By Tien-Shun Lee
As he stood behind a counter Saturday sewing a baby moccasin made out of deer skin, Gabriel Rodriguez of Mexico said it was hard to believe there is a place in New York City like the Queens County Farm Museum during its annual American Indian powwow festival.
“It’s beautiful. I love it,” said Rodriguez, one of about 60 vendors who set up stands at the festival selling traditional American Indian clothing, jewelry, crafts, musical instruments and food, including fry bread, Indian tacos, sweet potato fries and buffalo frankfurters.
Like many of the other vendors, Rodriguez travels around the country from March to November selling his goods at fairs and festivals. When he is not traveling, he spends part of each year living in the Catskill Mountains in New York and another part living in Mexico.
Rodriguez arrived in the city Friday, the opening day of the 25th annual Thunderbird American Indian Mid-Summer Powwow, which was held in the apple orchard of the Queens County Farm Museum at 73-50 Little Neck Parkway in Floral Park from Friday night through Sunday.
“This is my first year for this powwow,” Rodriguez said. “I spent more time driving within this city than driving from the Catskills to the city, but this is beautiful.”
A member of the Nahuatl tribe, which has about four million members in Mexico, Rodriguez sold T-shirts printed with huhehuheteo, the Nahuatl god of fire, baskets made out of cactus, purses with feathers and leather moccasins.
Aside from ethnic goods, the American Indian powwow also featured hundreds of dancers representing more than 40 Indian nations. These performers competed in a three-day intertribal native American dance competition.
Dressed in brilliant colors, the dancers performed various native American dances, including the fancy dance and jingle dance, in a large circle surrounded by seats made out of blocks of hay.
“It’s our fourth year here,” said Manuel Larino, as he and his wife looked through a stand selling feathered dream catchers. “We come mostly for the music and dancing. At night, they light a bonfire and they invite everybody to dance.”
While most of the 18,000 or so people at the powwow were drawn by the entertainment, food and shopping, Christian Regnaudot, 28, came to try to save his 2-year-old stepson’s life by finding him a suitable bone marrow donor.
Regnaudot’s stepson, Dakota Kwiecinski, is half native American and suffers from hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis, or HLH, a rare disease caused by an excess of malfunctioning white blood cells. His only hope of survival is if to receive a bone marrow transplant before he comes out of remission, Regnaudot said.
“Nobody (with this disease) has lasted for longer than two years without a transplant,” said Regnaudot, who lives in Astoria with his wife, Tristan Regnaudot, who is Navajo, and Dakota. “They expected that Dakota would last for two to six months. His time is running out because he has a very severe form that has affected his central nervous system.”
So far, Dakota’s Human Leukocyte Antigen profile has not matched the five million profiles in the HLA Registry Foundation, a national organization that coordinates bone marrow drives and matches donors to recipients.
Because the chances of finding an HLA match are greater within the victim’s native ethnic group, Regnaudot and other members of Dakota’s family have organized bone marrow drives at native American events.
About 50 people gave small samples of blood Saturday in a small area set up at the entrance to the American Indian powwow event, where admission fees of $7 for adults and $3 for children were being collected. The Web site is www.dakotakwiecinski.org.
“I found out about Dakota just from the fliers I saw at the powwow,” said Ursula Landolt, 34, of Switzerland, after giving a blood sample by having her finger pricked with a needle. “If I’m not a match for him, a little finger prick for the potential to save somebody else’s life is worth it.”
Dakota receives chemotherapy once a week to keep his faulty white blood cells in check, Regnaudot said. Dakota is in remission and seems like a normal, energetic and healthy boy who loves E.T., spaceships, Spiderman and sharks.
“If we ever find a match, that person would always be a hero — they would’ve saved someone’s life,” Regnaudot said. “I would get on my knees and thank almighty God.”
Reach reporter Tien-Shun Lee by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com, or call 718-229-0300, Ext. 155.
