Ahead of Little Earth Mother’s Day Powwow, Native-Owned Business Fills JoAnn Fabrics’ Closing Void; Red Lake Nation Opens New Cannabis Dispensaries

Transcript

[Music: Minnesota Native News Theme]

Marie Rock [ANCHOR]: You're listening to Minnesota Native News. I'm Marie Rock. This week, the closing of a longtime fabric store is inspiring efforts to keep sewing and craft traditions alive, and Red Lake Tribal Nation continues its expansion into Minnesota’s off-reservation cannabis market. First, producer Deanna StandingCloud brings us a story about how community members are finding creative ways to preserve their sewing and crafting practices.

Deanna StandingCloud: For many Indigenous people in Minnesota, crafting and sewing is a way to preserve culture, heal from trauma, and connect to their relatives. As Little Earth of United Tribes in Minneapolis gears up for its annual Mother’s Day powwow, residents of the community’s sewing group are finding ways to be creative after the closing of JoAnn Fabrics.

Terry Broker: We always went there. I always used to go there. You had good coupons.

Deanna StandingCloud: Terry Broker is a citizen of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe. She has been attending the Little Earth sewing and beading group for over three years.

[sound: Ambient Sewing Machine]

Charlene New: JoAnn impacted us greatly because JoAnn is such a big store that they have everything we need.

Deanna StandingCloud: Charlene New is Oglala Lakota from the Pine Ridge reservation. She’s been a part of the Little Earth sewing and beading group for two years.

Charlene New: Never in my life would, I would’ve thought was something a store closing. I would’ve felt deflated!

[sound: Ambient Sewing Machine]

Deanna StandingCloud: After the closing of the last JoAnn Fabrics store in May 2025, a Native owned small business is answering the void.

Jessica Travis: For those that are coming into our shop, it’s kind of like home. So it’s a way to be proud of who you are and where you are from.

Deanna StandingCloud: Jessica Travis, from Standing Rock and Cheyenne River Sioux is one of the co-owners of Fire Mountain Fabrics in Osseo, Minnesota. Jessica and her co-owner, Arlene Fairbanks, who is Dine from Arizona, offers sewers and crafters supplies with Native families in mind.

Jessica Travis: We have many customers that come in that grew up not within the culture, and so they’re trying to find those roots again. So, we’re just kind of that hub now for them to come they can ask questions.

[sound: Ambient Sewing Machine]

Deanna StandingCloud: Little Earth’s sewing and beading group meets every Tuesday and Thursday.

Terry Broker: We learn, I learn so much. And then what we learn, we teach somebody else. That’s the whole point.

Deanna StandingCloud: Follow Fire Mountain Fabrics on Facebook to keep up with their crafting classes. The Little Earth Mother’s Day Powwow is on May 9 and 10 in Minneapolis. For Minnesota Native News, I’m Deanna StandingCloud.

Marie Rock [ANCHOR]: Next, producer Chaz Wagner talks to a state official about Minnesota’s growing cannabis industry.

Chaz Wagner: The Red Lake Tribal Nation is making a major move into Minnesota's off-reservation cannabis market, after signing a new compact agreement with the state, the tribe has announced plans to open two (new) non-tribal land dispensaries
outside of its reservation borders.

[SFX: sounds of a store chime as the door opens]

Red Lake’s NativeCare dispensary, which was the first to open a recreational store in Minnesota, opened a Thief River Falls location in January and is scheduled to cut the ribbon on a St. Paul store on March 12th.

[SFX: sounds inside of a store]

Eric Tauvel: when the legislation legalized cannabis back in 2023, one of the things it did in a separate part of the statute was direct the governor to negotiate compacts with any of the eleven tribal nations that we share territory with.

Chaz Wagner: Eric Tauvel, Executive Director of the Minnesota Office of Cannabis Management, says this move was made possible by a December 2025 agreement with Governor Tim Walz.

Eric Tauvel: Those compact discussions focused on the jurisdictional delineation between reservation boundary and how cannabis products would move between the two. Governor Walz and Lieutenant Governor Flanagan wanted to take a nation leading approach - where by, we did something unique where any other state hasn’t done yet.

Chaz Wagner: While state-licensed private businesses are still navigating the initial phases of licensing, Red Lake is utilizing its sovereign status to enter the market immediately. Red Lake is the latest of several tribes, including White Earth and Mille Lacs, to sign such agreements with the state.

Eric Tauvel: It was really important for us in these negotiations to chart a new course and create new economic development opportunities for tribes both on and off reservation.

Chaz Wagner: The move is expected to significantly increase access to cannabis products in Minnesota’s retail market. The new NativeCare Cannabis Dispensary at the Ten Acre Center in West Saint Paul is set to open on March 12th.

[SFX: sounds of a store chime as the door opens]

For Minnesota Native News, I’m Chaz Wagner.

Marie Rock [ANCHOR]: That's all for this week's episode Minnesota Native News.

[Music: Minnesota Native News Theme]

Marie Rock [ANCHOR]: Minnesota Native News is produced by AMPERS: Diverse Radio for Minnesota's Communities. Made possible by funding from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota.