A Food and Art Market in Duluth uplifts Indigenous and BIPOC entrepreneurs, while providing goods to the local community.
And a new children’s book celebrating Ojibwe teachings is celebrating its debut.
Transcript
Host:
This is Minnesota Native News, I'm Marie Rock. Coming up, a food and art market in Duluth, uplifts Indigenous and BIPOC entrepreneurs while providing goods to the local community. And a new children's book celebrating Ojibwe teachings is celebrating its debut. Here's reporter Leah Lemm with more.
Reporter:
The American Indian Community Housing Organization dreams big and its food and art market is no different, offering so much more than buying and selling.
Khayman Goodsky:
Boozhoo. My name is Khayman Goodsky. I'm a Bois Forte tribal band member. I live in Duluth and I work at AICHO, that's the American Indian Community Housing Organization.
Reporter:
Khayman is the Indigenous First co-coordinator at AICHO Indigenous First showcases and sells art from majority Native artists and the upcoming food and art market is helping inform future plans to expand AICHO's food and retail operations to provide goods to the Hillside area of Duluth.
Khayman Goodsky:
Duluth has a lot of food deserts and so it's really hard to travel where healthy food is, and that's something that we're addressing. And then this is kind of gearing us up to when we're ready to open the Niiwin Market and to see how well that's going and to keep finding more and more producers who need that retail space that we are able to provide. But our hopes is to have it be an Indigenous food market, especially in Hillside, where it's kind of a food desert.
Reporter:
This focus on providing for the community is mirrored in the market's goal of providing opportunity to vendors.
Khayman Goodsky:
There is a lot of Indigenous food producers, a lot of artists who don't necessarily have the means to find retail space to start promoting their businesses and to have these markets where they're being highlighted is really important because then they can see there's a community who is willing to help them and support them, and then to know that there are more and more BIPOC people, businesses to support. We always say, "Oh, I support this," but there's not really... People are like, "But how?" Do you know what I mean?
Reporter:
Providing for the community and economic opportunity is a great example of AICHO's role in the area. It's also fun and delicious.
Khayman Goodsky:
We bought prints from Kelly Martinson who does really beautiful paintings so I just want to give him a shout out, but there's so many great vendors there. There was kombucha, the best kombucha I've ever had, Baby Cakes was there.
Reporter:
That's Baby Cakes Wild Rice Bakery with items like wild rice cupcakes and cakes.
Khayman Goodsky:
Spirit Lake will be there selling their maple syrup, there's so many great people to meet and talk with about art and food and just everything. Yeah.
Reporter:
Two markets are happening in July and they are open to everyone.
Khayman Goodsky:
It's not just Indigenous people, everyone is welcome. And to hopefully see the market grow and grow, because I know there will be people who get that spark from coming to meet these people and want to start their own stuff, and we want to support you too.
Reporter: If there's inclement weather, the market will move inside of the AICHO building. More info at aicho.org.
Next, join Lily, Ogimaa, and Ellie on a journey to find medicines for Grandma Mindy. Author Elizabeth Barrett and Illustrator Jonathan Thunder, in collaboration with the Red Lake Nation Boys & Girls Club, bring young readers along Mashkiki Road, where they meet animals who introduce the seven grandfather teachings.
The colors in the book "Mashkiki Road" are vibrant, as is the story. My son recently read the book to his younger cousin and they remembered all the Ojibwe names of the wise beings the story introduced. Multiple book launch events are planned including at the Red Lake Nation Boys & Girls Club on July 14th. More information on the Minnesota Historical Society press website, mnhs.org and on social media. For Minnesota Native News, I'm Leah Lemm.