By Kari Knutson
WINONA, Minn. – The songs may be unfamiliar and the names hard to pronounce, but a sense of home is universal.
It’s that sense of commonality that will be celebrated at the third annual Great Dakota Gathering and Homecoming on Saturday and Sunday at Lake Park.
The even was begun as reconciliation for the Dakota American Indians who called Winona home until the European settlers and the United States military forced them out. Many Dakota members attend the homecoming every year.
The homecoming had been in the planning process for years and is sponsored by the city of Winona, The Diversity Foundation, and the Winona Dakota Unity Alliance.
Diversity Foundation Chairman Edward Lohnes Jr. is a descendent
of Dakota Chief Waanatan and an
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enrolled member of Spirit LakeDakota Nation.
“Things are getting much better,” Lohnes said. “I think because of what Winona is doing, good things are happening between both cultures.”
Some of the events include a moccasin tournament, unity feast, handshaking ceremony and spiritual service.
Diversity Foundation Executive Director Lyle Rustad of Rushford, Minn., is proud to see the homecoming grow each year.
“This has really come to where we’ve always wanted it to be,” Rustad said. “It’s the result of a lot of hopes and dreams.”
Lohnes and Rustad hope the homecoming draws attention to the struggles many tribes have gone through and continue to go through. They will also be hosting a materials drive for the people of Crow Creek next Wednesday and
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Thursday at the Lake Park Maintenance Building on Lake Boulevard. Crow Creek is areservation in Fort Thompson, S.D. It’s located in Buffalo County, the poorest county in the United States. There are more than 3,000 Crow Creek residents, with the unemployment rate exceeding 90 percent. Items such as furniture, appliances, children’s clothes, bikes, desks, toys and school supplies are needed. This is the third drive Winona has done for Crow Creek over the past year.
“There is not much hope. These drives at least are some symbol of hope,” Rustad said. “But it’s just a drop.”
Rustad and Lohnes both share that hope and would like to see the homecoming continue to grow, drawing people of all backgrounds.
“If people come, when they’re native or white, there’s always a commonality,” Lohnes said.
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