A Shout Out To Townsend
Author: Michael and Laura Stevenson
A Shout Out To Townsend
The 2nd Annual Native American Heritage Event was celebrated as a community Saturday, November 4th at the American Legion Post 42 in Townsend.
We wanted to acknowledge all of those that made this event a success including the community of Townsend and all of those who attended.
The Helena Indian Alliance and The Last Chance Community Pow Wow from Helena volunteered their time to join us.
Helena Indian Alliance had a booth that provided information regarding Health and Educational resources for the Native American population.
The Last Chance Community Pow Wow featured the Indian Tacos/Frybread. They brought with them the Magpie Singers, dancers and drummers. The drummers and dancers were inclusive, inviting those who were in attendance to join them. This was a wonderful opportunity for anyone to drum, sing and/or dance.
Elders Daniel Pocha and Louise Fischer presented stories that were rich in culture, insightful and enlightening to listeners.
Reading Leaves bookstore had a booth that presented a variety of books related to Native American history, stories and more. The book “Killers of the Flower Moon”, by David Grann has become a major motion picture. This is one of many Native American-themed and/or authored books available at Reading Leaves.
Many local businesses allowed us to put up a flier to announce the free event.
Professional advertising venues included Broadwater County News and MT 43 News newspapers as well as Missouri Valley Marketing and the Townsend Classifieds. All were instrumental in getting the message out about the event.
Rick Dancer’s podcast; Get Real With Rick Dancer: “Tribes in Montana” recorded an amazing interview with Elder Daniel Pocha, who spoke at the event. If you missed the event or haven’t had the chance to listen, I encourage you to do so.
We appreciate the amazing space at the American Legion which accommodated our 2nd annual event. The Legion has great people to work with.
Special thanks to those who volunteered time to assist in set up, event support and clean up, including American Legion, Celebrate Recovery, family and friends.
Please accept our gratitude. This event was successful because of each of YOU! It truly takes a village!
We hope to have even more local involvement in next year’s event! If you couldn’t make it this year, please plan for next year. You won’t be disappointed!
Michael and Laura Stevenson
