GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Under sunny skies on Saturday afternoon, the grand entry of the 44th Homecoming of the Three Fires Powwow kicked off its two-day event along the banks of the Owashtanong—today known as the Grand River—at Riverside Park, just north of downtown Grand Rapids.
Named for the three tribes—the Ojibwe (Chippewa), Odawa (Ottawa), and Bodéwadmi (Potawatomi)—that called what is now Michigan home long before the arrival of Europeans, The Three Fires honors the enduring legacy of these nations. Today, thousands of Native Americans living in West Michigan are citizens or descendants of these three tribes, collectively known as the People of the Three Fires.
The powwow was sponsored by the Grand River Band of Ottawa Indians, state recognized tribe, located in Grand Rapids. Co-sponsors are the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians of Michigan (Gun Lake Tribe) and the City of Grand Rapids.
All photographs by Levi Rickert.
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