Watchlist: ‘Indigenous Peoples Day celebrated at Salem’s Riverfront Park’

By Kamiah Koch

Social media/digital journalist

Indigenous Peoples Day was first recognized in Oregon in 2021 as the second Monday of October, making this year’s Indigenous Peoples Day Monday, Oct. 13.

For years, a community organization called Indigenous Now has hosted an event at the Riverfront Park in Salem to celebrate the holiday.

Local station KGW News covered last year’s event and published the news clip to YouTube.

Event organizer Hannah Shooting Bear was interviewed by KGW and said she hosts this event to create a safe space for anyone interested in learning about her culture.

“They can go and start understanding our cultures and educating themselves,” Shooting Bear said. “A lot of them don’t because they never heard about our atrocities. They never saw it in their schoolbooks.”

The event offers Indigenous vendors selling food and gifts, live performers, drumming and singing.

One vendor interviewed said she joined this event because it brings Indigenous people and their culture together. She also likes the questions she gets from visitors, learning about Indigenous histories and the Indigenous culture still present today.

This year, another Indigenous Peoples Day event was held at the Salem State Capitol Mall Park Monday, Oct. 13.

Other local events included an Indigenous Peoples Day celebration at Clackamas Community College Sunday, Oct. 12, at which a few Grand Ronde Tribal members and Tribal Council members attended and participated. Oregon State University celebrated Indigenous Peoples Day by hosting an event with the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs in Bend Saturday, Oct. 11, and another event in Corvallis Monday, Oct. 13, with activist Leonard Peltier joining via Zoom as the keynote speaker.