For the 16th consecutive year, native people converged at Ontelaunee Park for an annual pow wow to share stories with area residents, renew friendships, and celebrate their cultural heritage.

The weather was not ideal as vendors set up for the two-day event but the presenters at the pow wow were undeterred.

“Ernie Strongbeard kept that fire going since last Thursday,” said event coordinator Mary Jo Cartier pointing to the ceremonial fire at the center of a circle surrounded by dancers.

This was no small task for Strongbeard considering the recent rains that dampened the Lehigh Valley.

“We grew up under the same chief, Chief Two Moons,” said Cartier whose ties to the past run deep.

Cartier wasn’t the only one happy to share stories of days gone by.

“My grandfather was Susquehanna, and my grandmother came from the Onondaga Reservation near Elmira, New York,” said Eileen Andrews one of the vendors at the pow wow.

“My grandparents met in Lancaster, and they were very poor but Iroquois women are very resourceful,” she continued. “I remember my grandmother making a poultice, something like a mustard plaster, that helped my grandfather who had only one lung.”

“The belief was for every disease there is an herb that could help,” she said.

The crafts, colors and clothing transformed the park and were a testament to history.

“My grandmother’s sister taught me to make these dream catchers at the reservation,” said Andrews who was selling some of her creations.

Andrews dreams of visiting the reservation again but she’s wary of seeing changes.

“There’s a casino there now,” she admitted. “I was the only grandchild.”

Family and tribal connections could be heard in the unmistakable sound of drums and chanting.

Several drum circles played on cue, just as in a symphony.

“We’re in constant rotation,” said Coyote Hill Acevedo who led one of the groups.

“The drum is very sacred to us and to play for people makes us happy,” he said.

Acevedo inherited the job from his brother who moved to South Dakota after his marriage.

The music was carried by the wind and could be heard throughout New Tripoli.

The enticing aroma of fry bread was another invitation to the pow wow.

Fry bread tacos topped the menu that also featured brisket, beef and beans and Mexican sweet corn.

“We’re doing great,” said Tracy Vee as she flipped the bread in hot oil. “We’re actually sold out.”

That was the state of play by Sunday afternoon.

“Two weeks ago, we were in Pottstown,” said chef Abel Rios III. “This is a family run business.”

“We’re a catering business,” he said. “I do weddings, anniversaries, business parties and corporate events.”

Rios got his training at the Pennsylvania School of Culinary Arts.

He also works as a personal chef for one of the fraternities at Lehigh University.

“God willing, we’ll be at the Jim Thorpe Pow Wow on Sept. 6 and 7,” Rios said.

Besides living history, Roger Freed and Nadine Belsack from Hawk Mountain were on hand with artifacts from the past including display cases of arrowheads.

“There’s an old cabin at Hawk Mountain that we’re [currently] working on,” Freed said. “We did the historical part and we’re ready to start on a Native American site.”

“We start in the basement,” Belsack explained, “and then we start dating what we find.”

“We look for where there’s the most traffic,” Freed continued, “We’re in the process of putting up an educational display.”

Looking toward the future, Cartier is hoping to continue celebrating the pow wow at Ontelaunee Park.

“It was going to stop but I couldn’t let that happen,” the Lenhartsville resident said.

“My goal was to make enough money so that we could apply for a 501(c)(3),” Cartier said.” That would allow us to apply for grants and [seek] corporate sponsors.”

“It will continue because this is my heart,” she vowed.

That matters for those that love the pow wow.

“We’ve been coming for the last 15 years or so though some of the elders have passed on,” Nadine Witmer said.

“No matter rain, snow, wind or sleet, we have to come to the pow wow at Ontelaunee Park,” Vicki Witmer said.