Voices from the past will be heard again this weekend in Council Grove as the Voices of the Wind People plays out on stage Friday and Saturday.

Organizer Sharon Haan joined in on the KSAL Morning News Extra with a look at how this event brings a collision of two cultures into focus.

Haan says the live-action scenes depict a historically accurate portrayal of the clash between Native American and Euro-American cultures, Voices of the Wind People is told through the perspectives of both settlers and native Kaw Tribal Members, with twenty-five members of Kaw Nation returning to Council Grove to enact village scenes and perform the traditional dances of their ancestors.

The story depicts the changes affected by two vastly different cultures. As the Kaw Indians were being relocated and European American settlers were beginning to populate Council Grove on the Santa Fe Trail, the dynamics of these two cultures co-existing proved to be intense.

The performances take place at the Neosho Riverwalk Amphitheater near historic downtown Council Grove and adjacent to the Santa Fe Trail crossing on the Neosho River. The production incorporates historic photos, images of the prairie landscape, and video images with the live-action of a pack train, wagon train, stagecoach, riders on horseback, tepees and the campfire of a Kanza village.

Approximately 45-50 Kanza Indians of the Kaw Nation from Kaw City, OK, whose ancestors once lived in the Council Grove area, return to participate in this production. They provide the principal narration of Chief Allegawaho, enact village scenes, and perform dramatic roles and traditional dances.

Learn more about the event online https://www.councilgrove.com/voices

Photo via Voices of the Wind People FB