A Confluence of Communities event is happening in Prescott at Freedom Park, August 8, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
This
event is free and open to all as the community celebrates 25 years of developing partnerships between the Prescott School District, local communities, and Indigenous nations.
Prescott teacher Jeff Ryan connected with KDWA and shared about the importance of the Confluence of Communities event.
“Yeah, for the last quarter century, our community has had a really close relationship with the people of the Lac du Flambeau community in northern Wisconsin. Students and community members have traveled to that reservation community, and people from Lac du Flambeau, in turn, have come to Prescott through our Prescott Community Education Program’s 25 trips to Lac du Flambeau. And during the school year, we’ve taken 26 trips with students. So we have a total of 51 trips that people have traveled to that community to learn firsthand from Native people. We thought, let’s not only host this event, but let’s celebrate and recognize the people, the hundreds of people, that have made this trip and identified Lac du Flambeau as being a very important part of, you know, their educational journey.
And of course you know, living in Prescott, we’re in the original land of the Dakota. When speaking with other people, we thought it was important that we invite a drum group and dancers and people from the Prairie Island community to also come and celebrate with us. There’s going to be Dakota dancers, Ojibwa dancers, and it’s just going to be a fantastic event that I think the whole family will enjoy. Plus, the price is right, it’s free and open to the public, and we’ve had a lot of area groups—community groups—have been very, very supportive, making this event possible.”
So, again, I don’t know if you can tell in my voice; I’m just thrilled with this event and expect that the people in the community and those with them will also be really, really happy once they see traditional dancing and singing and history; everything will be available on this day…”
If you are interested in attending Confluence of Communities, Jeff explains what you will experience and the much-welcomed parking shuttle service on Saturday, August 8.
“The event officially begins at 10 o’clock. There’ll be about a one-hour break, and then we’ll resume at about 1 p.m., and the festivities will wrap up at about 3 o’clock. There’s not a lot of parking available here at Freedom Park. There’ll be some, but one of the things that we’ve done is we’ve coordinated with the Prescott School District, and again, I’m a teacher at the high school. We will have a shuttle service available for people to park at the high school, and the shuttle service will be available at 9:15 a.m. in the morning and also at 12:15 p.m. in the afternoon. So, of course, that means not just rides down to Freedom Park but, of course, rides back to the high school. So we’re really excited and really happy that the school districts can provide that transportation.
Again, there’s going to be food trucks there. There’s going to be plenty of opportunities for people to buy some refreshments and interact with the performers again. It’s just going to be a great, great, great event. Really great event.”
Jeff wants KDWA listeners to know this about the Confluence of Communities event.
“You know, I think it’s really important that people during breaks ask questions. Again, there’s going to be plenty of opportunity for you to interact with the dancers, and again, you’ll have an opportunity to participate too. And we hope that everybody does. That’s one of the things that I think non-native people sometimes are hesitant to maybe become actively engaged in events like this. But there’s no right way. There’s no wrong way. Participation really is wanted, and I would say it should be expected. They’ll want people out there participating, and it’ll just be so much fun. For someone who can’t dance a lick, at all the powwows that I’ve attended, I’ve had the opportunity to go out and do my best, and it’s just fun to be out there with those traditional dancers and get up close and personal. The two drum groups that we have are a Dakota drum group and an Ojibwa drum group who have played throughout the Midwest and throughout the United States. We’ve got dancers who have danced throughout the Midwest. So we’ve got some real celebrities from both the Dakota and the Ojibwa communities that are coming to share their time with us, and we’re thrilled that they’re making the trip.”
[Click the soundbite to listen to the report.]