TULSA, Okla. — Tulsa's annual Native American Day celebration takes place on Oct. 9 at Dream Keepers Park.
This event will be filled with activities, music performances, vendors, food, and most of all, a parade.
This is an important celebration because as the city says Tulsa is home to about 30,000 Native Americans.
This year's celebration theme is Weaving a Legacy.
The City of Tulsa said by hosting the Native American Day celebration, it formally recognizes the tribes and their members who have made valuable contributions to the community through shared knowledge, stewardship of the land, labor, science, technology, philosophy, arts, and deep cultural influences that have substantially shaped the character of the City of Tulsa.
It kicks off at 9 a.m., with the parade happening at 11 a.m.
Brittany Dias, who is a part of the Native American Day committee, said this event has grown bigger and bigger every year, which makes her happy.
She encourages anyone and everyone, whether you're Native American or not, to come to the celebration, and she asks you to come with open hearts and minds.
"A lot of this event is centered around community, and that's inclusion of the community. It's not just the native community, but it's for us to share our culture, our traditions, and our knowledge with the broader community that we have," Dias said. "Oklahoma is a really fortunate place for us to be to be able to do these things, especially in Tulsa."
The celebration will have representation from the Osage, Cherokee, and Muscogee Creek Nation tribes.
Dias explained the new features this year will be music, and specifically, she said they will have three artists perform in the Cherokee language.
There will also be ways for people to learn about the tribes in a hands-on way.
"The Cherokee will make and take opportunities as well as showcasing some of their culture traditions like blow darts and things like that, so it's a really interactive and immersive opportunity for people to come and experience native culture," Dias said.
Parking at Dream Keepers Park is limited. There will be more parking open at the United Methodist Church on Boston Ave. A shuttle will take you to and from the park.
Everything is expected to wrap up at about 5 p.m.
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