ARPIN – Friends of Powers Bluff will host a Summer Solstice Gathering & Homecoming on Saturday, June 20, with scheduled events from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. at Powers Bluff County Park — Skunk Hill — Tah-Qua-Kik.
The day’s events include Native Nations speakers, wildflower and plant walks, kids’ crafts, and more.
Attendees are invited to stay or return to view the sunset alignment at the dance rings.
The event expands on last year’s Spring Gathering & Homecoming and is expected to draw people from as far as Kansas and Nebraska to return to their homelands.
As late as the 1930s, the hill was home to settlements of both Potawatomi and Ho-Chunk peoples and was an important ceremonial site.
Fred Pidgeon is a direct descendant of White Pidgeon, a tribal leader who is buried on Skunk Hill.
As a young boy, Fred was tasked with an important responsibility.
He explains, “When I was seven years old, my grandfather, Jim White Pidgeon, brought me to Skunk Hill. There, he gently held both my hands as he prayed in the Potawatomi language. When he was sure he had my attention, he spoke. ‘This place has been sacred to our Anishnabik since time before beginning. Someday you will be the one to fight to save it.’ My grandfather was killed in a car accident a short while later. If he had more to teach, he never got to speak it.”
When the county proposed further development and logging on the land, Fred joined many others, both Ho-Chunk and Potawatomi, as well as nearby residents, to protect the land.
Those efforts resulted in a long-range master plan that reflected the input of all interested parties and protected the sacred land.
Over the past several months, both Fred Pidgeon and his wife Germaine, who have worked to help protect this land for future generations, have been undergoing treatment for cancer.
This year’s event will honor them both, as well as providing a fund-raising opportunity for their ongoing treatment.
The gathering also will honor the memory of Fred Camacho, the late Ho-Chunk elder who was one of the first people to step in and help protect the land from desecration.
Those visiting the gathering are invited to walk along the multi-use trails in the new portion of the park to see the work of the prairie planting committee.
Volunteers from Friends of Powers Bluff are planting native plants to beautify the park and attract pollinators.
The Summer Solstice Gathering & Homecoming is free and open to the public.
For this event only, the Bluff Road entrance to the park will be closed.
All parking will be at 7073 County Rd. N, one mile west of Arpin.
You can walk or ride a shuttle bus to the hilltop.
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here