Cass Lake, MN

Here are the pictures of the making of the Odenah Market,   Cass Lake’s new Indian Village:

   First we have to cut poles and trim them so they look like poles not trees

  Then we load the poles and transport them to the building site.

  Next comes the task of bending the poles and tying them.

  Then, we all get inside the completed lodge and say “Commodity cheese” for the camera!

  This is a picture of some of the arbors we built.  The village is a work in progress.   We plan on building some more small wigwams (or lodges) and another big lodge.

Odenah, The Indian Market………..is what we have named the Indian Village. We have a large wigwam up and a smaller wigwam and 5 arbors and over the weekend we had vendors at the market. As soon as we can we will post the photos we have of the building of the market.

We have been blessed with the help of the youth works youth who are here in town doing work projects for the summer. Each week a new group of kids come and they are just amazed and excited to be building wigwams. For some it may well be the high light of their whole summer. for us its a pleasure working with and sharing knowledge with them.We do some story telling and teaching with them.Its a win win situation for  everyone. Some one asked where our kids were and why they aren’t out there and I said well about 500 years ago ………………..and you know how the story goes.  Actually I want to keep a positive out look here but along the way of the village we have learned somethings and one of these days I will blog about it and what we have learned.Meanwhile enjoy the pictures of the village and check back for  pictures of the talent show and poetry slam.

The weather didn’t cooperate but the show went on and we had some class acts. But mainly we had fun and if there was ever a community who deserved to have some fun it is this community.

All this went on as a part of the big RIB FEST celebration the town does.  Well, we choose to believe it was a part of the rib fest , after all they did put us on the schedule. And thats about as much collorboration that  the Horizons Group has seen with  any agenda item we have tried to implement.  So success at last I would say. and just wait until next year. Meanwhile, I signed on As agent to “Candace and The BAD to the BONE Boys” So if any of you need a class act of song and dance to entertain you contact me and we will hook you up.

These young people were wonderful and it made all the work worth it watching them preform.

The poetry slam workshop was a sucess i would say. and we are getting ready ,maybe next year we will have a team going to the nationals in Chicago………..In fact we could send two teams One from the city and one from the rez.  Oh the opportunity for youth out there. Unfortunately it all requires committed adults to make this work and sometimes around here it would appear that all the adults have already been committed or close to being there. Oh wait wrong kind of committment………………..anyway we are looking for more people to help with  community projects. Pass the word.

The Cass lake Indian Village is becoming a reality.  Today we had the ground blessing  { a cultural equivalent to a ground breaking but with so much more meaning to us and explanation to all our relatives as to what we are doing there}. We will be building a large lodge and two smaller lodges as soon as the weather permits.

We had scheduled today to be the day to start building the village but the thunder birds and big winds had other plans. We are not complaining about the rain. the past two years has been so dry that berries, plants and animals had a hard time  living. Not to mention the farmers and  and the forest fires that start under drought conditions.  So we are grateful for the rain but we felt it be best if we weren’t out cutting poles in a tamarack swamp today.  we have rescheduled the building of the village for the next nice day so with in the week I hope we will have pictures and  a progress report to blog.

The Indian Village was one of the projects  we picked for the community and laying the foundation { so to speak} has been a long  and tedious process. Working through all the layers of the bureaucracy and trying to  partnering with  various organizations to do this has been unfruitful.  We selected a site and for 2 months operated under the assumption the city owned the property we were going to build on and everyone who we talked to about it told us that it was a good idea and  went to the city council to get the action needed to solidify the project we were told that we had to get approval from a local museum board who has a building adjacent to the property.  So upon contacting the museum board  we were told “good idea, maybe next year” .  We were given suggestion to build it across the road on Indian land, where “they  always do things anyway”.  I responded with “yes we should just go across the road and stay there”.  Which has been a big factor in trying to accomplish anything in this town.  Any way ,after a big runaround we found out neither the city nor the museum board owned this property , Min-dot does and they will not give  approval for the village, citing a high risk intersection of highway 2 and 371. I actually think its more like the hi risk intersection of the “R” word and  Reality,  but what do I know??   I do know that the “R” word is alive and well in this town and the people who deny it are deluded and contribute to the problems, but those of you who are native know what I am saying. Those that aren’t are most likely saying “what is this about? or that kind of talk contributes to the issue. Oh well I’m just reporting what I am seeing through my Indian eyes.

Cass lake is a city located on the Leech Lake Indian reservation. and Highway 2  has been the dividing point between the city and the reservation. The Indians that did live in town lived mostly across the rail road tracks on what we now know to be a Superfund site. {That is a whole different story in its self}.

Mean while a business owner heard of our plans and invited us to build on Highway 2 next to their restaurant. So if you are ever in the area stop and see Marilyn and Larry Glass at Chucky’s Chicken. You can”t miss it , it will be the only restaurant in town with its own Indian Village and if its during the summer months we hope to have local artisans there selling their wares or actually making their crafts. We hope to have educational programs and are advertising …….Have your next naming ceremony or  wedding in a WIGWAM.  We hope this to be a gathering place for  people to use. Already we have been contacted by a person looking for a site to do a men’s group.   Endless possibilities there.  Educational  programming and hopefully some stimulation for the economy by supporting the local artists maybe even planning an Indian Market  a couple times a year.

Also more to come , after we  finish the start of the village we have great plans for winter time activities so check back for updates on the village and plans for the fall and winter. 

Also because I have an” I live here and I am not going away attitude” our other project will be ripening here soon but I am saving that blog for the Kat to write about so stay tuned…………………and then theres the issue of we have a nice little building on mainstreet that is the seniors citzen center that is only open a few hours a week.  so stay tuned as we continue to partner with the town folks and have fun in the process. What am I saying??? Im a town folk too and a city proerty owner even. A tax payer too!    hummn I just forget sometime!!