The Pokagon Band of Potawatomi will host the 31st annual Kee-Boon-Mein-Kaa Pow Wow, the yearly celebration of traditional singing, dancing and culture on Saturday, Sept. 3 and Sunday, Sept. 4.

The Pokagon Band’s pow wow arena is located on its Rodgers Lake campus at 58620 Sink Road, Dowagiac. Parking and admission are free.

In the Potawatomi language, “kee-boon-mein-kaa” refers to the end of the huckleberry harvest, a traditional time of celebration for the Potawatomi people. The pow wow draws dancers and drummers of all ages from the Great Lakes and beyond to compete for prize money in several categories.

This year, organizers have added several new dance contests to attract more contestants including the All Around, where each dancer who competes must dance in all three styles of dance, and a Chicken Dance, which is described as a vibrant and exciting style that originates from the Plains.

Vendors will sell native artwork, jewelry, crafts and goods, as well as traditional food.

The Pokagon Youth Council will sponsor a youth dance on Saturday night from 9:30 p.m. to midnight.

To kick off the weekend, a group of Pokagon women have organized the ninth annual Women’s Water Walk on Friday, Sept. 2. Protecting the water is a traditional responsibility for women in Nishnabe culture.

Following a sunrise ceremony, women and their supporters will walk 15 miles from a tribal lake to the tribal campus at Rodgers Lake. This ceremony and act of walking honors and prays for the waters of the Pokagon Band homelands, and passes on these teachings to others.

The grand entries for the pow wow, which are the formal start of the dancing and songs, are at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Saturday and noon on Sunday. On both mornings, the vendors and cultural presenters will set up before the dancing starts; the gates to the pow wow grounds open at 10 a.m.

For more details, visit the pow wow’s website at www.pokagonpowwow.com.