34th Annual Indigenous Peoples Day Powwow & Indian Market (Berkeley)

Indigenous Peoples Day Powwow Committee

34th Annual Berkeley Indigenous Peoples Day

Powwow & Indian Market 

534 Years of Resistance & Renewal

Berkeley’s Indigenous Peoples Day Committee invites the public to celebrate the 34th Annual Indigenous Peoples Day Powwow & Indian Market on Saturday, October 10, 2026, at M.L.K. Civic Center Park from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm. This free, family-friendly celebration will bring together Native American dancers, drummers, artists, craftspeople, food vendors, and community members for a day of culture, ceremony, celebration, and community.

The Powwow will feature powwow dancing and drumming, along with competition dancing. There will also be Gourd dancing and songs, dance specials, Intertribals and Round Dances that everyone is invited to join. Children are welcome.

What:
Berkeley’s 34th Annual Indigenous Peoples Day Powwow & Indian Market

When:
Saturday, October 10, 2026
10 a.m.– 6 p.m.
Grand Entry: 1 p.m.

Where:
M.L.K. Civic Center Park
Allston Way at M.L. King, Jr. Way
Berkeley, California

Head Staff

Co-MCs: Randy Pico (Luiseño) & Aurora Mamea (Blackfeet)

Head Man: Daniel Leroy (Omaha/Ponca/Pomo)

Head Lady: Alexa Gorospe (Laguna Pueblo/Ohkay’Owingeh)

Arena Director: JoeFox Hopper (Pomo/Laguna Pueblo/Native Hawaiian)

Host Northern Drum: All Nations (Oakland, CA)

Host Southern Drum: So Ex Style (Manteca, CA)

Head Gourd Dancer: Frankie Hoskie Jr. (Diné/Apache)

All Powwow drums and dancers are welcome.

Special Events

Head Man’s Grass Special All Ages

Annual Millie Ketcheshawno Prettiest Shawl Contest
Sponsored by Gino Barichello & Leslie Deer

Yaqui Deer Dancers Ceremonial Exhibition

This year’s Powwow marks the 34th anniversary of Berkeley’s first Indigenous Peoples Day, held on October 12, 1992, on the 500th anniversary of the beginning of the struggle of Indigenous peoples of the Americas to retain their cultures and identities under the extremely difficult conditions of colonization.

Berkeley’s Indigenous Peoples Day grew from a broader movement of Indigenous resistance, solidarity, and renewal.

A delegation of Native nations first proposed replacing Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day to the United Nations in 1977. In 1990, representatives from 120 Indian nations from North and South America gathered at the First Continental Conference on 500 Years of Indian Resistance in Quito, Ecuador. Non-Native human rights activists also joined them, including a representative of Berkeley Mayor Loni Hancock.

The conference called for Columbus Day to be transformed into an occasion to strengthen Indigenous unity and the liberation struggle.

Following the conference, Indian people of Northern California organized the Bay Area Regional Indian Alliance. Indigenous and non-Native community members subsequently met at Laney College in Oakland to organize Resistance 500, the coalition that coordinated Bay Area activities surrounding the 500th anniversary in 1992 under Indigenous leadership.

Resistance 500 proposed to the Berkeley City Council that Columbus Day be replaced with Indigenous Peoples Day. The coalition presented research documenting the enslavement and exploitation of Indigenous people under Christopher Columbus, including the history of the Taíno people of Hispaniola.

In October 1991, the Berkeley City Council unanimously declared that October 12 would henceforth be commemorated in Berkeley as the “Day of Solidarity with Indigenous People.”

The following year, Berkeley held its first Indigenous Peoples Day celebration on October 12, 1992.

Today, the Berkeley Indigenous Peoples Day Powwow continues that history of community, cultural celebration, resistance, and renewal.

The Berkeley Indigenous Peoples Day Powwow & Indian Market honors the ancestors, celebrates the people who continue their spirit and struggle today, and looks toward future generations.

Join us on October 10th, 2026 for a day of Native American culture, community, dancing, drumming, food, arts and crafts, and celebration.

Free and open to the public. All ages welcome

Disclaimer: Please double check event information with the event organizer as events can be canceled, details can change after they are added to our calendar, and errors do occur.