The Gun Lake Band of Potawatomi will hold their third annual Sweet Grass Moon Pow Wow Saturday and Sunday, July 7-8. The event celebrates Pottawatomi culture with music, dance, and Native American food.
Tribal elder and Pow Wow Planning Committee Chairwoman Punkin Shananaquet says it’s a reminder that Potawatomi culture is still very much alive.
"This Pow Wow allows outside guests to come in and see a living, breathing, animate form of our people and expressing themselves in a modern-day era."
The event will include a special ceremony addressing domestic abuse.
Donations to an area food pantry are quested at the door but the Pow Wow is otherwise free and open to the public. It starts at noon Saturday and runs until 8 p.m. Festivities on Sunday begin at noon and end at 5 p.m. The event is at the Gun Lake Band’sJijak Camp, 2044 126th Avenue near Hopkins.
Shananaquet says each performance, as well as native food and art vendors, highlight the most important traditions of Potawatomi culture. But she says you don’t have to be Native American to enjoy it.
"Anybody who comes in and has no knowledge of a Pow Wow or the Native American or Nishnabe background, they'll be able to understand and learn something from our emcees."
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