How do you awaken a prairie? How might you be awoken by seeking the answer to this question? The Dallas County Conservation Board (DCCB) invites you to join the annual Prairie Awakening-Prairie Awoke Native American Celebration in order to explore your answers to these questions.
This year’s celebration will be held Saturday, Sept. 10 from 3-9 p.m. at the Kuehn Conservation Area in rural Redfield. This year’s theme is “Much can be learned by watching children at play,” a reflection on the words of Black Elk, the Lakota Elder.
The DCCB’s long-standing position is that one of the best ways to awaken a prairie, and the residents of Dallas County, is to return the music, dances, stories, drums and songs of this place’s First Nations peoples to today’s landscape. To this end, the DCCB is teaming with the Meskwaki Nation, inviting their children to share their lessons in the arena.
“Today’s tribal leaders were once the children of the community and will be its elders tomorrow. Native youth provide a special perspective on the world, and have a unique power and motivation to make a difference,” according to the National Congress of American Indians.
In the arena at Kuehn, carved into the restored tallgrass prairie, a Meskwaki youth dance troupe will perform some of their traditional dances in regalia. The Meskwaki youth will use this event to promote cultural unity and friendship as they interpret these dances and share the importance of these traditions for their People. Celebration participants will be invited to join the Meskwaki youth, dancing in the arena.
Additionally, a Meskwaki youth drum will team with the traditional Meskwaki Brown Otter drum in order to explain the role of the drum and songs in their culture and ceremonies. In another Prairie Awakening-Prairie Awoke tradition, a rehabilitated raptor and tagged migratory monarch butterflies will be released into the wild skies above the arena.
Each year the celebration strives to balance the new awakenings of the current year’s theme with the traditions of the proceeding years of gathering at this place, honoring traditions as we once again welcome our friend Dallas Chief Eagle, world champion traditional Hoop Dancer.
Dallas will perform an exhibition hoop dance and interpretation in the arena. And as tradition holds, Dallas will conclude the celebration by engaging the audience in story-telling and dance around a bonfire.
This celebration is free and open to the public. In respect to the Meskwaki traditions, we ask that no dogs enter the arena. Concessions by Snappy’s Fire Stick BBQ will be available on site. Bring your lawn chairs or blankets for seating.
Few of DCCB’s programming offerings present you with a more magical setting — the long light of the evening across the autumn hues of the prairie embolden spirits with the invitation to be awakened by the youths, drum, dance and stories of our prairie’s first voices.
For more information, contact Chris Adkins, Dallas County Conservation Board Environmental Education Coordinator, at chris.adkins@dallascountyiowa.gov.
Sarah Gilchrist is the outreach coordinator for the Dallas County Conservation Board.
