Shakopee, Minnesota – Each August hundreds of dancers and singers from across the country gather at the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community annual Wacipi (Pow Wow). This year the event will be held Friday through Sunday, August 16, 17, and 18, 2013. The Wacipi will be held at the Wacipi Grounds on the SMSC reservation, on Dakotah Parkway, just south of County Road 42 between County Road 83 and County Road 17. The annual event is open to the public.

Held outdoors in a traditional dance arena, the Wacipi will feature Native American vendors with arts, crafts, beadwork, jewelry, quillwork, and Native American foods for sale, including frybread, wojapi (berry pudding), wild rice, hominy soup, buffalo burgers, Indian tacos, and much more.

Grand Entries will be held at 7:00 p.m. on Friday, 1:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, and 1:00 p.m. on Sunday.

Community member Glynn A. Crooks is the Chairman of the Pow Wow Committee. For more information on the Wacipi go to www.shakopeedakota.org or find us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/shakopeepowwow. Vendor booths are by invitation only.

About the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community

The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community, a federally recognized Indian Tribe in Minnesota, is the owner and operator of Mystic Lake Casino Hotel, Little Six Casino, Mazopiya, The Meadows at Mystic Lake, and other enterprises on a reservation south of the Twin Cities. The SMSC utilizes its financial resources from gaming and non-gaming enterprises to pay for the internal infrastructure of the Tribe, including but not limited to roads, water and sewer systems, emergency services, and essential services to its members in education, health, and well-being.

A tribal charitable giving program which comes from a cultural and social tradition to assist those in need has given away more than $258.2 million to Indian Tribes, charitable organizations, and schools since 1996. Through the Mdewakanton LIFE Program, the SMSC has donated 775 Automated External Defibrillators to tribes, schools, police and fire departments, and other organizations with 21 lives saved due to their use.

The SMSC has also made more than $523 million in loans mostly to other tribes for economic and infrastructure development projects. Since 1996 the SMSC paid more than $7.6 million for shared local road construction and an additional $16.7 million for road projects on the reservation. The SMSC has also paid $14.4 million to local governments for services and another $6.4 million for other projects.