If you haven’t been to Santa Fe yet or haven’t visited the Palace of the Governors Portal where the Native Americans sell their wares, you need to check it out
This is the number one tourist spot in Santa Fe.
This area in the plaza of Santa Fe has been the place where Native Americans have sold their crafts under the Museum of New Mexico Native American Vendors Program.
Under this program the sellers are registered to have space under the portal of the Palace of the Governors. Local Pueblos have the most representation with the Jemez and Santa Domingo having a registration of up to 5 – 10% of their population.
Here, come rain, snow or sunshine you will find Native Americans situated on their blankets 8 – 5 (which is the official spot per family) selling original, authentic, jewelry and arts and crafts.
Feast Days in the pueblos and Christmas are days you will not find the sellers, but in most cases every other day of the year the portal is filled with sellers.
The importance of this vendor program to the pueblo families is large. Someone in each pueblo benefits from the sales here.
Some vendors describe the vendor program as a pot of gold bringing money to the pueblo and families that are part of the poorest communities in the US. The profits from their sales are better because there is no middleman such as the galleries or gift shops.
The prices are not necessarily lower than the shops in the plaza, but you can be guaranteed of their authenticity. The variety of styles and creativity also can not be beat.
One of the most important aspects of selling under the portal is that it gives artists the opportunity to meet the consumers of their work. The other thing is that it gives the artists the ability to maintain artistic integrity in their work where wholesaling to shops does not.
Family life also profits from this program because the work is done at home and the mothers or fathers with children can stay at home and a member of the family can sell their wares under the portal.
Everyone benefits with this program. The families of the pueblos get the financial and artistic benefits. The tourists get the advantage of buying unique artistic wares they could not find anywhere else, and the other businesses also get the benefit of the tourists because the local shops also get the tourist traffic because of the portal sellers’ draw.
So when you come back to Santa Fe or are just coming for the first time, stop by the Palace of the Governors and experience Santa Fe Native American works.
Eileen Richardson
