BEMIDJI — For the first time in nearly five years, the doors of the old Central Elementary School building opened its doors on Friday, March 20, for a special celebration.
Around 25 community members gathered in the gymnasium for a potluck, round dance and a few words celebrating the spring equinox, a birthday and the new direction for the school building.
“It feels good to be in this space, which hasn’t had people in it in a long time,” said Erika Bailey Johnson, the director of Sacred Bundle’s Minwaadizi Project.
Sacred Bundle, a nonprofit through the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, purchased Central from Bemidji Area Schools, closing the sale on Feb. 27. The school was closed after the 2020-21 school year as a cost-saving measure.
The first project on the horizon for the new space is a public computer lab through grant funds, but future goals include environmental program offerings, a child care center and affordable housing.
"We just kind of open the doors, bring people in, get some life back into the space and then slowly we'll just build on that,” Bailey Johnson said.
Potluck offerings included corn cakes, smoked brisket and fresh berries, and most attendees participated in at least one round dance, side-stepping to the beat of the hand drums.
In a previous interview, Bailey Johnson described the Minwaadizi Project as an “un-boarding school,” referencing some of the harms of the residential boarding school system in Indigenous communities. Sacred Bundle is an Indigenous-led nonprofit focused on reconnecting people of all backgrounds to the land and the culture of Northern Minnesota.
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