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Native News
Mathew Holding Eagle III
Minneapolis

Show and tell: New interactive tour aims to raise Dakota visibility in Minneapolis

a sign and qr code of an audio tour
Owamniyomni audio tour: One of the new self-guided audio tour sign signs around Owamniyomni also known as St Anthony Falls in downtown Minneapolis. The QR codes on the signs allow visitors access to information about the area from a Dakota perspective. The area has long been considered sacred to the Dakota people.
Courtesy of Owámniyomni Okhódayapi

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A new self-guided walking tour highlighting Dakota history at Owamni or St. Anthony Falls in Minneapolis is now live. Visitors can scan QR codes at five designated spots to learn about the sacred area through an Indigenous lens. 

The tour is the brainchild of the Dakota-led nonprofit Owámniyomni Okhódayapi — formerly known as Friends of the Falls. Program director Barry Hand said the tour creates a space for shared heritage with non-Indigenous people. 

“One of the things that was discussed amongst the programming committee and our knowledge keepers, and our tribal working group was that when they come down to the site, they want them to hear Dakota,” Hand said. “And they want them to experience the Dakota language and a Dakota viewpoint at this powerful place.” 

Hand said the tour’s virtual narration in Dakota was done by students from Harding High School in St. Paul. 

“These voices represent Prairie Island Indian community, Santee Sioux Nation in Nebraska, Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe, Crow Creek, Sisseton-Wahpeton,” he said. “And so, we’re really happy that we did get some kids that represent a broad swath of our federally recognized Dakota communities.” 

Hand said currently 90 percent of Dakota people live outside their Minnesota homeland. He sees projects like these as a way for them to heal from historical trauma. And Hand said symbolically it’s offering the Dakota people the chance at something greater. 

An aerial view of a design concept
Upper St Anthony Falls design concept: An aerial view of a design concept released in 2023 by the Friends of the Falls nonprofit for the redevelopment of the area around the Upper St Anthony Falls.
Courtesy photo of Friends of the Falls

“It’s time to ask the Dakotas to come home and stay, not come for the weekend, to dance, not come and put on a show to express culture, which everybody loves to see. Come home and stay,” he said.  

“I think when we get to that place we’re going to have some more healing, and then we’re going to have our other relatives from other different backgrounds, or multiethnic backgrounds, our adoptees, our ones that aren’t accounted for, I think what we’ll do is we’ll just have to make more seats at the table so that everybody can eat.” 

Hand said the organization hopes to expand the project in the future with more signs that would change content with the seasons.