A 20-foot canoe handmade from white pine was among the attractions at Lexington’s third annual Indigenous Peoples Day celebration Monday, Oct. 12.

Families gathered at Emery Park and the Lexington Depot for Wampanoag dancing, Navajo music, storytelling, art and hands-on crafts.

The canoe, known as a mishoon, featured in an event recap submitted by organizers Fran Ludwig and Stephanie Ryan to the Lexington Observer. A traditional Wampanoag dugout, a mishoon is shaped from a single tree using fire and scraping tools, according to Plimoth Patuxet Museums.

Earlier that morning, children on a nature walk at the Paint Mine Conservation Area found a white pine suitable for making one, the organizers wrote.

A day of learning and celebration

Science educator Fran Ludwig led the morning walk, which began at the Estabrook School parking lot. The free outdoor festival followed from noon to 3 p.m. in Emery Park, according to the Lexington Times Magazine preview.

Activities included doll and necklace making. The Depot also offered free admission to explore Lexington’s history, from before European settlement to the present.

The Community Endowment of Lexington and Pam Fowler sponsored the event.

Ludwig, a former Lexington K–5 science coordinator who helped develop the Big Backyard program, worked alongside Lexington residents Stephanie Stonefish Ryan and Brent Maracle to advance recognition of the holiday.

In a January 2024 Lexington Observer interview, Ryan identified herself as an enrolled member of the Delaware First Nation on the Thames, Turtle Clan.

Maracle said he grew up on the Akwesasne Territory of the Mohawk Nation and played on the Iroquois National Lacrosse team from 1989 to 1995. He described himself at the time as a pastor in Lexington.

Recognition began in 2024

Lexington Town Meeting voted in April 2024 to recognize Indigenous Peoples’ Day in place of Columbus Day on the second Monday of October, according to the Lexington Observer’s coverage of the vote.

The school calendar had already adopted the Indigenous Peoples’ Day name before the town’s action.

In the January 2024 interview, Maracle described the area’s history as reaching well before colonial settlement. He said overlapping Indigenous nations used the land now called Lexington for farming, plant harvesting and hunting.

Ryan also shared a message from her son Lincoln Rowan, then an eighth grader at Clarke Middle School.

“I wish people knew more history about Native Americans. We are still here. Lexington recognizing Indigenous Peoples’ Day is a great start,” he said in the message relayed by his mother.

Non-emergency town offices and buildings closed for the holiday. The Visitors Center remained open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., according to the town’s closure notice.