Sunrise greets the attendees of Indigenous Peoples Day with a grounding warmth. Those present at the early morning ceremony, which opens the day with music and dancing around a sacred white pine atop Cobbs Hill Park, are integral to establishing the welcoming energy that embraces all throughout the annual event. Thus, last year’s sunrise ceremony, hastily moved under the water towers, was electric to committee co-founder Kathy Castania.
“We had no contingency,” she said. “It was rainy, it was cold, it was windy, it was the worst. All these people start showing up. It filled that space. And it was so moving, really. It was one of our most beautiful ceremonies because it was a true testament to the level of commitment and caring and dedication that is out there.”
The volunteer committee, established in 2017, formed with the intent to replace Columbus Day festivities in the City of Rochester. Its members, many of whom are not Indigenous, joined to help reclaim space for a group staggering under centuries of suppression and abuse.
Film producer Courtney Shouse joined the team through a racial justice coalition, looking to further her learning while interviewing Haudenosaunee families. SUNY Geneseo employee Cheyenne DeMarco grew up with Indigenous history woven into her schooling, but witnesses limited awareness among students today.
To maximize access to visibility, each piece of the festival’s programming, from wampum displays to Native blues performers, centers Indigenous values and voices. For those with minimal access to Indigenous culture, the festival serves as a touchstone to jumpstart critical engagement.
“To be welcomed and to take part in a thanks-giving ceremony, where we say, ‘now our minds are one,’ and to hear a language that people attempted to erase, even though I don’t understand it, is maybe one of the most powerful things for me, personally,” said Kristy Liddell, who grew up in rural Arkansas and attended as part of the forest-managing Friends of Washington Grove.
In return, the boon from creating a dedicated community has repeatedly softened the challenges that come with crafting the event. The first sunrise ceremony in 2022 intertwined with a beach cleanup on Lake Ontario, and Onodowagan educator Patricia Corcoran searched for a low-budget, sustainable way to serve donated coffee in a planning crunch after the event was officially recognized by the City Council only a few months prior.
“I went to Flower City Arts, and I said, if you have a box full of mugs lying around that people have not claimed, could we have them?” she said. “They made us 50 mugs, (which) all disappeared because we had 200 people.”
The 2025 festival on Monday, October 13, supported by a private grant from the Greater Rochester Health Foundation, is primed to follow the event’s growing trajectory, even in the shadow of a federal administration actively hindering support for diversity programming. Thus, from sunrise to sunset at Lake Riley Lodge, the committee invites all to bask in the glow of song, dance and ceremony affirming Indigenous resilience — now claiming space to shine. indigenouspeoplesdayrocny.org
