Ben Garbacz/Daily Mining Gazette The Grand Entry on Saturday afternoon began the Maawanji'iding for the day at the Ojibwa Campground. The entry began with the Honor Guard entering the grounds followed by numerous dancers dressed in many forms of regalia.

BARAGA — The Keweenaw Bay Indian Community (KBIC) hosted its 47th Annual Maawanji’iding at the Ojibwa Campground in Baraga this past weekend. The event drew participants as well as spectators from all over the country in a celebration of Indigenous culture through dance, food and communal bonding.

The Maawanji’iding began Thursday morning with the lighting of the sacred fire followed by a ground blessing and feast. On Friday there was an evening grand entry followed by the crowning events. Dalanna Connor was named 2025 Miss KBIC Princess, Aubree Hartzog was named Junior Miss KBIC Princess, Yancy Decota Jr. named the Senior KBIC Brave and Austin Shelifoe named the Junior KBIC Brave.

Saturday’s events which were divided into two sessions, one in the afternoon and the other in the evening. Each began with a grand entry followed by numerous dances to 15 drum circles in the center arena. The number of registered dancers totaled to 450 and they performed multiple types of dances, some which had ties to the area. President of the Powwow Committee Christine Awonohopay said the Woodland dances and the Jingle Dress dances are not only from the Ojibwa people, but are also the largest at the Maawanji’iding. “For a while, we didn’t see woodland dances very much, but now it’s coming back more and more,” Awonohopay said. “Our Woodland is our warrior dancers, and our Jingle Dress dancers are for healing.”

Awonohopay believes the event is a large draw for Native Americans across the country due to the authenticity of the vendors at the campground. “We have a vendor alley. You look up and down, and we’re packed with vendors, craft venders and food vendors. This is the place if you want authentic Native American crafts and good food.”

The preparations take all year leading to the event, and Awonohopay said it all becomes worth it at the grand entries. “The best time is the first grand entry. When you watch it, and just you get emotional, because you just see everybody here. We started this earlier this week and very few people are here. And throughout the week, it just starts filling up and filling up and filling up. To watch all the people come in, it makes me feel good to see everybody having a good time. The work we put into putting on the event is meaningful.”

The grand entries begin with the Honor Guard carrying the nation’s, state and tribal staffs and flags. Among them was Vice Commander of the Wiikwedong Honor Guard and retired U.S. Marine Donald Chosa. Chosa said the event is special due to it bringing people together whether it is family or other tribes.

“It’s like a homecoming or gathering where all families get to meet again and come back, almost like rice harvesting season,” Chosa said. “So it’s a place where we can all be together and practice our traditions that we almost lost because of boarding schools and forced acculturation.”

Chose further explained events such as Maawanji’iding have been occurring for time immemorial but were nearly lost. He said Native Americans had to go underground for their beliefs and it is such a good thing to be able to practice beliefs and spirituality in the open. Chosa also said the land the Maawanji’iding was taking place is beautiful, and has many stories.

“We have a long history here. We fought here, we had wars here. We have burial grounds that are here of the people that lived here before us that we fought against for this area. It’s got a long history here right at these powwow grounds,” Chosa said.

Both Chosa and Awonohopay believe the event draws such a large crowd due to its environment. “A lot of people I know year after year have been committed to coming here because they like being with the trees, and the environment while camping here,” Awonohopay said. “Some people only camp one time a year and it’s here. It’s our atmosphere, our environment. We’ve been doing it for 47 years. We have a lot of people who just love being here, so they just keep coming back.”

The Maawanji’iding concluded Sunday with a final grand entry.