Nationally recognized Wabanaki artists gather at Shaker Village

Wabanaki Summer Market to be held at Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village

The summer market, connecting 2 of Maine's oldest traditions, returns for its 18th year.

Nationally recognized Wabanaki artists gather at Shaker Village

NEW GLOUCESTER, ME – Nationally recognized and award-winning Wabanaki artists will gather at Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village for the Wabanaki Summer Market on Saturday, August 22, 2026, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. The annual gathering offers a rare opportunity to experience, appreciate, and engage with Wabanaki culture through the talents and perspectives of some of the best-known Wabanaki artists working today. Representing Penobscot, Passamaquoddy, Mi’kmaq, and Wolastoqiyik (Maliseet) communities, artists will share traditional knowledge and contemporary perspectives through brown ash and sweetgrass basketry, birch-bark work, woodcarving, beadwork, jewelry, and other art forms. Visitors can meet and learn directly from the artists and purchase their work, directly supporting Wabanaki makers and the continuation of these living traditions. Demonstrations, music, storytelling, and cultural presentations throughout the day will highlight skills and knowledge carried across generations. Of particular importance is Wabanaki brown ash basketry, one of the region’s most distinctive artistic traditions. Today, the invasive emerald ash borer is destroying stands of brown ash across Maine, threatening the essential material Wabanaki basketmakers have relied upon for generations. The market provides an increasingly important opportunity to encounter this tradition through the artists who continue to practice, teach, and advance it. First established at Shaker Village in 2009 as the Maine Native American Summer Market and Demonstration, the event has grown into one of southern Maine’s largest annual gatherings of Wabanaki artists. Developed in partnership with Wabanaki artists and the Maine Indian Basketmakers Alliance, the gathering reflects a much older relationship: for generations, Maine Shakers and Wabanaki people maintained connections through trade, craftsmanship, and personal exchange, including the exchange and sale of Wabanaki baskets and other handmade goods. “What makes this day extraordinary is the opportunity to learn directly from Wabanaki artists themselves,” said Michael Graham, Director of Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village. “These are nationally recognized artists and tradition bearers whose work carries generations of knowledge while also expressing their individual creativity and perspectives. Shaker Village is honored to provide a gathering place where the public can meet these artists, experience their work, hear their stories, and directly support the traditions they are carrying forward.” The Wabanaki Summer Market will be held rain or shine on Saturday, August 22, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village, 707 Shaker Road, New Gloucester, Maine. Admission is free. Food trucks will be available for meals.