NEWBURYPORT — From meals prepared by an award-winning Indigenous chef to watching handcrafted canoes being launched into the Merrimack River, Imagine Studios wants the community to join them as they plan the city’s fifth annual Indigenous Peoples Day.
Set for Oct. 11 at Waterfront Park, the nonprofit is set to work with multiple representatives of the Wampanoag tribe for the celebration.
Wampanoag mishoon makers Darius Coombs and Jonathan Perry will be in the city starting Sept. 14, with folks able to watch them digging out a 20-foot canoe on the lawn of the Custom House Maritime Museum until Oct. 6.
A mishoon is a traditional dugout canoe used by Indigenous peoples.
“It will be at the Custom House Museum, being burned and carved in public as part of this grant that we received. And then it will be launched on the 11th,” Imagine Studios Director Kristine Malpica said.
Custom House Executive Director James Russell said he has worked with both men before and had nothing but praise for them.
“They’re excellent spokespeople for Wampanoag culture,” Russell said.
Malpica said they will also have a birch bark canoe brought down by a Penobscot canoe maker from Maine.
“So we’re going to have a birch bark and a mishoon from different tribes, and it will be a real intertribal event,” Malpica said.
Perry said this will be his first time getting to paddle the Merrimack River, something he said he is excited to experience.
“I have never paddled in the Merrimack River, but my ancestors certainly would have. And so it’s an exciting opportunity for me to reconnect with space that was so vital and important to my ancestors and other Native Nations as well,” Perry said.
He said he is proud to be able to share the complex history of his people and the knowledge they shared with the world.
“That they played a vital role in shaping a lot of different things that many people, not only in the United States or in the northern part of the country but also worldwide, enjoy,” Perry said.
Entering its fifth year, Malpica said she is proud of how the celebration has grown.
“This year is a pretty big deal, and it’s taken years of hard work and developing relationships, most importantly with intertribal representatives, leaders, artists, culture bearers and knowledge keepers throughout the Northeast,”
She explained why the event is being held on Oct. 11 when the national holiday is Oct. 13.
“We’re doing it on Saturday, not on Monday, the actual Indigenous Peoples Day, partly because a lot of other towns and cities have big events on Monday, and we don’t want to compete with that,” Malpica said.
The event will have a rain date of the 13th and is being covered largely in part by a $30,000 grant from the New England Foundation for the Arts. However, additional funds are still needed.
“The project expenses exceed $30,000, probably closer to $35,000 to $40,000,” Russell said.
To help fill that gap, in addition to other small grants, the Custom House and Imagine Studios are hosting a fundraiser at the Custom House on Oct. 4. It will feature award-winning Wampanoag chef Sherry Pocknett, who has been featured on Hell’s Kitchen, PBS, National Geographic, Time and Bon Appetit.
“It’s a celebration,” Malpica said.
Combs and Perry will also be at the fundraiser.
Both Russell and Malpica said the day and surrounding events would not be possible without community partners including Lowell’s Boat Shop in Amesbury, the Newburyport Fire Department and more than a dozen others.
“A project like this doesn’t work unless people chip in and help where they can,” Russell said.
Matt Petry covers Amesbury and Salisbury for The Daily News of Newburyport. Email him at: mpetry@northofboston.com.