TRAVERSE CITY – Visitors to Traverse City are sometimes surprised to learn that Native Americans aren’t simply a part of Traverse City’s romantic past but play an active role in its present-day existence. In fact, the area is home to a thriving Native American community – the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians -- with its own government, strong cultural traditions and a major presence in the local economy.

Those facts and others are highlighted in the new spring exhibit, “The Grand Traverse Band… Today,” at the Traverse City Visitor Center. The exhibit, which opens this week and runs until May 31, uses storyboards, music and video to give an overview of the tribe’s accomplishments. Rather than simply recounting the history of the native people who call themselves the Anishinaabek, the exhibit focuses on their place in today’s world, specifically:

Government: With 4,042 members in six northern Michigan counties the Band is a sovereign nation recognized by the federal government, governed by its own tribal council. 

Economic Development: The Band runs several large businesses, including the Grand Traverse Resort & Spa, the Leelanau Sands Casino and the Turtle Creek Casino Resort. In 2008, it paid $2.5 million in taxes, and disbursed another $1.6 million in payments and grants to local governments and community groups.

Culture and Language: The Band actively works to preserve traditional practices with its annual summer Pow Wows, classes in the native anishinaabemowin language, the youth-oriented Mino Biimadzin Hoop Dance Society, which has taken world champion awards in competition, and the new Eyaawing (“Who We Are”) Museum and Cultural Center in Peshawbestown.

 

Tribal Chairman Derek J. Bailey said he was pleased with the quality of the exhibit, and thanked the Traverse City Convention & Visitors Bureau for inviting the Band to participate in the project.

“This three-month display will help inform both local residents and visitors so they can better understand the Grand Traverse Band,” he said. “We hope it stimulates an interest in people to visit our Eyaawing museum and cultural center, participate in one of our Pow Wows, and stop in at one of our gaming facilities.”