The Santa Rosa Band of the Lower Muscogee is readying for their 34th annual Native American Heritage Month celebration. Now known as Creek Fest, this weekend’s event is just one of the ways the local tribe is showcasing, preserving, and sharing their culture.
“Hello. How are you? I’m Chief Sky Horse,” says Dan Helms, chief of the Santa Rosa Creek Tribe, translating his traditional greeting in the Muscogee language into English.
For many years, the tribe held a powwow at Floridatown Park in Pace. But over the decades, they’ve acquired 95 acres of land on Pond Creek in Santa Rosa County, northeast of Pace, and developed it to a point where the event could be held onsite and re-envisioned.
“We’ve had powwows here, but our focus, has kind of been refined more towards the living history and the actual heritage, and the culture, and the traditions,” said Chief Helms. “And that was not something that could be conveyed through the powwow.”
The powwow is still featured, but — with the additional space —Creek Fest 2024 will include much more.
One highlight is the reenactment of the Battle of Chumuckla in 1814. For that, the chief points to a replica Creek hunting camp that has been set up on the property.
“This would have been something like a hunting camp would have looked like when they were away from their homes with their wooden structures,” said Helms, setting the scene for the reenactment. “The Indians will come out of the woods over here and the militia will come out of the woods over there and they’ll be shooting at each other with muskets.”
The grounds also features a sacred ceremonial square ground, along with a powwow dance circle, and replica Creek Living Village, where festival goers will be immersed in ancestral traditions and can get free samples of indigenous food.
Much of the history and culture of the Santa Rosa Band of the Lower Muscogee is on display in their Native American Cultural Education Center, a 3,000-square-foot structure that opened in 2018. The space is designed for large social gatherings, meetings and events and includes a display case for Native American artifacts. The rest has been divided into large displays.
The chief says tours always begin with a brightly colored display created by an artist named Dori.
“She did this painting of what would have been a creek village or town around the early 1800s or late 1700s,” he began. “What this depicts is the ceremonial square, which is in the middle, and the Native American roundhouse and the buildings that the people would actually live in.”
In conjunction with each display, there’s a touch-screen kiosk with audio about various subjects regarding native life. The information was run through an AI program to rewrite to 4th grade level. And, with that in mind, another AI program allowed them to record the scripts with the voices of young people.
To demonstrate at this first station, the subject of food is chosen and a childlike voice begins to talk about the unique food enjoyed by Native American tribes living in the southeastern part of North America.
“They grew special plants like corn, beans and squash,” the recording stated. “Corn was a very important crop for them and they used it to make delicious foods like cornbread and soups. They ground the corn into flour to make it easier to use. The beans they grew were of different types, such as kidney beans, lima beans, and pole beans.”
Other displays include a large 1806 map showing the location of some of the villages and towns in the region during that time. There’s also a display of portraits of Creek Indian leaders from the 1800s.
Another display depicts the beginning lessons of the Muscogee language. It includes the Muscogee alphabet, which has fewer letters than the English alphabet.
“There wasn’t a written language, so the language was written primarily by the Presbyterian missionaries and the Methodists and Baptists also contributed,” explained Helms. “And the goal was not just to help them have a language, but one of the underlying tenants of their intent was to proselytize them and they would be able to write out the gospels, but in a language they would be able to understand and read.”
On the accompanying kiosk about the Muscogee language, a member of the tribe recorded information about the history of the language and various words and phrases, such as “hello, how are you, have a seat please, and I will see you again.”
Ultimately, everything in this building and on this site has been created with the goal of preserving their Muscogee language, heritage and culture. And, to that end, things have really taken off in the past decade.
Since 2018, the Santa Rosa County Creek Indian Tribe has gained support for state and federal recognition. In 2021, the tribe was invited to take part in the 200th anniversary celebration of Florida becoming a U.S. Territory and Escambia County becoming one of its two original counties.
There are Creek Indian related historic markers in Milton and Pensacola, and the tribe is currently working with the City on a project to create a historic marker trail related to the Native American presence in the area.
Additionally, the tribe recently entered into an agreement with the Santa Rosa County School District to develop curriculum which meets the Florida CPalms standards.
“What we’re hoping to do — no, I’ll retract that,” Helms declared. “We’re not hoping to do it, we’re doing it, is to finally teach the correct history and more of the history that has ever been taught before to the school children.”
And, thanks in part to a 2023 grant from Impact 100 and other supporters, the tribe soon will break ground on construction of a new four-story Native American roundhouse.
The chief says he’s pleased with where things are going.
“We’re just ecstatic, I guess is the best word for it that we’re being able to get the support and recognition,” he said of the acknowledgement that his people are still here.
For now, the focus is on readying for Creek Fest 2024, which will be held Saturday and Sunday at their grounds at 4750 Willard Norris Road. Performers include Billy Whitefox and Ed Wind Dancer. For a complete schedule of performers and events, click here.
