To make the paint for Ancient Horizons, Jennifer M. Stevens dug clay from the banks of Duck Creek, in the heart of Oneida. She combined it with traditional Sioux earth paint, the natural pigments the Lakota used on teepees, drums and clothing. The 30-by-48-inch mixed media piece shows an ancient sunrise. Its patterns come from historical Oneida pottery designs dating from 900 to the 1600s AD, which Stevens has studied for 28 years.
Ancient Horizons is part of Shawátkehtsko, "Again It Rises." The October 2026 Kalihwisaks lists it as the fall art exhibit at the Kahnekano·lú Cultural Center on Airport Drive. Last fall, that building did not exist. This fall, it is the one Oneida venue whose schedule runs into December. The places that usually carry an Oneida autumn have either closed for the season or are halfway through rebuilding.
The Outdoor Season Closed In Order
Oneida's 2026 outdoor calendar wound down over about four weeks. The dates are close enough together that it's easy to miss how much ended in a short stretch.
- September 10. The Oneida Land, Environmental, Agriculture, and Food as Medicine Division, known as LEAF, led community members to Sweetgrass Spring off Seminary Road for the sweetgrass harvest.
- September 24. The Oneida Farmers Market at N7284 County Road J held its last Thursday of the 2026 season. It had run noon to 6 p.m. every week since June 18. This was a strong year for the market. Kalihwisaks reported 36 vendors and 1,450 customers on opening day. Customers averaged 2,453 across the first two weeks, up 27% from 2025.
- October 1. Oneida Lake's bathrooms, campsites and beach gate closed for the season and will reopen May 1, 2027. The lake and main gate stay open for winter recreation.
- October 7. This is the last date on the Nation's fall kayaking flyer, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Kayaking is free, but you have to preregister, and the location depends on conditions. The final Walk with a Doc of the season is the same day. It starts at 12:10 p.m. at the Oneida Community Health Center entrance.
Usually the orchard would pick up where this list leaves off. This year, the October Kalihwisaks has a "Notice of Cancellation" for Orchard Harvest, Husking Bee, and Education Days on its contents page. The notice covers those events. It doesn't say the orchard itself is closed.
The Orchard Is Between Buildings
The Oneida Nation Apple Orchard at 3976 W. Mason St. is spending this harvest in a building it is about to leave. At the August 3 groundbreaking for a new retail store and production facility, Eric McLester, director of LEAF, told NBC26 that the current facility is more than 30 years old. The current entrance is on West Mason, where traffic moves at highway speeds near a curve with limited sight lines. The new 7,600-square-foot building moves the entrance a short distance northwest to N. Overland Drive, which is much quieter. Plans include a retail sales floor, a commercial kitchen, a production area and a large refrigeration area. McLester said the goal is to grow "not just more apples but other fruit and vegetable products." The Nation's latest project status report puts completion in February 2027.
The orchard is also getting bigger. Kalihwisaks reports that the Nation bought the original orchard in 1994 with 34 acres of trees. It now has more than 5,000 trees on 44 acres, growing 34 apple varieties. Most of the harvest is McIntosh, Cortland and Honey Gold. NBC26 gave smaller numbers in August: more than 4,000 trees on 34 acres. The orchard has now gone four years without chemical sprays. McLester says that has lowered yields, and frost and hail hurt this year's crop. He still told NBC26, "We will have apples."
The orchard doesn't post fall hours on its official page. It sends visitors to its Facebook page instead. In September, Kalihwisaks said pick-your-own schedules were still being worked out. Check Facebook before you drive out.
Fourteen Times The Room
With the market done, the lake gate closed and the orchard's harvest events off the calendar, the Kahnekano·lú Cultural Center is left carrying the season. It is built for that. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that the new building is 21,000 square feet. The former museum was 1,500 square feet and was essentially a compact audio-visual walkthrough. Exhibits cover the Great Law of Peace through the Oneida arrival in Wisconsin. Touchscreens line the galleries, and a dance pad teaches one of three Oneida social dances. There are also indoor workshop spaces, a storyteller room, an outdoor space for cultural performances, and a gift shop three times the size of the old one, planned to carry baskets, pottery and raised beadwork by Oneida artists.
The project broke ground in November 2024, and the grand opening was June 20, 2026. The museum's holdings came with it: more than 3,000 objects, 12,000 photographs and 25,000 archival items. A temporary gallery means exhibits like Shawátkehtsko can rotate through. Because of that, the building can give people a new reason to come back each season, which the old museum couldn't.
"Our Oneida people and culture is like our Mother Earth's ancient horizons; the sun keeps rising."
Jennifer M. Stevens, in the October 2026 Kalihwisaks
What's On The Calendar Between Now And December
Most of the dated events left in Oneida's fall either happen at the cultural center or are built around it.
- Thursday, October 8. The Neville Public Museum's Museum Exchange and Bus Trip runs 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. The Oneida stop includes a traditional food tasting, time in the gift shop, and a visit with Jennifer Stevens in her exhibit space. Tickets are $75 for Neville members and $80 for non-members. The Oneida Nation Arts Program reserved 10 free seats for Oneida community members.
- Thursday, October 15. The Younger Brain Blueprint watch party and snack-and-learn runs 11 a.m. to noon at the cultural center. Register by phone, email or online.
- Saturday, October 17. Just Move It Oneida's Spooktacular runs 9 to 11 a.m. at Oneida Nation Elementary School, N7125 Seminary Rd. It includes a costume walk and trick-or-treat route, caramel apple decorating, crafts and games.
- Wednesday, October 28. Vendor applications close for the Holiday Art Market. The window opened October 1, and there is no vendor fee.
- Saturday, October 31. This is the requested deadline for mailing comment forms on WisDOT's WIS 54 project. Emailed comments are also accepted, and WisDOT welcomes input throughout design. The project covers resurfacing from County J to WIS 172 and a deck overlay on the Duck Creek Bridge, with construction scheduled for 2028.
- Saturday, December 5. The Oneida Nation Arts Program Holiday Art Market fills the cultural center from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and is open to the public.
Only the Spooktacular and the road comment period on that list are tied to anything outside. The art market is the last scheduled public event of the year, and it happens indoors on Airport Drive.
Before You Go
The cultural center is at 760 Airport Drive in Oneida. FOX 11's July tour listed gallery hours as Tuesday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Saturday, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The gallery is closed Sundays and Mondays. The gift shop has the same Saturday hours, and FOX 11 listed it as open Monday through Friday until 4 p.m. The center is closed on certain holidays.
Admission is $10 for adults, $6 for children and $5 for elders. Members of other tribal nations and non-tribal families also pay $5. Oneida tribal members, veterans, Blue Star Moms and employees with a badge get in free. The hours are from a summer report, so call ahead before a weekday visit. The gift shop line is (920) 869-6533. It takes Visa, MasterCard, Apple Pay, Google Pay and cash, and it can ship phone and email orders, which helps if you're shopping before the December market.
The Nation's own web page for the center still shows exhibit notes left over from when the old museum was being taken down. The October Kalihwisaks is the better guide to what's on view now. Kalihwisaks gives no closing date for Shawátkehtsko, so if you want to see Ancient Horizons and its Duck Creek clay in person, go sooner rather than later.
Oneida is getting a new orchard store in February, and it already has a cultural center that stays open after the lake gate closes. Changes like these shape what owning a home here looks like from one year to the next. If you're thinking about what that means for a property in Oneida, Matt Jorgenson Real Estate can walk you through it. Book a consultation.