Northland Native American Products
	"A flower already in bloom has come to the Ancient Traders Market. Those in search of the Great Spirit, a place of balance, a storytelling print or simply a jar of chokecherry jelly need not wander any further."
	Northland Native American Products has grown from a home-based, mail-order business into a Gallery and Retail space where one can find treasures of the land, original items by Native Peoples from Minnesota, the Dakota’s, Wisconsin and Canada.
	In 1996 Northland Native American Products started almost by accident, according to owner Ken Bellanger.  At that time, they dealt entirely in gift products, making use of traditional North Woods gifts, hand crafted birch bark baskets or canoes, and rare gourmet foods from the Ojibwe people and the Minnesota northlands.   These products are still available, and they come with stories of their origins.  For example, the wild rice is harvested in the traditional way from natural rice beds on reservations, lakes and rivers.  The Ojibwe people pole their canoes through the rice and use wooden batons to knock it into the canoes. Then, they hand parch the grains to preserve the aroma and the natural brown-green color.
	Northland sells this wild rice, along with wild berry syrups and jellies in  many mouth-watering flavors such as chokecherry, hawthorn, highbush cranberry, rose hip, and wild plum; flavors that one certainly cannot find at most stores in town.   In December of 1999, Northland moved into the Ancient Traders Market on East Franklin Avenue.   Bellanger has always wanted to be able to show the beauty of the arts, but the decision about where to open the gallery was not obvious.  Native people from the community helped Bellanger realize that Franklin Avenue was the right home for the Northland Gallery.  “A lot of the people in the community have very great pride and they are feeling a sense of ownership,” Bellanger said, adding, “I don’t know that the Great Spirit measures us by what we have in our pockets.”
	The Gallery is truly an oasis, a sensual experience given over to celebration.  One walks in to the soothing sound of the native flute, the gentle scent of sage and cedar, and a warm greeting from Ken Bellanger or other staff.  Then, one can wander and drink in the beauty and spirit of the native art.  There is pottery, jewelry and beadwork.  There are sculptures of elders, horses, eagles and the White Buffalo Spirit.  There are dance sticks, drums of all sizes and blankets of many colors.  And there are prints and paintings whose names offer only a hint of their visual poetry.  “Buffalo Dancer” , “Spirit Relative” , “Grandfathers Tears” , “Wolf Song” and “Keeper of the Plains” are only a few of the paintings adorning the walls of the Gallery.  The art of Northland is unique and diverse, some of it traditional, some of it quite contemporary.  The art tells stories.  One can learn about the background of the artist as Bellanger shares the how and the why of the person behind the art in order to honor them.   Ken has seen how good people feel when they come into this space.  He believes they feel the spirituality and says, “Everything in here has been created for good” .
©Northland Native American Products