2023 White Bear Lake Area Powwow

1. A conultant, Amy Puschinsky, has been retained to serve as coordinator of the project. She has confirmed the arena director and emcee for the event and invitations are pending to drum groups, dancers, and honor guard.
2. The date for the Powwow has been confirmed for Saturday, May 6, from 11:00 AM - 6:00 PM, with a Grand March at 1:00.
3. The venue has been selected: Mahtomedi Education Center, 1520 Mahtomedi Avenue, Mahtomedi.
4. A marketing plan has been developed to promote the event and a logo, posters, social media postings, and press releases will be available by March 20.
5. Three school districts have confirmed participation: White Bear Lake, Mahtomedi, Maplewood-North St. Paul-Oakdale. Individuals from these districts are serving as advisors to the project.; Changes since interim report:
1. The venue for the event was changed from the Mahtomedi Education Center to a middle school in White Bear Lake to provide a better location for both an outside as well as an inside event. Due to the weather, the event was held inside.
2. A fourth school district, Stillwater, was added to the districts participating in the powwow, for a total of four.

Outcomes:
Note: The following two activities inform the responses to the outcomes described in this report. Please also see the section on impact for other examples that relate to our outcomes.

1. Many Faces asked the White Bear Lake High School History Club to serve as evaluators during the event. Ten high school students spent four hours at the Wacipi, interviewing a cross-section of people and another two hours preparing their report. They were able to interview 152 of the estimated 500 people attending the Wacipi to gather feedback about their experience. The responses to the interview questions were organized by type of respondent: Native or Non-Native.

2. In addition, attendees had the opportunity to use post-it notes to respond to the question What did you enjoy most about attending the Wacipi?" Approximately 50 people shared their response and a word cloudwas developed to incorporate the responses.

Goal 1: To provide an opportunity for Native American students and their families who live in the White Bear Lake area to participate in a Powwow in their own local community.
Outcome: At least 50% of the current Native American students and their families attend the Powwow.

We definitely met this goal. We provided the opportunity and Native American families came. We know from the interviews conducted that 34 people self-identified as Native, 22% of those interviewed. Anecdotally, from observations and conversations, we can say that there were a significant number of American Indian families in attendance. While we had hoped to be able to report numbers, several factors made this difficult. We had planned to register people as they arrived to have an indication of Native v. non-Native attendees, but the nature of the event and the overwhelming number of people arriving at the same time and at different entries made this impossible. Further, since we expanded the number of school districts from two to four, we realized we did not have a good base number from which to apply a goal of 50%.

Goal 2.: To create a better sense of belonging and pride in their cultural heritage for these students and their families as they are recognized and honored by members of the community in which they live.
Outcome: Native students and families express the feeling that the broader community is interested in their culture and traditions.

Of those interviewed, 22.4%, or 34 people, self-identified as Native. Their responses:
94.1% indicated they felt welcomed at the Wacipi
Mentioned as what they felt was meaningful:
* Being proud to share my culture and traditions
* Feeling honored and respected
* Being with family and friends
* The inter-tribal dancing
* Bringing back old memories
* The community turnout
* Having my daughter dance with me in the dance circle
* Seeing their family drumming
* Having a respectful community even after all the hardships they had faced
* Seeing their language hasn't been forgotten
* Being able to educate people.

While not answered in the interviews, two additional comments on the post-it notes apply here:
* Seeing members of our tribe here.
* Seeing people like me dance.
When asked if they would participate in this community again, 93.9% said yes, 3% said maybe.

Goal 3: To introduce the broader White Bear Lake area community to the traditional Powwow, to the work of Native artisans and businesses, and to the cultural heritage of our Native neighbors.
Outcome: Non-Native attendees will express an increase in their awareness and understanding of Native culture and traditions. Of the people interviewed, 77.6%, or 118, self-identified as Non-Native. Their responses:

For 56.4%, this was their first powwow.
Mentioned as what they felt was meaningful:
* Learning Native American culture and traditions
* Feeling the diverse community
* Honoring graduating students
* Having something like this in White Bear Lake
* The dancing
* The inter-tribal welcoming
* Meeting people
* The drumming
* Seeing the regalia
* Honoring veterans
* Honoring the people they know
*
While not answered in the interviews, additional comments on the post-it notes apply here:
* Drumming invitations for everyone to dance together
* Blanketing Ceremony & Community Handshake
* Purchasing Native American tea
* Grand Entry
* Kindness of people
* The feelings of togetherness
* hey would go to a powwow again, 97.3% said yes
When asked if they had learned from this experience (the powwow). 47.5% said yes, a lot, and 45.8% said yes, somewhat.
When asked if they would go to a powwow again, 97.3% said yes.