Wild Rice Festival

This is the worst example of an indigenous event being white washed and badly manage. I was disappointed to see very few indigenous vendors. My biggest concern is from the pioneer table that displaced a Teepee and indigenous artifacts. The white women could not tell me how this foundation helps modern day Dakota people, the very people that she was sharing stories about and pushing the narrative that a pioneer white girl named Mary made peace with her “Indian neighbors,” She mention that Dakota members came to set up the teepee display but didn’t stick around. These types of displays and lack of primary representation keeps the ideals of indigenous people locked in the pass when many indigenous tribes are Flourishing in modern society. Even the music they picked to represent natives was stuck in the past with sounds of the flute and drums. I hope for the people running this event allow indigenous leadership to take over and modernize their venue, music and information.

Definitely worth attending, great food.