was incorporated as a city in 1963. The population was 27,959 at the 2020 census, up slightly from 27,616 at the 2010 census.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Big and Little Petroglyph Canyons</span> Archaeological site in California, United States

Big and Little Petroglyph Canyons are two principal landforms within which are found major accumulations of Paleo-Indian and/or Native American Petroglyphs, or rock art, by the Coso People located in the Coso Range Mountains of the northern Mojave Desert, and now within the Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, near the towns of China Lake and Ridgecrest, California. Little Petroglyph Canyon contains 20,000 documented images, which surpasses in number for most other collections. Additionally, the archeological resources are remarkably undisturbed.

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Maturango Museum is located in Ridgecrest, California. The museum is best known for the guided tours of the Coso Rock Art District located on China Lake Naval Weapons Station. The museum offers exhibits and displays featuring both the natural and the cultural history and diversity of the Northern Mojave Desert with exhibits of animals, plants, rocks and minerals, Native American artifacts, and contemporary arts and crafts.

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References

  1. Forgione, Mary. "California: Ancient petroglyphs are stars of Ridgecrest fest, tours". Los Angeles Times. ISSN   0458-3035 . Retrieved 2015-09-02.
  2. "Fall Festivals: The 10 Most Unusual Fests Across the Country". Groupon. Retrieved 2015-09-02.
  3. Weston, Jessica. "Petroglyph Park gets ready to rock" . Retrieved 2015-09-02.