TUSCUMBIA – A celebration of the culture and traditions of the indigenous people who once inhabited North Alabama is planned this weekend for downtown Tuscumbia offering two days of educational and free family fun. Oka Kapassa: Return to Coldwater is set for Friday and Saturday.
The Oka Kapassa: Return to Coldwater Festival is a free family event featuring Native American heritage, entertainment and education through hands-on activities and demonstrations. Friday, September 8 is school day at the festival for area students to attend and learn about North Alabama’s Native American heritage. Approximately 1,000 students, from as far away as Walker County in Alabama and southern Middle Tennessee, will attend.
The celebration starts Friday at 5:30 p.m. in the Tuscumbia Roundhouse. Representatives of the Poarch Creek tribe, Alabama’s only federally recognized native American tribe, will hold a cultural history event. The program will be followed by a presentation of Tuscumbia history related to Native Americans and a trolley tour of the Tuscumbia witness sites of the Indian Removal Period.
On Saturday, festivities get underway at 10 a.m. with grand entry at 11 a.m. Special crafts, fancy and traditional dance demonstrations, storytelling and music will all be on the agenda and authentic Native American artwork and crafts will be available for purchase. There will also some hands on activities for festivalgoers.
Well-known American Indian cooks will prepare foods that were developed by their ancestors.
- Juanita Gardinski and her brother Billy Thompson (Choctaw) are returning to Oka Kapassa to serve Native American foods such as buffalo stew and burgers, fry bread, Indian tacos, fish and roasted corn. Gardinski will also demonstrate bead work and share Choctaw culture with festivalgoers.
- Gina Brown (Chickasaw) will travel from Ada, Okla., her tribal homeland, to cook traditional pashofa, a stew combining pork and cracked corn. This is traditionally cooked for powwow dancers and participants. Cooked in a cast iron pot over an open fire, it is left unseasoned, allowing the person eating it to season to their own taste.
- Mary Newman (Eastern Cherokee) will demonstrate traditional outdoor cooking of the 1800s, preparing foods in cast iron and clay pots over a campfire.
The Coldwater Stagecoach Stop, a living history log cabin at 301 S. Dickson Street, will be open Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The daylong event concludes at 6 p.m. Festivalgoers are encouraged to bring lawn chairs. Admission is free. For more information, call Colbert County Tourism at 800-344-0783 or 256-383-0783 or visit the Oka Kapassa Festival-Return to Coldwater Facebook page.
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