SMSC Announces Dates for Annual Wacipi: August 17, 18, and 19, 2012

Shakopee, MN – Each August hundreds of dancers and singers from across the country gather at the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community annual Wacipi (Pow Wow). This year the event will be held on Friday through Sunday, August 17, 18, and 19, 2012. The Wacipi will be held at the Pow Wow Grounds on the SMSC reservation, on Dakotah Parkway, just south of County Road 42 between County Road 83 and County Road 17. The annual event is open to the public.

The Wacipi is a social gathering where friends and relatives come together to celebrate their culture and way of life. A Wacipi is a homecoming of sorts, with many choosing to return every year to enjoy the dancers in their regalia, the singers at the drum, good food, and booths with arts and crafts for sale. Traditional moccasin games will also be played by Native American teams. The word Wacipi [wah-chee-pee] in the Dakota Language translates as "they dance." A more common term is "Pow Wow."

Held outdoors in a traditional dance arena, the Wacipi will feature Native American vendors with arts, crafts, beadwork, jewelry, quillwork, and Native American foods for sale, including frybread, wojapi (berry pudding), wild rice, hominy soup, buffalo burgers, Indian tacos, and much more.

Grand Entries will be held at 7:00 p.m. on Friday, 1:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, and 1:00 p.m. on Sunday. Fireworks will be held at 10:00 p.m. on Saturday, August 18, 2012, at the Pow Wow Grounds and a church service will be held on Sunday, August 19, 2012, at 10:00 a.m. at nearby Tiowakan Spiritual Center.

Community member Vice-Chairman Glynn A. Crooks is the Chairman of the Pow Wow Committee. Danny Seaboy (Sisseton Wahpeton/White Earth Ojibwe) and Wallace Coffey (Comanche) will serve as Masters of Ceremonies who will explain to the crowd what is going on in the dance arena. Arena Directors are Juaquin Hamilton-Youngbird (Sac and Fox) and Rusty Gillette (Arikara and Hidatsa). Juaquin is a Southern Straight dancer while Rusty is a grass dancer.