August 20, 21 and 22, 2010

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 20, 21, and 22, 2010. 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 meaning is "Pow Wow."

SMSC Vice-Chairman Glynn A. Crooks is the Chairman of the Pow Wow Committee. “We invite the public to attend our annual Pow Wow and see for themselves the beauty of our culture,” he said. “We have hosted this event for many years and are honored to welcome our guests, friends, and relatives.”

Danny Seaboy (Sisseton Wahpeton/White Earth Ojibwe) and Wallace Coffey (Comanche  will serve as Masters of Ceremonies. They will explain to the crowd what is going on in the dance arena, and drum groups will sing special songs for each style of dance. In addition to Grand Entry Songs, a Flag Song and Veterans Song will be sung before intertribal and competition dancing begins at each dance session.

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. Moccasin Game Coordinator is David Flute (Sisseton Wahpeton). Sound Man is Dale Roberts (Choctaw and Chickasaw Tribe).

Held outdoors in a traditional dance arena, the Pow Wow 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.

Host drums are Mazakute from Santee, Nebraska, and Wahpekute from Sisseton, South Dakota. Invited drums are The Boyz (Minnesota), Pipestone (Wisconsin), Wild Rose (Washington), Stoney Park (Alberta), Prairie Island (Minnesota), War Scout (Utah), Bad Nation (South Dakota), Sizzortail (Oklahoma), Wild Band of Comanches (Oklahoma), and Thunderhill (Oklahoma).

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 21, 2010, at the Pow Wow Grounds and an interdenominational church service will be held on Sunday, August 22, 2010, at 10:00 a.m. at nearby Tiowakan Spiritual Center.

A dance exhibition at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, will be held as a preview to the Wacipi on Thursday, August 19, 2010. Times for this dance exhibition are 3:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m.

For more information on the Wacipi call 952-445-8900 or go to www.shakopeedakota.org.  Information may also be found at www.facebook.com/smscwacipi2010.  For information about booths, call 952-496-6176. The SMSC Pow Wow Grounds are located at 3212 Dakotah Parkway, Prior Lake, Minnesota 55372.