Setalcott Nation To Host Corn Festival Powwow This Weekend On Long Island

SETAUKET, NY — The Setalcott Nation will hold its annual Corn Festival Powwow on a part of its ancestral land now used by Setauket Elementary School this weekend, members said in a news release.

The powwow's theme is "Our Future” and includes an invitation to the public "to come and celebrate with us and enjoy our traditions," the news release stated.

"Our future is dependent on this critical time, post-COVID pandemic and the layers of harms from colonialism," the nation said in a statement. "We look to use our intergenerational knowledge to educate each other and empower our youth to reinvigorate our future."

The powwow will be hosted by Setalcott Nation Chairperson Helen Sells, and will feature speeches by Sells and Tecumseh Ceasar.

The event will run from 12 to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at 134 Main St. in Setauket.

The Setalcott Nation of the North Shore is one of the First Nations of Sewanhacky, or Land of Shells, Long Island.

The Setalcott people have deep roots in the Setauket area.

Setauket Elementary School, which has been attended by many of the nation's people, features a plaque of the nation's ancestors' heroic acts in trying to protect a fellow child at a nearby pond.