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MTU
Powwow celebrates Native American Heritage  Veterans
line up with flags in preparation for the Grand
Entry of the fifth annual MTU Spirit of the Harvest
Powwow held earlier this month in the Gates Tennis
Center on the Michigan Tech campus. Flag
bearers and flags they carried include Jim Williams,
American; Tim McGregor, Canadian; Ron Staubinger,
POW-MIA; Jim Richardson, U.S. Navy; Albert Whitebird,
Jr., U.S. Marine Corps; Pete Andrews, Air Force;
Richard Williams, Lac du Flambeau; Fred Shalifoe,
Vietnam Veterans. At far right is Stanley Spruce of
the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community (KBIC), a Navy
veteran and master of ceremonies. Not pictured, but
in the background is Carole La Pointe, Native
American Outreach Coordinator at Michigan Tech and
organizer of the event. Said Betty Chavis, MTU
Outreach and Multi-Ethnic Programs coordinator,
"It’Äôs excellent this year. This is quite an
effort to put this all together. Carole has done a
fantastic job!"
 Head
dancers, Donald Chosa and his daughter Karlene Chosa,
led many of the spiritual dances at the Powwow to
celebrate Native American Heritage month.
 The
Smokey Town Singers of Menominee were among the
musical groups who participated in the Powwow.
 Dancing
is open to all ages. This young dancer in his bright
regalia wears a button from the Mille Lacs Band of
Ojibwe.
 MC
Stanley Spruce of KBIC thanks Jessica Dakota, 14, of
Baraga, for her moving flute performance at the
Powwow.
 Long-distance
runner Sandra Harting, right, of Toivola,
coordinated the Walt Bresette Memorial Walk/Run
Saturday morning and still had the energy to do
shawl dancing at the afternoon Powwow. At center is
a jingle dancer.
 Andy
Sagutch, left, an Ojibwe artist from Toronto, shows
MTU student Rob Beranek of Gladstone, Mich., how to
make a dream catcher. Beranek, a third-year physics
student, noted this was his first Powwow experience.
"I think it’Äôs amazing," he said.
 Ruth
Maracle, left, a member of the Mohawk Nation of the
Iroquois Confederacy, discusses herbs with Nancy
Gagnon, reflexotherapist, of Dollar Bay. Maracle,
one of the Native American vendors at the Powwow,
was born on the Six Nations Territory in Ontario and
now lives in Deckerville, Mich.
 Despite
a delay in receiving power for cooking, the Edwards
family worked hard making traditional fry bread with
Eddie Edwards’Äô prize-winning recipe. Pictured from
left, Eddie, his wife Christine Edwards, Alice Brunk
and Mark Edwards work together on the fry bread
assembly line.
-
Michele Anderson
November 17, 2000 Click
here for more photos of the Powwow ’Ķ
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