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The city of Winona began relocating soil this week to the east end of Lake Park in preparation for the construction of Unity Park, designed to honor the Dakota Indians who originally occupied this area before they were forced out in 1853 by the military and white settlers.
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The city of Winona’s work on Unity Park, a section of Lake Park that will become the gathering place for the annual Dakota Homecoming, began this week. Construction crews are filling in the circular area just west of Winona Health with soil to prevent flooding. (Photo by James A. Bowey of the Winona Daily News) |
When completed, the circular park will be used as the central gathering place for the Dakota Homecoming weekend, which organizers hope to make an annual event.
The park is located east of Lake Winona near Winona Health and will eventually include gardens with grasses and vegetation native to Minnesota. It won’t be ready this year, said City Manager Eric Sorensen.
Crews are filling the low-lying area with soil from nearby Riverbend Industrial Park and aren’t sure when the fill will settle. The soil was dredged from Lake Winona between 1999 and 2001.
The first homecoming event in 2004 drew more than 500 people, including several Dakota tribe members. A second gathering was held last summer. The event is sponsored by several organizations, including the Winona Dakota Unity Alliance, which has worked in the past to provide clothing, furniture and other items to Crow Creek, a South Dakota reservation among the poorest in the nation.
