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July 3 Emma Big Bear Day will focus on Native American life and culture

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Celebrate local icon Emma Big Bear and learn about Native American life in the area at the 15th annual Emma Big Bear Winnebago History Day, held Saturday, July 3, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., at the Marquette Community Center. The program will include a variety of speakers along with an exhibit hall displaying baskets, artifacts, photos and other resources. (Times-Register file photo)

By Audrey Posten, Times-Register

 

Celebrate local icon Emma Big Bear and learn about Native American life in the area at the 15th annual Emma Big Bear Winnebago History Day, held Saturday, July 3, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., at the Marquette Community Center.

 

Emma, recognized as the last Native American to live in traditional ways in Clayton County, was born in 1869. The non-profit Emma Big Bear Foundation (EBBF), which organizes the event, works to preserve and protect the history, stories, traditions and artifacts associated with Emma Big Bear, along with promoting and educating the public about Native American history and culture, particularly Emma’s tribe, the Winnebago/Ho-Chunk Nation.

 

“Every year, you learn so much, and there’s always something new,” said Rogeta Halvorson, whose parents, Roger and Connie Halvorson, started the Emma Big Bear Foundation.

 

While Emma Big Bear will remain the focus this year, Halvorson said the program is also branching out. Organized by EBBF board member Father Terry Landsgaard, an Emma Big Bear historian and expert on the Ho-Chunk baskets she was known for creating, it will cover broader Native American culture in the 19th and 20th centuries. 

 

Around a dozen expert speakers will present on diverse topics, including traditional tribal living and family.

 

“It will go into living off the land, hunting and what they ate, as well as what they wore, dying clothing with berries and tea,” Halvorson explained. “Another topic is making baskets and the traditional roles of the men who gathered the black ash and the women who cut it into strips and made the baskets. There’s also bead work, and one of the speakers makes bows and arrows.”

 

Other topics will focus on sub-agency Indian schools, the Neutral Ground at Fort Atkinson and forced American Indian removals and returns from the 1840s to 1870s.

 

“We’ll have shorter, 30-minute times with different speakers throughout the day,” Halvorson said. “It will be a relaxed format, so people can come and go as they’d like. There will also be time for them to talk to our expert speakers.”

 

The air conditioned Marquette Community Room has seating for 100 people. In addition, the space will include an exhibit hall displaying five family collections of Winnebago and Big Bear baskets, artifacts, photos and other resources.

 

“We encourage people to bring their own baskets to share and have experts help authenticate them,” said Halvorson.

 

Emma Big Bear photos and memorabilia will be available for purchase at the registration table, serving as a fundraiser for the EBBF. Halvorson said the foundation is also seeking donations toward purchasing a headstone for Emma Big Bear’s burial site at the Blue Wing Cemetery in Tomah, Wis.

 

The community center is located at 102 North St., in downtown Marquette. For the best nearby parking, people are encouraged to arrive early. The annual Flea Market Under the Bridge will be going on throughout the day, and the Fourth of July parade will be held downtown beginning at 1 p.m.

 

“This is part of the overall celebration,” said Halvorson. “It adds another layer to it.”

 

For more information, call (563) 880-9190, find the Emma Big Bear Foundation on Facebook or go to www.emmabigbearfoundation.org/.

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