Four-Day Spirit Run in Celebration of Sobriety & Health

The 21st Annual Anishinaabe Spirit Run, a four-day run for sobriety and health, will begin at Red Lake Powwow Grounds at 10:00 a.m. Wednesday, August 2, and finish at Fond du Lac's Mash-ka-wisen Powwow Grounds in Sawyer, MN on Saturday, August 5, 2017.

The runners will come down Highway #89. The marathoners will come into the City of Bemidji on Highway 2, and then through the City on Paul Bunyan Drive. Once on the south side of Bemidji, runners will then head east toward Leech Lake on the Old Cass Lake Highway aka Roosevelt Road.

ALL runners are encouraged and welcome to participate in any and all of the run. Join up at any time. If not, hope you can meet them along their long journey to cheer them on.

Background

The Spirit Run is about spreading the message of recovery through Ojibwe Country. In 1996 the Red Lake, Leech Lake, White Earth, and Fond du Lac tribes wanted to carry a message of recovery, and healthy lifestyles to Indian communities on foot through a series of community walks, and runs in each respective community.

The effort soon became an annual event that culminated with a four day run from Red Lake to the celebration of sobriety powwow in Sawyer MN on the Fond du lac reservation. Over the past 21 years thousands have participated in the Spirit Run for the well being of all creation including members from all Minnesota Ojibwe and Dakota communities and supporters from all over the United States and Canada. The run is open to everyone.

For more information: Reyna Lussier at 218-679-1547 or Karen Barrett at 679-1546

Statement by Red Lake Spiritual Leader Larry Stillday at the 2013 Spirit Run

"The run is of historical, cultural and spiritual significance. I've been out there doing invocations for the runners. The run is a prayer. The first day is run for those suffering, the second day is run for gratefulness for positive things.

"A message is carried for all families. The run has adopted this principle. It's more than about alcohol and drugs; it's about wellness and health in the broadest sense. When the run sends its energy into the inter-connective web, it is spiritually significant, we are dealing with the web of life.

"People who are in the city will feel it...they will feel it, and in the same manner you will feel humility. This is the teaching; Elders say the spirit is constantly in motion. The person running activates emotion, which goes into the rhythm of life. That's how connected we are, connected to all people, and all living things." ~Gichi-Ma'iingan, ROAD TO PONEMAH: The Teachings of Larry Stillday