The Second United Lenape/Lunáapeew Nations Pow Wow welcomed the original Indigenous Lenape peoples back to their ancestral homelands in Prospect Park on September 13 and 14. Hosted at the LeFrak Center at Lakeside, the free two-day event offered Brooklynites an immersive experience in Lenape culture through music, dance, art, and culinary traditions.
Organized by the Prospect Park Alliance in partnership with the Éenda-Lŭnaapeewáhkiing Collective and the American Indian Community House, the Pow Wow marked the first such gathering in Prospect Park since 1972 and only the second Lenape Pow Wow ever held in New York City. Families and visitors enjoyed performances by Indigenous dancers and drummers, as well as artisan craft and food vendors who showcased traditional Lenape craftsmanship and cuisine.
The event revived a longstanding tradition of Pow Wows in Prospect Park, which had hosted formal gatherings from 1916 to 1972. Lenape and neighboring Indigenous nations historically used these events to celebrate life, share stories, and strengthen community bonds. This Pow Wow provided an opportunity for displaced Lenape peoples to return to their homelands, celebrate their heritage, and share it with a wider audience.
The weekend also connected to the larger work of the Prospect Park Alliance, including its ReImagine Lefferts initiative, which explores the lives, resistance, and resilience of Indigenous peoples of Lenapehoking, whose unceded ancestral lands the park occupies, as well as Africans enslaved by the Lefferts family. Currently on view at Lefferts Historic House was Eelunaapéewi Ehaptoonáakanal: Voices of Lunáapeew/Lenape, an exhibition featuring video interviews with Lenape knowledge-keepers reflecting on their relationships to the land over 400 years.
The Pow Wow carried forward a lineage of cultural events. Lenape grandfather George Stonefish had organized the first United Lenape/Lunáapeew Nations Pow Wow at the Park Avenue Armory in 2018, and a 2024 cultural fair served as a precursor to the Prospect Park gathering. The Alliance facilitated performances and activities by Indigenous artists, dancers, and craft makers, offering a weekend of education, community, and celebration.