Overview

The Forest County Potawatomi community (FCP) is a small community located in northern Wisconsin and is surrounded by beautiful forest lands. It is a federally recognized sovereign Native American Nation. Community Powered partnered with FCP’s Cultural Center and Library to put forward community-led programming and events with the help of a Community Powered Program Coordinator (CPPC). My name is Sapatis Menomin and I am the CPPC for the FCP community.
I am a FCP Tribal member and I enjoy working in the FCP community. I have learned a lot about Potawatomi language, history, and culture by participating in different community engagement activities. Early on, I was tasked with finding programming and events that the community wanted to see. Many people want to see more language and cultural events for their families to attend. One of the suggestions was to bring back traditional lacrosse (stick and ball) games and host stick-making events in the community.
I knew that lacrosse sticks should be the starting point. I spent time talking with more people in the community but I couldn’t find someone who knew how to make the lacrosse sticks. I decided to learn to make the sticks on my own. I spent some time doing research and watching YouTube videos of how other people made their sticks. I worked out of my garage learning to shape and carve wood to make sticks. I broke many sticks trying to learn how to make them. After several failed attempts, I was able to make a batch of sticks and knew that I could take this knowledge back to the FCP community.
With the help of my local mentor, Donald Keeble, I brought the lacrosse revitalization project to the local FCP Community Center and the Woodshop and Fabrication Lab, where we hosted a lacrosse stick-making workshop in February of 2023. The event was open to all community members and gave them the opportunity to craft their own Great Lakes-style lacrosse sticks. We also hosted several demonstrations on the sticks and game, allowing us to share the history, stories, and traditions of the game with youth and school kids.
It is my hope that the community will carry on the lacrosse revitalization project so that people can continue to play, learn, and enjoy lacrosse.
For some tribes, there are no living memories around the traditional game. Revitalization gives us an opportunity to reclaim the stories and healing practices that are associated with the game.



