Randy Rolffs (above) gave a fascinating and memorable program on October 5th, the last program in our series this year. About 40 people of all ages attended the program. Winona Van Berkum read her "Land Acknowledgement" that was published in Central's Synaptic. For this special occasion, she wore a ribbon skirt that she made. (see photo below). Part of the land acknowledgment reads: The Ioway and the Otoe were here before recorded time, as were the Omaha and Ponca, moving to new lands before white settlers arrived. The Pawnee used this land for hunting grounds, and the Sioux, Sauk, and Meskwaki were here long before colonization. Let us remember that we occupy their homeland and that this land was taken by force.
Randy thanked Winona for setting the tone for his program and the respect he felt for native people. In addition to the artifacts, Randy provided the crowd with a stunning handout and overview of the history of native people of Mahaska and Marion County, Iowa. Randy highlighted the presentation with his wife's respect for the artifacts discovered on her family farm along with his own stories of discovery. In addition, he mentioned the recent archeological digs for a mastodon and a wholly mammoth in this area which generated more comments from the group too. When Aleda and Randy offered some of the chert that they collected, the children were thrilled as you can see in the photo.
During the program, a Pella High School student drew a chicken dancer with a "No more missing siblings" and gave the drawing to Winona at the end of the event. We are also grateful to Sherril Graham for providing her son's flute that he crafted as well as a recording of Jon himself playing flute that floated through the air throughout the morning. You can see the flute on the table in the photo with Randy. Many thanks to Randy and Sherril and Aleda for such a powerful program!
We thank the Marion County Community Foundation and the Pella Community Foundation for their investment in these programs for Big Rock Parka and the Pella Community Foundation for their investment in these programs for Big Rock Park.
We invite you to become a member of the Friends of Big Rock Park.
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