Indigenous Peoples Day 2024

A Day to Celebrate Resilience and Endurance

The sixth annual Indigenous Peoples’ Day in Sauk County will be held in downtown Baraboo this year with a variety of activities. Beginning at 1 pm on the courthouse lawn a number of Indigenous artist and vendor booths will be set up along with a booth offering samples of Ho-Chunk cuisine. Ho-Chunk singers and dancers will bring the music, words, movement, and vibrant regalia of their culture to the Square at 2 pm. 

Nearby at the Al. Ringling Theatre, eleven short documentaries created by Discover Wisconsin covering a variety of Ho-Chunk topics will be shown including an Emmy award winning video on artist Truman Lowe.  Shown on the big screen these four to eight minute videos will be shown in a continuous loop from 1 to 4 pm so that guests can come and go as they wish. 

At 4 pm the dedication and unveiling ceremony for a new interpretive panel on the Square will begin. The new panel will tell the story of the Ho-Chunk removal period from 1840-1874 when federal, state, and territorial governments tried to move all Ho-Chunk from east of the Mississippi River. The determination of many Ho-Chunk to remain on their ancestral homeland is the reason that the Ho-Chunk Nation in Wisconsin exists today. 

Finally, at 7 pm a special showing of the new documentary film Bad River will be held at the Al. Ringling Theatre. The film tells the story of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewas and their ongoing fight for sovereignty amidst the struggle to protect natural resources. The David vs. Goliath battle was written and directed by award-winning filmmaker, Mary Mazzio is narrated by Quannah ChasingHorse and Academy-Award nominee, Edward Norton.