Grand Rapids Public Museum reopened its Anishinaabek exhibit with a free powwow Oct. 10

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The Grand Rapids Public Museum celebrated the reopening of its Anishinaabek exhibit Saturday night, Oct. 10, with a powwow that was free and open to anyone.

The powwow was scheduled from 6 to 9 p.m. at the museum, 272 Pearl St. NW, with doors opening to the public at 5:30 p.m., according to the museum. It asked guests to RSVP ahead of time so it can plan for the size of the crowd.

The museum says the redesigned exhibit, “Anishinaabek: The Original People of This Place,” was created together with the Anishinaabe people of Michigan. Built around the theme “We Are Still Here,” it uses written and spoken stories, work by local Anishinaabe artists, interactive technology and links to the Grand River to cover the culture’s past, present and future.

Ribbontown, Iron Bear and Sharp Feather were the invited drums. Shannon Martin was set to emcee, with Mike Medewis as arena director and George Martin as head veteran. Specials on the program included a youth switch dance, a sneak up, a potato dance and a spot dance.

Dancers could sign up in person at the museum starting at 4 p.m. Saturday. The first 100 to register were promised a $20 honorarium, and a small number of shared changing rooms were open.

Guests could bring a lawn chair; the museum supplied seats but welcomed people to use their own. All art and food vendor spaces had been filled. Parking was free in the museum’s ramp and in the lot at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum.

Updated Oct. 12, 2026: The powwow took place Oct. 10. This guide was published before them, and its schedule language has been changed to the past tense. The redesigned exhibit remains open at the museum.

Updated Oct. 13, 2026: The headline and summary were changed to the past tense for events that have already taken place.

Sources:
Grand Rapids Public Museum, “Exhibit Grand Opening PowWow,” Oct. 10, 2026, accessed Oct. 8, 2026, https://www.grpm.org/powwow/
Photo: John Eisenschenk, “Grand Rapids Public Museum,” June 23, 2012, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/), cropped and color-corrected, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Grand_Rapids_Public_Museum.jpg

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